Squirrels are a source of frustration to many fruit tree owners. Just to give you an example, last season I could eat not a single Monroe avocado fron the tree I have at home. Squirrels would nick them, bite them, I don't like to eat fruit after the critters have bitten on them, They carry diseases. This year I got a trap and I trapped two of the culprits, big fat squirrels. That seems to have worked, my Monroe fruit is not showing signs of squirrels attack. Not sure for how long, but the trap is set under the tree just in case.
All depends on what variety you are dealing with. Normally trees are pruned after harvesting their fruit. If it is an early variety, you would prune right after picking is finished and the tree would recover well during the rest of the growing season. If it is a late variety like Monroe, when picking is finished in January the tree does not have much time to recover to fruit next season.
Also, all depends if if it light pruning or heavy pruning. Some people will do the top of the tree one year, the east and west sides another year etc. I really don't prune much. Avocados do not get soft on the tree. Even if they fall from the tree in a mature condition they are hard. It could take from 4-6 days for the fruit to get soft. If you have a common avocado tree you can find information on line. If it is a Florida Variety go to the Pine Island Avocado viewer, there they give you a maturity range. If you variety is not there or you don't know what it is, I would wait until mature fruit starts falling off the tree and it gets soft in a few days and most important it taste good to you. That point in time could set up the basis of a picking mid point. In my experience the fruit taste better the longer it hangs on the tree. I'm attaching an Excell with the official dates for Florida varieties for. ![]()
What a Diference 11 days make; plus a nice increase in temperature and humidity. It just took off. Just left it alone. This graft is of a Murashige Avocado a friend send me the bud wood from Hawaii. I grafted it in December 30 2011 it is now February 23 2012 to it is now over 50 days old. The graft has been like you see it in the pictures for weeks. About 15 days ago I removed the tape and the graft was totally fused, green, hard and alive, but no sign of growing. I have had grafts like this that die. I really want to save this so I could grow that variety. My question is: Should I cut the root stock a couple of inches above the bud wood to force to grow or would you leave it like this and wait? |
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