When I grew up in California as a kid it was nothing but orange, a😮😢vocado groves everywhere. Also even in LA truck farming in-between the oil wells. It was a paradise for us that were born there in 40s 50s. Then the east coast people and money grabbing real-estate people turned into a HELL HOLE! I left in mid 70's.
My dad, from Redlands, used to tell stories about a job he held in high school. He used to go to the orange groves and light the smudge pots when the cold weather moved in so the crops wouldn't freeze. This was probs back in the forties. Now, all those orange groves are gone, replaced by tract homes. Crazy.
Non-grafted fruit trees will not bear the exact fruit as the tree from which the seed came. It may not bear at all-a sterile tree. But generally, avocados bear heavily every other year, and then lightly the next. Further, this time of year, the fruit would be pea-sized. Come back at Christmas and check it again at that time, when the fruit is large mature. Never-the-less, a very cool find. Thank you.
For Avocados to be edible they pretty much HAVE to be grafted. Or cloned from an edible fruit tree. Very likely a tree that size used to have a farm house nearby and it is likely to have edible fruit. But would like to see a followup report!
I've seen around 6 avocado trees over my lifetime grown from seed In people's backyards that offer up perfectly good avocados One across the road from me right now it seems like a reed ..it's delicious ..grown from seed Planted by numbskulls
@@oftin_wong the point being that avocado tree need to be grafted to get a constant product, otherwise from seed you will get random outcomes, so sure, an avocado grown from seed "might" taste good. The idea here would be to then to create a lot of grafts from this stock if you like its characteristics.
In my country Philippines we have a lot of old avocado trees that grows from seeds. And they are fine, bears a lot of fruit. It's just too high and keep on growing if you'll not trim it.
I grew up in an orange tree farm grove because my grandpa was in charge of it and the home my grandparents lived in was in the middle of the grove. I had the best childhood memories there. I sure miss it. It got torn down to build new homes….broke my grandpas heart. Orange trees will forever hold a special place in my 🧡🍊.
I love stories like this. I love discovering feral (volunteer) fruit trees. I remember many from my childhood. Some produced better tasting fruit than anything sold in stores. I remember apple tree that produced huge fruit that was covered in fuzz, like a peach. Skin was brown, flesh white and very juicy.
Somebody was eating their lunch working in the Orange Grove one day and Had an avocado with their lunch ,left seed and peel on the ground, and boom 20 years later…
@@isabellavalencia8026 avocados do grow from seed, theres plenty of people who have documented their journey growing a fruiting avocado tree from store bought avocados
I moved from Colorado to Florida three years ago and I've learned that I have to split avocado seeds in half when I throw them in the compost pile otherwise I have so many avocado trees sprouting all over the yard from critters moving the seeds around. Avocados love it here. Lemon trees also love it here. Critters have spread lemon seeds all over the place and I have many lemon trees growing. Also, papayas sprout up all over the place.
Lots of giant avocado seedlings trees up in NorCal especially in the foothills east of Sacramento Central Valley. Definitely gets lots more rainfall but they also survive without any irrigation and live through the triple digit summers without any problems
I had to laugh seeing this video. Growing up in Hawaii, we had all kinds of trees nobody planted around where we lived. There was a place where a storm drain emptied in our backyard and we had mango trees, avocado trees, guava trees a lychee tree and passion fruit vine’s all growing wild in the valley right behind our house. So, seeing one tree is kind of funny 😄
I moved to Southern California about 13 years ago and every time I go for a drive or a walk I’m always looking for new unique trees that I’ve never seen before as I am from Alaska. There’s very limited fruit trees so almost every day is an adventure for me I am always hunting for fruit.
Majestic tree!! Avocados are hard to pollinate unless you have the insect that will do the job. Bees do not prefer avocados. Another factor is that it most likely helps to have other avocado trees close by to help wiht the pollination process.💜❤
Back in 1980 my parents planted 2 avocado trees on each side of their new North facing rear house.Both trees were well watered and cared for but did not make fruit until 2012 when my mum noticed 3 avocadoes on the tree on the west side of the house just outside her kitchen window.The east side tree never fruited.Sadly my mum was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 but in 2014 the tree had around 30 plus avocadoes which i was able to pick for her the week before she passed and it made her happy knowing the tree was not going to be fruitless after so many years.Maybe the tree was somehow connected to my mum as it died 2 years later .
