CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



157 



PLANTING PLANS FOR AN AVOCADO ORCHARD 

 By H. J. Webber, Director, Citrus Experiment Station 



The avocado, while well known, and widely grown in tropical countries, 

 has nowhere been cultivated in extensive orchards on a commercial scale. 

 No literature or experience is available to guide the grower in the laying 

 out of the orchard. The oldest trees in California are still young, twenty 

 to twenty-five years of age, and thus little evidence is obtainable here to 

 indicate how large avocado trees will normally grow in California. Again, 

 in all fruits the trees of different varieties may differ considerably in their 

 size, and judging from the rate of growth observed in the different varieties 

 now being grown, the varieties of avocado apparently present no exception to 

 this rule. It is clearly evident that nobody at the present time can do 

 more than hazzard a guess at the distance apart the trees should stand 

 in a permanent orchard. Furthermore, it is evident that satisfactory in- 

 formation on this point cannot possibly be obtained for a number of years 

 — probably at least ten years. 



In the meantime, the avocado industry is developing rapidly, and it 

 is very probable that serious mistakes may be made that will be difficult 

 to correct. Are there any precautionary measures that can be taken? 

 It seems to the writer that the only thing to do to guard against loss 

 is to plant the orchards on some flexible plan that will provide for changes 

 in distance without loss, and this, it seems to me, is possible by carefully 

 planning the orchard in advance. The writer would not assume to be 

 able to make a plan that would fit all conditions, but the suggestions 

 made below may be of value in stimulating growers to devise even better 

 plans. 



The largest tree in the state, known to the writer, is the Chappelow 

 tree, twenty-two years old, which has a spread of about 60 feet. The 

 Challenge tree, 19 years old, has a spread of 38 to 40 feet, and the Taft 

 tree, sixteen' years old, about 35 feet. A number of trees of a size equal 

 to the two last mentioned exist in the state. All of these trees are com- 

 paratively young and give an indication of the size the trees may reach. 

 True, we may keep them down in size by pruning, but it has not been 

 determined that this is feasible. It seems to the writer that no distance 

 of less than 50 to 60 feet apart can at the present time be safely adopted 

 for the permanent orchard. At the present time 25 to 30 feet apart is the 

 space at which the trees are most commonly planted. This plan will allow 

 the taking out of every other row and every other tree in the permanent 

 rows ,leaving the final spacing 50 to 60 feet. 



The plan the writer desires to present (see diagram No. 1) is based 

 on the permanent trees being placed 60 feet apart. These permanent 

 trees are indicated with the letter P in the accompanying diagram. It 

 will be seen from an examination of this diagram, that in the first plant- 

 ing the rows are placed 30 feet apart, with a filler tree in the centre of 

 each square. The trees indicated by the figure 1 in the diagram are to 

 be the first filler trees, to be removed when the planting becomes crowded. 



