[Narz]

Was at the farmer's market today, talking to a girl selling avocados. She told me they all came from two trees, both planted 75 years ago. She said they get about 500 pounds a year. Pretty amazing stuff. They were Fuerte's in case anyone's curious.

Avacados yield about 752 Calories per pound according to nutritiondata.com, so 500 pounds would yield an amazing 376,000 Calories. All that from only two trees, originally planted by people who've been dead for decades.

Granted avacados have limited shelf life if not eaten or processed somehow within a month or so. But they can be bartered for foodstuffs that do last longer.

And as bad as some of you guys thin global warming is gonna get, you should stat nurturing some baby trees in you Michigan/Albertan/Washingtonian greenhouses now.

Here's to avocados!

[frankthetank]

They grow easy from a pit. I'm not sure how well they would produce up here inside.

[Pretorian]

Its a tropical /subtropical tree. It will not make it even in north Cali . Calorie -wise, an old walnut tree can bring much more I think, way older than 75 years though.

[Narz]

Yeah walnuts are awesome, forgot about those.

Why do people spend so much time focusing on vegetable gardens when fruit and nut trees produce much more yield in a smaller space with less work?

I'm guessing because of the wait between planting and harvesting?

[Pretorian]

That plus trees can easily be robbed ( and damaged this way , even unintentionally ) and taxed. Again, picking cherries from 25-30 feet height or so is not a joke either. But overall you are right , trees are more productive and dont plunder soil's fertility.

[frankthetank]

Yeah. I'd much rather have something that fruits year after year and might just need a spray here and there and a pruning once and again. I think soon my vegetable garden is going to be carrots/beets (root crops) because they are easy to store! I love my fruit trees, they require very little input.

I remember reading an article one time of how India's future was tree crops because of the yield vs field crops.

[TommyJefferson]

Cool idea. I love avocados as guacamole and in salads. They are getting so bloody expensive it would be worthwhile to grow your own.

I'm going to look into it. Thanks for the idea Narz!

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/avocado.html