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Fruit & Orchards

Will a haas avocado ever flower or fruit in a container?

10 years ago

My 4-year old haas is in a sunny spot on our deck in Northern California. USDA zone is 10a and the container is 25 gallons.

It has continued to grow as expected, but zero signs of flowering. This tree was purchased from a nursery as a very young, but pre-grafted tree that should provide fruit when mature. It is about 6' tall in the container now.

I don't have any place to plant it, so it remains in the container.

Besides regular water and sun, what cultural elements are required to turn this into a fruiting avocado tree? Will it ever fruit in a 25 gallon container?

Featured Answer

daburd
Original Author

10 years ago

My haas has never flowered, so unfortunately polination isn't my problem yet. I'm not sure if it will ever flower in my container.

Is it hopeless unless I get a dwarf?

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Comments (9)

fabaceae_native
10 years ago
It totally should, with good care and a crazy pollination game you need to play.

Mine flowered profusely from the get go as five gallon trees, however despite trying to cross-pollinate between the two different varieties by hand, I never got any fruit. Some formed, but always dropped off before reaching even the size of a grape. I gave up after 3 or 4 years of no fruit and constant struggle with scale insects during 6 months of year when plants had to be inside in my climate.

Pollination is definitely tricky with these guysÃ¢ÂÂ¦ they must be cross-pollinated by another variety that has a different flower type (called A or B). Pollen is only released either in the morning or evening, and the stigma is receptive for a short time as well. You can look all thus up online to find a compatible partner for Haas.

Good luck!
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fireduck
10 years ago
My concern for you is the term "pre-grafted" tree. an "un-grafted" avocado tree is unlikely to ever give quality fruit....if it does fruit. This is exactly why professionals graft. It keeps the tree as a clone of the mother tree (scion variety...not rootstock). Also, this tree will become unhappy in a container very soon. Hass trees often become 30-40' wide and 20-25' tall. I hate to burst your bubble....but you are fighting an uphill battle on several fronts. There are varieties that are natural dwarfs that are conducive to growing in a pot. Not Hass.
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What you would need to do would be to keep the top growth small in proportion to the smaller root system. I recently went to a lecture by a guy from Dave Wilson (wholesaler of fruit trees) and he said you could do that--keep an avocado trimmed down to about 8-10'. Of course, you are going to be out there trimming it frequently. Having said that, you want as big a planter as you can possibly give it, like 24"x24" or bigger, and as Renee said, you need to figure out a way to keep the root system cool and moist, perhaps with an outer white pot to insulate the inner one. Long term, train the tree into an umbrella shape so that the top growth will shade the container. Of course you are not going to get the yield you would get from a large tree, but if a few Avocados is enough, well there you go. And if you can return it and get a Reed instead of a Hass...the Avocado growers have a saying: "Hass you sell, Reed you eat."
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I have a few different multi grafted trees but no avocados though. But it is very clear that some varieties are much more vigorous than others. But that's why we got pruners and shears. Its a good space saving method, you can always start to heavily prune the Hass if it starts taking over.
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Well, here is the deal....Fuerte is a very large/spreading tree. It is certainly a poor choice for a container. Lamb Hass is a somewhat narrow grower that can get pretty big. I would put them in the ground ASAP. If you were moving next Spring...it might be different. Those are two fine varieties, however. You could probably get fruit from them in a container...if you could keep them healthy. Avocado root systems are quite sensitive...and that size container would not be enough for several years growth.
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econ0003
10 years ago
I would go for a dwarf variety like fireduck mentioned. My Hass avocado tree didn't hold fruit until it was the biggest tree in my yard. 12x12 feet in two years.

A and B type flowers bloom irregularly if the temperatures are below 70. Making avocados self fertile in areas that are not tropical. I wouldn't worry about pollination unless the tree is indoors.
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campv 8b AZ
10 years ago
Avo's were never ment to be in pots. I am sorry. I would give it to some who can plant it in the ground.
eajohnson
10 years ago
I saw lots of avocado trees in 15 gallon containers at clausen nursery that had avocados on them. None of them looked ripe and not sure they were fully mature but several trees had them and some were haas. But they probably had 30 trees in 100 sq ft so they had a lot of help with pollination.
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laurentpaulsueur
10 years ago
Avocado trees do not fructify until they are 9 years old. They do not really need another avocado tree to fructify but the help of drones or honey bees because the pollen is very sticky and the flowers are open during a few hours during the day. The roots are really shallow: hence it is really possible to grow them in a container but it will not be a beautiful plant. If you want an appropriate tree in your house try a Pitanga.
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campv 8b AZ
10 years ago
clausen's in Vista is magical they can grow anything, in anything
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daburd
Original Author
10 years ago
Given what eajohnson said about haas in containers growing fruit, should I simply give away my current plant and find another haas which is already fruiting? I'm in zone 10a in Northern California.

If that won't work, what variety of dwarf will grow in an outdoor pot and still make amazing guacamole like a haas?
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