Hi,
Since I started taking orders for my second and third consignment, I often get asked why people can’t simply plant a Hass avocado seed to get a Hass avocado tree.
Let’s say, you buy a Hass avocado from the market. Chances are, it was imported from Chile or Mexico. You try the fruit, find it delicious, so the gardener inside you wakes up and wonder,
Why shouldn’t you simply plant the seed that you get from the fruit?
Why throw it away, when you can put the seed into the soil?
Why pay the lofty price of 300 Rs per piece for an avocado every time you want to eat one?
Here is the deal. Avocado does not grow “true-to-seed”.
It means, if you plant the seed from an avocado fruit that you like, the resulting tree from the seed won’t be a Hass avocado tree. Even if the female flower of the plant is pollinated with a Hass avocado pollen, the resulting fruit won’t be Hass. Every Hass fruit that you eat, comes from tree that was once grafted with a scion of a Hass avocado tree. The original mother plant was found in an avocado ranch owned by Rudolph Gustav Hass, hence the name ‘Hass’ Avocado.
You might wonder, ‘Okay, so if all I need is a scion from a Hass tree, I can germinate lots and lots of seeds and graft them all with a scion sourced from a mature Hass avocado tree’.
If you are thinking of growing avocados as a hobby, then perhaps it is fine. However, if you want to develop an orchard and expect a commercial yield, then it won’t work.
You see, all the best nurseries in the world use commercial rootstocks. Avocado rootstocks are chosen for the quality and disease resistance of the root system. Rootstocks also affect the yield of the tree and the vigor of the canopy.
And here lies the problem with the planting material so far available in India. Most local nurseries in India that claim they sell grafted Hass avocado trees don’t have any clue about avocado rootstocks. What they do is, grow random avocado seeds and graft them with bud wood that might come from a Hass tree. Given that there is no research done on avocado rootstocks in India by any agriculture university or research institute, this is understandable.
This is the reason I imported my plants from Israel. When you make an investment into developing an orchard, it is for a lifetime. I didn’t want to jeopardise the yield and the quality of fruits just so that I can save some money upfront. I suggest you do the same.
Now that you know why buying plants from a trusted nursery is necessary for your avocado orchards, you know what to do next. My WhatsApp number is +91 9109107400.
Thank you
Kind regards
Harshit Godha
