The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae) native to the Americas. Its natural range extends from Mexico to Costa Rica. Avocados are presently cultivated in the tropical and Mediterranean climates of many countries. The Hass avocado is a popular and commercially significant variety, known for its rich, creamy flesh and characteristic skin that turns blackish-purple when ripe. It's considered a favorite due to its high oil content and flavor profile. Owing to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting is the most common cultivar of avocado worldwide. More than 80% of global avocado production is the Haas variety grown in the USA, mainly California.
Origin: cross between Mexican (61%) and Guatemalan (39%) avocado varieties. First grown at La Habra Heights, California in 1926 and patented 1935 in the US. Breeder Rudolph Gustav Hass, amateur horticulturist. In 2002, the mother tree to which every Hass avocado in the world can trace its lineage finally succumbed to root rot at the age of 76. Vigour: the trees are vigorous growers, grows to 9–15 m with a trunk diameter between 0.3–0.6 m. The leaves are 8–25 cm long and alternately arranged. Rootstock: clonal rootstock (vegetatively propagated from the tissue part of the mother plant), selected for tolerance of specific soil and disease conditions, such as poor soil aeration or resistance to the soil-borne disease root rot caused by the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi. Blossom: partly self-pollinating. The tree flowers thousands of yellowish to greenish blossoms every year. Avocado blossoms sprout from racemes near the leaf axils. They are small and inconspicuous 5–10 mm. Fruits: average to large, oval-shaped, weighing 200 to 350 grams with dark green, bumpy, thick but pliable easy peeling skin. When ripe, the skin becomes a dark purplish-black and yields to gentle pressure. The fruits are valuable for their durability and an excellent shelf life. Flesh: when ripe, the flesh is pale green near the skin and becomes a deeper yellow-green towards the center. Contains a single small to medium-sized central seed. The texture is silky smooth, creamy rich and velvety. Flavor: luscious, rich nutty flavor owing to higher oil content Harvest season: thanks to coastal California's micro-climate, California avocados are available year-round. The harvest season is from November 1 to October 31. Avocados are harvested by hand with the help of special shears called clippers. Using ladders up to 9 meter high and poles up to 4.3 meter long to reach the fruit in tall trees, pickers place the harvested fruit in large nylon bags fastened around their shoulders. Yield: fruit-bearing plant bears fruit 4 to 6 years after planting, depending on the location. Commercial orchards produce an average of seven tonnes per hectare each year. Disease resistance: avocado trees are vulnerable to bacterial, viral, fungal, and nutritional diseases, such as excesses or deficiencies of key minerals Frost resistance: the Hass cultivar can tolerate frosts down to −1 °C Planting and care: As a subtropical species, avocados require a climate without frost and with little wind. High winds reduce the humidity, dehydrate the flowers, and affect pollination. When even a mild frost occurs, premature fruit drop may occur. The trees also need well-aerated soils, ideally more than 1 m deep wirh good drainage and plentiful direct sunlight. It takes an average of approximately 70 litres of applied fresh ground or surface water, not including rainfall or natural moisture in the soil, to grow one avocado. The avocado tree can be grown domestically and used as a decorative houseplant planted in standard houseplant potting soil. The plant normally grows large enough to be prunable. It does not bear fruit unless it has ample sunlight.
