Most hybrids don't need cross-pollination. My neighbor has a Brogdon, which is a WONDERFUL avocado, great for guacamole. Hers is more bushy than treelike, due to the top freezing out the first winter she planted it, but it was loaded this year, and she didn't even fertilize it.

I hear that Lulu is a nice fruit, and it's usually what they use for rootstock, so really hardy and easy to grow.

I planted a Brogdon 5 years ago and now have a tree that is approx. 15 feet tall with an approx. 8 foot diameter. I really like the Brogdon; good fruit and a consistent producer. Recommend it.

The brogdon is recommended for this area because it is more cold hardy than most of the other varieties and it does not need a pollenator. The fruits are less watery so they are the best for making guacamole as well as eating fresh.

This makes me cry, I bet Lisa is sobbing too. Why can't we grow Avocados???bYou guys have done well. Anyone have photos?

Cindeea---So, why can't you grow an avocado? You can. My son lives in Cape Coral and I bought him 2 trees last year and they are doing great. The advantage of growing where you are is that you don't have to worry about winter protection. You have a greater selection of trees to pick from also. Although, the Brogdon is still desirable that far south too.

One thing that is important about growing avocados is that they don't like their feet wet. The soil should be mixed with something to improve drainage. I presume that you don't have sandy soil like we do here in central Florida. In my son's yard the coral-type soil drained slowly, so I mixed in a bag of top soil at the planting site. That fixed the problem. Planting the tree slightly elevated also helps with drainage. Treehouse Nursery in Pine Island has a very good selection of avocado trees and other interesting tropical fruit trees.

Ok.. I went to purchase the avocado tree to Lukas Nursey in seminole and I picked a brogdon one... when I was ready to pay, they recommended me better thee Lula. They said it produces for longer time (Oct-Jan) and have better flavor, they also said that cold hardiness was similar to the others... I ended buying the Lula avocado instead.. (well, it makes sense if it produces longer and have better flavor)

I looked online and it says Lula "maybe" recommended for home landscape... so now I am more confused..

So can anyone give me feedback on this ?

I love my Brogdon, it grew extremely fast and is now 12' wide and over 12' tall, after being topped twice. They have a fantastic flavor. Haven't tasted Lula yet, got a small one though.

Gary

Lulu is a very nice fruit, and like I said above, it's used as rootstock for a lot of other trees, so it's a very hardy variety. You won't go wrong with it.

Fabio,
i have 4 avocado trees, one is a Gwen purchased from a nursery.it is 9 years old and i keep it cut down to under 7 feet.2 of them are grafts from this tree, they are about 4 to 5 years old and are under 5 feet tall.the fourth tree is about 30 years old. it was about 16 feet tall. i cut it down to 3 feet and it is now about 6 feet tall and doing fine.my point is, you can keep these trees to the hight you want.but you have to cut the top off every year.
art

My personal favorites are the Lula, Brogdon, Choquette, Monroe, Miguel, Tonnage and Simmonds. Walter & Gary Zil and I were chatting one day, Gary had a Simmonds (Early) & Choquette (Late), Walter a Brogdon (Late) and Lula in their yards. I have Lula (Late), Choquette, Brogdon and Simmonds and find the late varieties tend to have the most oil and flavor, Lulas are extremely tough and produce an enormous fruit, long harvest too boot. Day (Mid) is another variety I am impressed with as well.

There are so many good Avocados, it's difficult to select a favorite, as all impart a unique exception to another.

Here is a link that might be useful: Avocados

This is my most recent Lula Avocado. Paid $60 for it, it looked great and had fruit on it when I bought it.

This is what Avocados do when I try to grow them. I also planted a Mamey Sapote and Sapodilla in this same area. They are fine, thriving, yet the Avo did this.

We did have rain after I planted it, but it is not in a low area at all. I see healthy Avocado trees in my neighborhood, but mine die rapidly when I try them here. I have been trying for at least 6 years to grow one successfully.

Have tried many varieties. Wurtz did the best, in a pot, ignored, in my old dog run, on pea-rock. When I moved it
to the patio, it promptly died.

I can grow lots of "difficult" plants, but Avocados hate me!

Lisa

My avocado is very tall, maybe 25 ft, I didn't know to top it. Is it too late to do this? The fruit is small, but very tasty. I grew it from seed and it doesn't get a lot of fertilizer.

Lisa, I think I still see green stems on yours, just brown leaves. Are you sure it gets enought water?

I have a Lula... and it is doing fine. I am a mile from Lisa ( sorry Lisa ) LOL !

When we clear the north east side of our lot , i plan on getting a brogdon to put there.

I remember some the old large lots in Fort Lauderdale, loaded with fruit trees. Some of them were so tall that you could not pick the fruit , even with a picker.

I plan to keep my fruit trees smaller, and have more of them.

Lisa, your avocado tree could have verticillium wilt. This disease is common in areas with intensive vegetable production in the past especially tomatoes.

So what did you do? Top it off?

Lula is a good avocado, but am told it has a "sweet" flavor like you sprinkled sugar on it which some people say they don't care for. I would recommend tasting one first if you can.

After a lot of questions I settled on Oro Negro & Brogdon for 9B.

If anyone has a Lula and can confirm this let me know.

I have a Lula tree and it's an outstanding avocado. It's very creamy due to the high oil

Content with a hint of sweetness. You can start removing the large avocados in October and continue to January and sometimes February. Very long harvest period. Lula is susceptible to scabs so I spray with copper fungicide about twice a year. The skin does not peel off. I've tried many different types of avocados and Lula is among the best.