A seedling will not be 'Mrs. Holland' -- it will be an entirely new variety, and the probability of it being inferior to its parent is hugely greater than the probability of it being equal or superior to the parent. Yes, a seedling will be more upright, more vigorous, and will take much longer to fruit.

A rooted cutting will not make a deep taproot as would a seedling, and in extreme wind, the roots may break more easily. In south Florida, lychees and limes used to be commonly propagated from air layers (roots like those of a cutting), and in Hurricane Andrew, the torque created by the winds popped the trunks out of the ground, root-free, and the trees blew like gigantic tumbleweeds, sometimes for miles, while their roots remained underground. Seedlings and trees grafted to seedling rootstock also sustained much damage, but they did not do the tumbleweed thing.

I would never recommend growing an avocado from seed, if your goal is fruit. And really, I'd much rather have a grafted one than one rooted from a cutting.

Yes, a rooted cutting will have the same cold-hardiness in its roots as did the original seedling tree.

Malcom--Have you ever tried air layering your Mrs Holland? I've had great success air layering figs on branches up to 5 feet, so it sure seems worth trying. I haven't heard of any "tumbleweed" problems around here, but then, we don't get hurricanes in Tucson.

I have not tried air layering it. Air layering is known to work for some pure Mexican types, but nearly always fails in the Guatemalan and West Indian types. But they're all so very easy to graft that I've not bothered to try it.

How small a branch can be successfully grafted? I have two young avocados that each have some 1/8" diameter branches. Both trees look like they're each about ready to start a new growth flush. I have never grafted an avocado, but if such tiny branches can be suitable, I'd like to try taking a scion from one and moving it to the other. Is this feasible on such thin branches?

Yes, possible, but not easy. I like for them to be closer to a quarter inch. But very thin stuff can be grafted if your skill level is good.

My grafting experience is limited to the method Joe Real describes as "bark grafting on limb branches" where the scion is considerably thinner than the recipient branch. I've had very good success using this with persimmons and figs, but don't know whether it is an effective method for avocados. Based on your experience, what would you recommend? Bark grafting an 1/8" scion onto a 1/4" branch, or grafting an 1/8 scion to another 1/8 branch via a different method?

I may have jumped the gun, but I went ahead and tried a couple of bark grafts this morning. One seemed to work great, the other got a little mangled because the bark wasn't slipping. Guess I'll know in a few weeks.

The "best" method of grafting is the method that works for you. I happen to be pretty good at chip buds, veneer grafts, and tip-cleft grafts. Joe has other methods, equally good, for him. So if it were me, I'd probably cleft graft onto a thin, very young seedling. But that's just what I'd do; it is not the "right" way to do it, necessarily.

Good luck.

Sounds like a plan--thanks. I've still got a couple healthy "grocery store" avocado seedlings, and I'll keep planting new seeds as I get them so as to have more to practice on. I'll hunt up some tutorials on cleft grafting and the other methods you mentioned, and experiment on expendable plants until I figure out which approaches work best for me.

Hi - I stumbled onto this thread searching for cold hardy avacado varities.
The discussion between Darkman, Skeeter, and Dr. Manners re: the Mrs. Holland cultivar seems to have fallen into a black hole...
Did anyone successfully root a cutting? or graft mrs holland wood to a seedling?
What about grafting to Hass or another store bought variety? I have a hass from a big box store. I'm interested in growing cold hardy avacado -possibly multiple varieties (type A and B) on same plant. I'm in Biloxi -Mississippi Gulf Coast zone 8b - a slightly bit cooler than P'cola climate.

Please advise - what would be the best approach? Is it possible to obtain graft wood? Also, I read comments about Joe Real's tutorial on avacado grafting - someone please provide a link to it...
Thanks
Jose

Jose, the Joe Real tutorial I referred to was for persimmons and citrus; he didn't mention using it for avocados but I tried it because it is the only method I've had experience with. Here's where to find it:
http://citrus.forumup.org/about500-citrus.html.

I still don't know whether it will work with avocados. My grafts appear to be alive, but no growth has occurred yet. In hindsight, I should have used wood that was about to start a growth flush, but figured there was no harm in experimenting.

After much hunting, I got my hands on a few Lula seeds which I hope to grow into an appropriate rootstock for Tucson. Lula was recommended to me as a superior variety for tolerating cold, heat, and salt. The seeds are quite large--I just measured one at 2" x 2.5".

Ken - Thanks for the link. I've had limited success with bark grafting on persimmon. I picked up a Hass at HD but need a pollinator - maybe Hass isn't a good rootstock for grafting onto?
So, is there a source for mexican seedlings or grafted cold hardy plants?

I'm not sure what varieties would do well for you. I bought a grafted Opal and a Wilma from Bill Schneider (Devine Avocados) in Devine, TX, but he doesn't ship potted plants so a friend picked them up for me. I guess it's possible you might be able to buy scion wood, so if you had a suitable rootstock you could try grafting your own; I don't know of any other sources for grafted plants. A neighbor had good success with a couple of Zutanos in his yard for many years, but from what I've been able to find out the varieties I have are better tasting and considerably more cold tolerant. Mrs. Holland sounds great, but all I know is what I've been able to read here, and I have no idea if any scion wood is available. If it is, I'd like to try one as well.

I don't know of a cold tolerant rootstock source either, other than growing your own from seed like I plan to do. The place I finally found Lula seeds typically supplies huge commercial nursery orders so they weren't thrilled with my dinky request. I ended up buying one of their "gift boxes" of eight Lula fruits for $30, shipped, which was a more than I'd hoped to pay, but that's life. I ripened them and enjoyed a lot of guacamole before planting the seeds.