@@muzzamoose I’m glad that she didn’t ever know that the tree died. 😢 Trees that we nurture for that long become a part of us and I can truly appreciate the joy on the day that she discovered the avocados 🥑 on that tree!
How sweet they are sharing space. A beneficial existence for both, apparently. I understood you needed two different varieties of avocados to have fruit.
"open space of weeds" That is a BEAUTIFUL wildflower meadow, and most of the species appear to be native. Incredible that this has come back so fully after the orchard ended
Very cool tree, with a cool story, I wonder if pollination is affected because it’s so close to the citrus? I know my bees prefer the citrus flowers over the avocado.
Beautiful, thank you so much for sharing. I try to get out there and find moments / places like this as much as possible. it is Soul Food. also a wonderful metaphor seems to be expressed by the Avocado tree that only survived because it was mothered by an orange tree that it has now outgrown and in turn stewards and protects. Wow! Beautiful!
At one time there were 75 identical trees there, only smaller on Mrs. Hopkins property. This tree is actually watered by a neighbor with a water truck service, when washing out his tank he drains the clear water at the base. Daughter owns the property now and she still has groves in Vista.
Are you sure about the water truck? Thats in a valley w low water table and i imagine it is tapped into aquifer by now. Also sure people harvest the avos every year../ I was a secret place
absolutely LOVE this feisty, fierce, feral magnificent, ancient avocado tree that was mothered by the mama fruit tree!!! what an outstanding notice and share!!!! climbing them too!! EXCELLENT!!
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. Most avocados grown worldwide today are Hass variety, which started from a single "volunteer" tree in the yard of Rudolf Hass in La Habra Heights, California. Mr. Hass propagated that tree, bought and planted 40 acres in Fallbrook, California. This was successful, in large part why Fallbrook today has rightful claim to be "The Avocado Capital of the World."
@@fishhuntshoot are they still avocado trees in Fallbrook? Vista San Marcos an Fallbrook used to be nothing but Orange and Avocado groves. Now there's a tree fighting for its brothers
Grew up in San Clemente, and lived elsewhere throughout the area. Back in the early 70s, we used to have awesome orange fights in the abandoned groves of S.J.C.
One of my hobbies is growing stuff from pips and seeds, like lychee's and oranges, then I go and plant them out in random wild places in the south of England. I know the chance of them surviving is pretty low, but if just one or two make it then that would be fun.
So enjoyed your above average information on trees and your fascination with the mystery of this lone “ feral tree “ . Never heard that term before used for plants. Thanks!
As a kid I grew up in the SF Valley in SoCal. The valley back then had orange groves, avacado, lemon etc. There were still open fields to run around in a play games. One by one they were cut down, plowed under, and turned into housing tracks, Malls, and light industry. Now the SF Valley is one big mass of growth, porn, nasty people, and swimming pools. I left, and now live in the Sierra foothills.
I live in the town next door. Beautiful tree! Just don’t understand how it survived without supplemental water over the years. We get very little to no rain from late April through November. If this was previously part of an orange orchard at one time, there was likely irrigation during its earlier years. It’s a magnificent tree! Thanks for sharing.
A lot of old stories and true tales come out of old San Juan Capistrano. My favorites to imagine is when farmer's from all parts of Spain, other Europeans and Californios, would ring hugh bells on their ranches loud enough for ranchers miles away to come for a celebration, a wedding, a christening, or barbecues called Fandangos. Old San Juan used to be known as the valley of peace. Many locals never wanted the train depot to stop in town because it would surely end their special peace. While World Wars were going on, this haven of land from the hills of the Ortegas (where old houses were moved down the mountains to populate the downtown Los Rios district), through what the Spanish called the Arroyo all the way to Capo Beach, was loved by all. Starting with the Natives Americans, the Spanish missionaries, the Basques, Germans, and all the other nationalities who felt the happiness there. Even Captain Dana traded goods with the town. Bringing the red adobe bricks the Natives Americans made back to Boston. Using them for ballast on his ships through stormy seas. These same adobe bricks now line some of the old streets of Boston. San Juan Capistrano still has a very special feel about it❤. And thanks to the man who made this video who did not to give out the exact location of that avocado tree that is almost as big as a tiny redwood👍!
