Winter Notes from an Organic Avocado Grower

By Shawn Martin, organic grower and CA Avocado Society Board member

It's never clear what winter will deliver to a coastal avocado grove on a steep slope, so the grower must be ready for whatever happens.  And the main thing is rainfall.  And Frost.  And sometimes drought.  And be ready for fire.  And watch out for phytophthora. Some guidelines follow:

 

                                             

rain gauge

Avocado Meeting Soon

California Avocado Growers Seminars Series 2024

Scheduled Topics

 

February 15 (10 - 12 AM)

HOW TO MANAGE THE TREES IN A WET YEAR

Topics and Speakers

Hybrid Meeting

CAS Seminar 2-15

A New Avocado Race?

Persea americana is the botanical name for avocado. It's been traditionally subdivided into tribes or groups comprising the Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian horticultural races. The races look, taste and even smell different, but they hybridize easily so, they are considered one species. All the breeding that is done to create more and different and hopefully better avocado trees and fruit and roots is done with these three races. Now, plant explorers have been looking in a different area of South America and think they have found a new race:

"Pleistocene-dated genomic divergence of avocado trees supports cryptic diversity in the Colombian germplasm" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11295-023-01616-8).

This study identified two ancient Colombian genetic clusters of avocados beyond the three traditionally recognized races. These cryptic groups were genetically different and presented minor heterozygosity scores, with possible origin from the West Indian group (alternatively, although less parsimonious, it could also be the case that the West Indian radiate from the Colombian group). The Colombian sub-populations are in two distinct geographic regions, the Andes and the Caribbean, which may reflect divergent local adaptation after the initial colonization from Mesoamerica during the Pleistocene. Exploring the avocado genetic resources in South America will allow identifying genotypes with superior characteristics adapted to diverse agro-ecologies, which may source the selection of new cultivars and rootstock genotypes.

It is a somewhat dense discussion of the process of identifying this new race, but it's a fun look at the sleuthing process.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11295-023-01616-8

Image: The now extinct giant ground sloth was considered one of the major agents of avocado seed distribution before humans.

ground sloth

Organic Tree Crops Workshop

Organic Avocado & Citrus Workshop

- In Person & Virtual Event –

DPR & CCA Continuing Education Units (in progress)

 

Oct 12, 2023 | 8:00am – 1:00pm UC Cooperative Extension | California Room                  669 County Square Dr. Unit 100 | Ventura, CA 93003

Free Registration: tinyurl.com/OrganicVentura

 

Program Agenda

 

7:30 AM	Check in
8:10 AM	Welcome and Introduction Ben Faber, Farm Advisor, UCCE Ventura County
8:15 AM	UC Organic Agriculture Institute - Background and Current Activities Rob Straser, Extension Coordinator, UC Organic Agriculture Institute
8:30 AM	Updates from UCCE Ventura and Hansen REC Annemiek Schilder, Director, UCCE Ventura County
8:45 AM	- Break -
9:00 AM	Managing Pests Organically in Ventura County Tom Roberts, Pest Control Advisor, Integrated Consulting
9:30 AM	An Ecoinformatic Approach to Improve Citrus and Avocado IPM Bodil Cass, Extension Specialist, UC Riverside
10:00 AM	Nutrition and Soil in Citrus and Avocado Ben Faber, Farm Advisor, UCCE Ventura County
10:30 AM	Diseases Affecting Avocado Production in California Fatemeh Khodadadi, Extension Specialist, UC Riverside
11:00 AM	Citrus Root and Wood Diseases Philippe Rolshausen, Extension Specialist, UC Riverside
11:30 AM	Grower Panel Discussion Marjie Bartels, Bartels Ranch John Wise, Sespe Creek Organics Shawn Martin, Rincon Mountain Organics Sean Bettles, Rincon Farms
12:00 PM	Networking and Lunch (included)
1:00 PM	- Adjourn -

 

 

 

avocado fruit cluster

Annual Avocado Meeting

REGISTER HERE! 

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