posted 14 years ago
Hi, all. A couple of questions about avocado trees:
First, a friend has a huge, old avocado tree that has a dense canopy and resulting shade underneath. She'd like to plant in an area under the tree that gets partial sun during the day, but was told that because avocados are surface feeders, any plants she puts under the tree will just be taking the avocado's nutrients. Anyone have ideas about what would be good to help build a guild under the tree, both in the shade and in the partially sunny spot?
Second, the same friend found a baby avocado tree growing under the big one, scooped it up with some soil, and gave it to me. A different friend told me yesterday that fruit trees, avocados included, must be grafted to be good fruit bearers, but that this avocado could have grown up from the root stock of the tree (it doesn't appear to be from a pit) so no grafting would be necessary. I have never done anything with respect to grafting, so this is a totally foreign area for me. (I thought grafting was more a commercial thing to get seedless fruits -- mother nature doesn't graft, after all -- but the conversation yesterday made me realize that all my heirloom trees are grafted, so I'm guessing I'm missing something.) Anyone have thoughts on whether this tree will bear fruit better if it's from the root of the tree versus a pit? (I would appreciate any wisdom you'd like to share on grafting in general, too.)
Thanks for any responses!