Avocado Varieties Type B
Does your avocado have a flower or a B flower?
By GrowOrganic.com on October 10, 2013
An avocado tree in bloom. These flowers have a gender-biased life.
Just when you think you have all the information about your fruit trees down comes a new twist.
Avocado trees are divided into two camps by the types of flowers they have: A flowers and B flowers.
Does this sound like Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Cat in the Hat? Avocado flowers act like cartoons, with complex opening and closing and sexual changes. Mother Nature had a field day with this one!
Avocados are hermaphrodites (with “dichogamy” if you want to sound botanical)
Many plants are hermaphrodites, with both male and female sex organs, but avocados are unique in that their sex organs do not work at the same time. Researchers call avocado flowers “remarkable”.
The sexual organs of avocado flowers are active at different times of the day ( dichogamy ). How to choose the right avocado variety.
” Flowers ” are female (pollen receptive) in the morning and male (pollen shedding) in the afternoon.
” B flowers ” are male (shedding pollen) in the morning and female (receptive to pollen) in the afternoon.
For the most part, avocado varieties have only flowers or only B flowers. Production is better with cross-pollination between two varieties, one with A flowers and one with B flowers. But the reality is that most avocado varieties seem to improve and produce fruit as they age, other pollinator or not. If you live in a good avocado growing climate, there is almost always another avocado tree in the neighborhood that will be your avocado tree friend for many years.
“A flower” avocado
Hass
Small Cado (has A flowers and B flowers)
Mexicola
Stewart
“B flower” avocado
Bacon
Small Cado (has flowers and flowers B)
Zutano
Avocado flowers are like everyone else, happiest when temps are in the 70s
Avocado flowers adhere to the complex opening and closing schedule as long as daytime and nighttime temperatures are above 70F. If the temperature drops to 60F during the flowering period, it may not reproduce at all. A temperature of 65F, however, can confuse the flowers enough to bend over and have both sets of reproductive organs at the same time.
The avocado for the containers
Little Cado is a native avocado tree that maxes out at 8′-10′ and is your best bet for container growing. Trim it to keep it smaller if desired. This is the variety with A and B flowers so you can make fruit with just one tree. You need to protect Little Cado when temperatures drop to freezing or below.
How to choose your avocado trees
Stop by to find out which types of avocados will thrive in your area. Then choose a composite A and B tree for the garden or farm.
