Hass Avocado trees
HASS AVOCADOS ARE BACK IN STOCK
3 FOOT TALL TREES---5 GALLON POTS------------$50 each
Above the equator the fruit blooms between February and May, but it is harvested year round. Unlike most fruits, an avocado doesn't have to be picked at a certain peak time; it can remain on the tree quite a while. Like pears, avocados ripen only after they are picked, and the firm fruits ship well. Once a relatively expensive delicacy, avocados have steadily decreased in price as the fruit has become more widely available, and now they're quite reasonable.
While dozens of cultivars are grown, the Hass avocado is today the most common. It produces fruit year-round and accounts for 80 percent of cultivated avocados in the world.[20][6][21] All Hass avocado trees are descended from a single "mother tree" raised by a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass, of La Habra Heights, California.[5][21] Hass patented the productive tree in 1935. The "mother tree", of uncertain subspecies, died of root rot and was cut down in September, 2002.[6][21]
Medium sized (150-250g) ovate fruit with a black pebbled skin. Nutty rich flavour. Oil 19%. The skin ripens black.[20] A hybrid Guatemalan type can withstand temperatures to 26°F (-3°C). Tree size - 25 x 20 feet.
Hass Avocado info---
Origin Rudolph Hass, La Habra Heights, 1926. Seedling of Lyon. Guatemalan. Tree rather open, not tall. Fruit medium, to 12 oz., pyriform, skin thick, pebbled, coppery purple. Flesh good, oil 19%, seed fairly small. Currently the standard of the industry. To 26° F. Season July.
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html
info from Hass family---
My mom, Faith (Hass) Wilkes knows how the Hass avocado came to be, so I will share it with you . . . After reading a magazine article illustrated with an Avocado Tree with dollar bills hanging from it, Grandpa bought a small 1 1/2 acre grove in
He planted the rest of the grove on 12 foot centers with three seeds in each hole. He hired a professional grafter named Mr. Caulkins, to graft cuttings from the existing Fuerte trees onto the strongest of the three trees from each hole. All but three "took". The next year Mr. Caulkins re-grafted those three trees. The following year Mr. Caulkins re-grafted the one tree that had rejected the graft again. Again it didn't take. Grandpa was ready to give up and chop the tree down, but Mr. Caulkins said it was a good strong tree. He advised Grandpa to just let it grow and see what happens. So he did. The Hass avocado happened. Grandpa Hass only planted the seed, Mr. Caulkins did the grafting, and God gave the increase.
Grandpa patented the Hass Avocado in 1935 but, since it was the first patent ever issued on a tree, it got no respect. Growers would buy one tree from Mr. Brokaw who had the exclusive right to produce the nursery trees. They would then re-graft their whole grove with the bud wood from that one tree. For that reason Rudolph Hass made only $5,000 royalties on his patent. However, he was the first to have a producing grove of Hass Avocados, all be it a very small grove. He found a ready market for the fruit at the Model Grocery Store in
Every Hass avocado tree today is descended from that original tree. There is a plaque commemorating the location of the parent tree but the tree died of root rot and was cut down on 9/11/2002 at the ripe old age of 76 (It was planted in 1926). That is very old for an avocado tree. The wood from the tree is stored at the nursery run by Mr. Brokaw's nephew. Some of the wood has been made into jewelry, gifts, and keepsakes by Mr. Hass's Nephew, Richard Stewart. He gave them to members of the Hass family and some members of the Avocado Growers Association.
Grandpa expanded to Fallbrook with an 80 acre orchard which bore its' first crop in 1952 just as Grandpa Hass died of heart failure in the
Patents expire after 17 years. When Grandpa filed for his patent in 1935 he prayed and asked the Lord to let him live as long as the patent was good. As a young man he had been rejected from service in WWI because of a congenital heart condition. He knew his ticker was not too good, yet he worked hauling those heavy mail sacks all those years. He passed away in 1952 a few months after his 17 year patent on the Hass avocado expired. Grandma Hass lived the rest of her life on the pension from Grandpa's mailman job. Others saw the profit potential in the Hass avocado and have developed it into the industry it is today. Now we all enjoy its fruit.
The requirements for growing a Hass Avocado tree are very similar to the requirements for growing an Improved Meyers Lemon with one exception. You will have to water the Hass more often than the citrus. They have the same cold tolarance as an Improved Meyers Lemon tree. Protect from the cold below 30 degrees. Protect from frost. Frost will turn the leaves brown. Hass Avocado will harden to winter with age. Hass Avocados can handle light freezes, 29 to 32 degrees, but frost can do a lot of damage to Hass Avocados.
Frost can occur in temperatures as high as 38 degrees. If you are going to grow a Hass along the Gulf Coast I suggest you have a frost cover or a frost bag for your tree before next winter. Frost bags work great for all young citrus trees also. Frost bags breathe and let in light. The manufacture told me that frost bags can be left on trees until the temperature rises to 50 degrees.
Frost info-----
http://ceventura.ucdavis.edu/Gardening/Garden_Info/avocado_questions/
http://ceventura.ucdavis.edu/ben/avo_handbook/frost/protecting.htm
http://www.ucavo.ucr.edu/General/Frost.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garygoodenough/4504118917/
Original Hass tree
La Habra California
Dedication - California Avocado Society
by Bob Platt (9/22/73)
10-23-10
