Ord of Santa Barbara successfully introduced avocados to the U. Most California Avocados are harvested on approximately 50, acres from Monterey through San Diego by nearly 3, growers. Ventura and San Diego top the list of avocado producing counties in California. California Avocados are grown year-round. A single California Avocado tree can produce up to pounds of fresh fruit each year, approximately pieces, although most average around 60 pounds or pieces of fruit.
In , the tree to which every Hass Avocado in the world can trace its lineage finally succumbed to root rot at the ripe old age of Yet, despite speculation to the contrary, nobody knows what variety of seed produced the original Hass Mother Tree.
The tree began life as lucky-find; a simple seed planted by A. Rideout of Whittier. In the late s, Mr. California groves are irrigated by sprinklers, micro-sprinklers, or drip systems. In Florida, a general rule of thumb is to irrigate one inch of water per week. Avocado flowers petals, stigmas, and anthers are modified shoots and leaves.
Flower buds begin to grow during late summer or fall and continue to develop through winter. Blossoming and fruit set occur from late winter through early summer, but most fruits that are harvested develop from flowers that were pollinated in spring.
A mature avocado tree can yield thousands of flowers per year. The flower contains both female and male parts. Once matured, the female part opens first and the male parts open the following day. Due to the large number of flowers in a relatively small area, the avocado tree is prone to genetic variability. Domesticated honey bees Apis mellifera are the most economically important avocado pollinators; most growers usually keep honey bee hives in their avocado groves to increase pollination and fruit yield.
From pollination to maturity, avocados take at least six to seven months to mature. Mature fruits can stay on the tree for months without ripening; avocados do not ripen until after they are picked from the tree.
In order for avocado trees to produce fruit, they require sugars, hormones, and mineral nutrients. The type and amount of fertilizer applied depends mainly on the type of soil and age of the tree. In Florida, a formulation is applied six times a year during the first two years of establishment at a rate of one pound per tree. An formulation is applied six times a year during the third to sixth years at a rate of two to three pounds per tree. The amount of fertilizer applied increases with the age of the trees.
Soils in south Florida are very alkaline pH above 6. The most common micro-nutrient applied every year in most avocado orchards is iron, which is applied once or twice a year in a chelated form. A multi-nutrient, micro-nutrient blend, such as Keyplex, is also applied as part of the annual fertilization plan.
Since fruit can stay on the tree for long periods of time without ripening, harvesting may easily overlap from year to year. Harvest can begin in the late fall or early winter and may continue until the following fall.
Avocados are harvested by hand; pickers work from the ground, use ladders, or remove the fruit using a pole equipped with a pull-cord operated terminal blade and fruit catching bag.
In Florida, avocados are harvested from late May through March. A professional picker can pluck about 3, avocados a day using the specially equipped pole.
When the fruit is picked off the tree, it is not ripe. As soon as it is picked, the ripening process begins. In advanced commercial processing plants, once avocados are transported from the field to the factory, they are brought up by conveyer belt where they are graded and sorted. Read more. Mexico harvested some 2. Avocado cultivation Avocados are native to Mexico and Central America but are now grown in many different regions across the globe. They take a significant amount of resources to cultivate, since an avocado tree takes between three and five years before it begins bearing fruit.
Avocado consumption in the U. Avocados have been sold in the United States for decades but only recently has their popularity exploded.
In , some 2. Domestic consumption of avocados in the United States reached 2. To put this in perspective, in , only about million pounds of avocados were consumed in the United States. You need a Single Account for unlimited access. Full access to 1m statistics Incl. Single Account. View for free.
Show source. Show detailed source information? Register for free Already a member? Log in. More information. The fruit eventually made its way across the Atlantic when Spanish explorers were introduced to the avocado in the 16th century. By , the fruit had spread through Central America and into parts of South America before being exported back to Europe by the Spanish and sold to other countries.
While today we refer to it as an avocado, the yummy green fruit has experienced its own bit of an identity crisis through the years with misinterpretations of its name and potential side effects. However, Aztecs believed the fruit promoted fertility for both men and women. The fruit is grown mostly in the Kodagu district in the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka.
The avocado made its way to the Land of Liberty in and enjoyed moderate popularity where avocado farms existed, such as California, Florida, and Hawaii. People in other areas of the country largely avoided avocados until the s when the fruit became a supporting actor in delicious salads.
Avocados experienced another popularity setback in the United States in the s as people became increasingly nutrition-conscious and the low-fat diet fad gained prominence. But inevitably, as people learned more about nutrition, they learned about the differences between good and bad fats and the nutritious benefits of the unsaturated fats in avocados.
Since then, the avocado never looked back.
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