One on left is Reed -24"...& Haas 20", in 4X14" pots.. both planted last January

Taken just now after a nice COOLING rain

Patty and others, don't be in a hurry to get avocado scionwood. The best time to do avocado grafting is in the fall, with spring time as the close second. Be sure to contact me in September first week to remind me of budwood scionwood.

In order to add more varieties, you have to cut off the tip of the main stem to force them to branch out. Then let grow for balance and make sure the forced branches are almost same size and then graft unto each branch.

Oh, I thought I could graft buds all along main trunk so they would grow into branches. I see what you mean. If I pinch off top now, it prolly won't be ready till next spring. What varieties of Avo's do you have?

I have creole, mexicola grande, zutano, bacon, little cado, hass. I have access to pinkerton and others should I so desire.

Hey Joe ,
why do you have to graft an avocado for fruit ?The avocadoes i have are Mainly Hass Very small fruit. and a a couple of some other kind mainly store Bought .and there are 9 i thought the 2 i tried in water died but now there small buds on the seed . Im also Noticing the seed changing to red in striped Forms very cool.

Ive heard it said its the only way .But in honesty no one has told me Why .
I had a 10 yr old tree in Coquille that got 10 ft tall with a huge trunklots of Limbs about 6 inches diameter.
But it Never had any fruit .

is there a link ? Tammy

I can wait for scion wood Im just excited there growing

Tammy,
You've hit upon one of the reasons for grafting -- a seedling tree seldom fruits in less than 7 years, often much more. A grafted plant can produce a few fruit in one or two years, and a heavy crop by the 4th year.

Another reason is that, unlike citrus, where seedlings may be clonal (genetically exactly like their mother), avocados are not -- each seedling will be a new and unique variety. While there is a small chance that you'll get an excellent or even superior one, you have a far greater probability of getting a "dud" -- poor bearing, strongly alternate bearing, or poor quality fruit. So it's a gamble with bad odds. If you graft a known cultivar onto the seedling, you know exactly what you're getting.

The question remains, then, why graft them and not use cuttings or air layers (which would also be identical to the source plant). And the answer there is that avocado is horrendously difficult to root from those methods, whereas a good grafter can approach 100% success with grafting.

Thanks Malcolm, you answered a lot of my questions too.

That is totally Cool Malcolm Thank you now i totally understand ..

i thought i was doing so many things wrong that tree..IT is still growing on the north side of my 80 acre ranch that was pretty much stollen from me 3 yrs after i got shot but hey I may get it back fingers crossed.Tammy

I have endless reasons for grafting, and that covers all fruit plants that can be grafted. Aside from the "coolness" effects on my kids, I wrote on a separate earlier posts of reasons why I do it.

If you noticed, the varieties that I wrote about avocadoes are types A and B, and by having different kinds of type A and B together in one tree, you are assured that when pollens are shedding, the stigma are receptive, yielding you bountiful fruits reliably after blooming season.

The main types are A and B where the timing of pollen shedding and stigma receptivity would be out of synch if you only happen to have one type, and you won't have lots of fruits unless some neighbors happen to have a different type.

Avocadoes are weird in a way that it is the time of the day (morning or afternoon) affects proper pollination, and having both types insures you will have them, and what could be better than having them together on one tree?

In a similar fashion, grafting together several apples would definitely increase fruit sets, somewhat improve flavor. But mechanisms vary. Some are simply self-incompatibility which means the female parts reject the male parts (or inhibit from growing) so that the plant will not self pollinate. Other mechanisms include pollen sterility, and there are many others to mention in this one post.

When it comes to citruses, grafting together several cultivars, fruit sets are also increased with dramatic increase in seediness of some mandarins and other cultivars.

hey Joe I have an Idea .
How about if i bring all my graftable plants to you and we graft them ?
LOL .. Im gonna have fun so do i chop the top off or just do the branches as 3 are starting to Branch out ? Tammy

Tammy, do you mean that you have 3 branches already on the seedling pics you showed? How old is the tree w/ 3 branches?
Joe, I'd like a "tree" form with branches not too low to ground. So, should I nip the top off my avocado now or wait awhile? Seems to me it's tall enough now.

No Patty its not a tree yet but the biggest of the plants is branching out .
about 10 weeks now .Tammy

HI all I know I know ive been a lazy Bum But hey im working with alot of Kids and alot of Forums and Hobbies .


Patty i just read where i said the first pics had trash and garbage all over them . wow was weird had to go look at the picture . I ment the yard was junk when i moved here it was horrible like some Bums had lived her for the 6 months it was Vacant .

anyway I have all 9 of my plants different sized but about the width if a Pencil . Joe i forgot when the Best time to Graft was could you remind me and also that link i showed you that ended up being yous in the first place LOL .

Ive tried to Get in here but well was locked out a couple of times and then just lost the main link . im back now Just to Torcher you all . Grins Tammy

Next year by about spring time, I will gather a lot of avocado scionwood, so make sure to email me next year.

Pls ! explain....Im a newbee when it comes to grafting esp avocadoes. My grafted hass must be around 8 yrs old now & I want to graft a few type B's avocs onto it for good pollination . I have some young wurtz seedlings w/c i've propagated from seeds & I have no idea how long will it take before the stem will reach pencil size as it's still on magenta-pinkish colour stage, not even a ruler size yet.....How do you graft an existing matured avoc w/ scionwoods from young seedling's tree? Which is the best graft, cleft, tongue or t-budding.....Pls ! I need advice from the experts here....Thanks in advance.