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University of California Cooperative Extension Ventura County
669 County Square Drive, Suite 100
Ventura, CA 93003
Phone: 805.645.1451
Fax: 805.645.1474
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The office will be closed for the following holidays:
December 24-25 - Christmas Holiday
December 31 - January 1 - New Year Holiday
January 20 - MLK Day
Growing Avocado from Seed
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All commercially grown avocados are grafted or budded in the seedling stage. When plants are grown from seed, they usually do not produce fruit which is true to the parent variety. Therefore, a desirable variety must be budded or grafted onto the rootstock (your seedling tree) to get fruit of a desirable type and quality. Also some avocado varieties are hybrids, in which case the seeds may not grow at all, or if they do produce a seedling, it may be sterile. Avocados normally begin to bear at three years of age (a few fruit) and by four to five years old should produce a full crop.
Some avocados are not self-fertile. That is, the tree cannot pollinate itself. There may be many flowers, but none will pollinate and set fruit. In this situation you need to graft a different variety onto your tree, or plant another avocado tree of a different variety next to the tree you have.