What Does an Avocado Plant Look Like When It Is Bearing Fruit?

Avocado fruit hangs in large bunches from the tree.

Avocado fruit hangs in large bunches from the tree.

Avocados (Persea americana) are a food staple in many cultures, and gardeners grow them in states where they thrive -- primarily California and Florida. Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 through 12, these warmth-loving multitrunked trees also make a showy statement in the home garden -- especially when they bear fruit.

Young Trees

Avocado plants don't start bearing fruit right away. They need to grow to maturity before they produce flowers that turn to fruit. That can take anywhere from five to 13 years if the tree was grown from seed, but a young tree will produce fruit three or four years after planting, according to the University of California Master Gardeners of Orange County. If you're looking at your young tree to determine if it will soon bear fruit, you might be looking in vain -- at least for another couple of years. Dwarf avocado varieties are excellent container plants, but if your avocado is an indoor tree it probably won't produce fruit at all.

Mature Trees

For the most part, avocado trees that are mature enough to bear fruit are rather large. They grow quickly. A mature avocado tree can possibly reach a maximum height and width of about 60 and 30 feet, respectively. This is rare, though, because most trees are grafted onto much smaller rootstock. Most of the more than 900 varieties grown average about 30 feet in height. Some dwarf trees grown in containers only reach 10 feet tall.

Flowers and Foliage

Before an avocado tree produces fruit, it produces flowers -- and lots of them. A large, mature tree may produce over a million blooms each season, but most of those won't set fruit. The flowers are light green and hang near the ends of the branches, in long clusters called racemes. Trees that are beginning to bear fruit shed the flowers, so flower drop is one sign you can look for. Look carefully, however: Each tree only produces, on average, between 100 and 200 avocados per year, and they are small at first. A healthy, productive tree will produce up to 300 avocados each year until the it dies -- and that might not be for a long time. According to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources website, there are 400-year-old wild avocado trees in Mexico that are still producing fruit.

Amazing Avocados

Trees bearing new fruit will still have some flowers, along with evergreen leaves that do not change throughout the year -- although sometimes they shed, as new growth occurs or due to stress. The three "races" of avocados all have numerous cultivars, but they all look very similar on the tree until they ripen. Young fruit has a light green skin and appears round. As the avocados grow, some become pear-shaped or oval, while others remain nearly round, depending on the type of tree. At maturity, the fruit, which hangs near the ends of the branches, may be anywhere from 3 to 13 inches in length, with skin that ranges in color from yellow-green to deep green, purple or almost black. The texture may be smooth or slightly bumpy, with a glossy or matte finish.

About the Author


Photo Credits

  • Zedcor Wholly Owned/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
Suggest a Correction