Thanks for contributing all of this historical context. At one point while filming, a bunch of swallows started circling me and the tree. I edited that out, but I probably should have left it in because of the connection between swallows and SJC.
In San Jose, there is even bigger than that ,we have one that covers two back yards and has loads of tiny avocados, this is where I used too live , a few blocks from Vine st. and Almaden in old part of town.
My boyfriend and I would go to Salinas from Hollister while in high school. and see these trees. We would say, that’s us up there on the hill together. I’ll never forget those trees
Didn't know avocado trees could grow in Salinas. I never saw one there. In Santa Cruz, I've seen some citrus trees, but they get black mold on tge leaves. It's too damp on the coast to grow them properly.
There should be more fruit trees everywhere. Citrus is a very good companion to avocado. A neighbor planted a little twig of an avocado 🥑. It grew very quickly and beautifully.
Imagine the number of cuttings you could cull from that avocado tree. You could spread them all over SoCal and carry on the lineage of that one tree. Perhaps the Valencia Orange tree as well. The possibilities are mind-boggling.
I live in Laguna Niguel and have hiked down there in San Juan in the past. Never noticed this tree, but saw others there in the 15 -20 years ago on mounds that looked like this one. The ones I saw had been large and had very thick trunks , but do to lack of irritation were mostly dead. There are some old farm houses in the area too. Perhaps a ground squirrel stole one there and left the big seed under this orange soon after the orange orchard was abandoned? The other trees in this part of the orchard have died from the dry conditions. Probably this avocado tree came from an old variety.
Hi, that's such a lovely avocado tree. I would'nt have expected them to be able to grow so beautifully on their own in such an open an dry habitat, very cool to see. If only it were warm enough where I live to enable these trees to grow!
Growing up in the 60s in Redwood City we had an orange tree in our backyard, there were almond orchards all over for miles and miles, that is now Silicon Valley.
Yes, I look for them in my neighborhood on walks or on drives. There aren't many in my neighborhood but there is one similar to the tree in this video. I am tempted to knock on the neighbors door to ask about the tree.
wow what an amazing find. I think seedling also based on no graft line but also it looks like it shot straight up like a seedling. Maybe girdle a branch next time you are there to see if it provokes fruit set.
About 15 years ago, I started running in San Juan along the trails on the church property just west of the 5 and found an old orange and persimmons grove. This was south of the soccer fields that you see from the freeway below the 3 crosses on the hill. The soccer fields are no longer in use but their is a trail that runs through the property. The groves are just south of a little farm area the church has set up.
I live in Avocado Capital of US. Fallbrook, California. That may be one of the biggest Avo trees Ive ever seen. And there are thousands of them around here. Not to mention the symbiotic growth going on. I would guess that the tree is so large that it has issues with production. Just as you said. Thanks for the interesting video. Saluto!
I find your curiosity to be more like a researcher….it would be fun to look back at assessors records to date these trees….I moved some white Sapotes from Bay Area to San Diego and have they grown…once trees with tap roots (grafts lack) they will eventually find a seep or spring. For tropical fruit propagation I prefer select seedlings…with a bonus tap root.
Such a great video. My family and I have hiked this field/area. Wouldn't it be cool if the local residents created a mini garden here.. Olives would probably work good. We already have lots of oranges.
I lived in SJC off Ortega Hwy and Toyon, up in the hills for 14 years. I only moved away 2 years ago and really miss it, I’ll be back! We could see huge orange groves from the high points in our back yard (a 4 acre property)… so I am wondering if this cool avocado tree is near there. A beautiful and unique place to live, sort of rural with peak a boo ocean views 🍊🥑💕
You can see a fairly new fruit at 1:41, bottom left corner. It should be ripe around February and a tree that size will have many hundreds of fruit. I assume it's a hass by its size and habit. That is the most common variety we have here but not nearly the only variety.
theoretically yes. im not irrigating my roses and they're still alive. im guessing they found soil deep enough that it stays consistently moist even though the surface is dry. avocados seem to prefer being around other trees though. i notice the ones in the yards with other fruit trees do better while some yards that are lawn with no other trees or just young saplings seems to do worse with burnt leaves and one of them died. i think it has to do with heat and humidity socal is very dry and the heat is intense. not like arizona or nevada but worse than alot of other places although the dry heat is more confortable than humid heat but it will still cook plants and people the same.
