Avocados at 3300 feet?

Seedling Avocados

For me gardening is an adventure and a constant experiment. For example avocados are not supposed to grow here. But with warmer winter temperatures it might become possible.

When I read about the Arivipa avocado I thought what the heck. The Arivipa avocado is an avocado tree on a ranch in Arivipa, Arizona. The tree is about 150 years old and about 50 feet high and wide. It withstands temperatures of over 110 F in the summer and down to 10 F in the winter. I _can_ go buy an Arivipa avocado, but really don't have the funds right now.

So last year I planted 3 avocado seeds in an old chest freezer come planter on my patio. This is the warmest winter spot I have. The seeds sprouted right up and were off to a good start. Then BAM! some rodent came and clipped them all off just above the soil line. I figured oh well so much for that idea. I had some flowers in that planter so continued to water it. Lo and behold they came back. So far so good. the BAM! the rodents struck again! I figured they were goners for sure, especially with winter coming.

We had an unusually mild winter, it barely froze most nights and sometimes didn't get below 38 F. We also got a fair amount of rain. Basically I ignored the planter box, thinking they were dead. Then a couple of months ago I happened to glance over there and noticed some pretty big leaves. All three seedlings made it and are growing very well. I'm just watering them about once a week since they are in a small chest freezer they have a good amount of soil for the time being. I'll probably drop a little chicken manure and worm castings in there when I have a minute.

They may never fruit. They may fruit and taste nasty. Or they may be awesome Only time will tell. So I encourage everyone to take chances and experiment with whatever strikes your fancy. Maybe you will have an avocado growing at 3300 feet.