THEY’RE ALREADY HARVESTING LARGE, RIPE AVOCADOS IN LONDON, ENGLAND. WHY NOT IN VANCOUVER, CANADA?
Most people think it is impossible to grow Avocado trees, and to harvest ripe Avocado fruit, in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Canada. But they’re ALREADY harvesting large, delicious Avocados in London, UK that were grown outdoors, in the open air. And the climate in London is very similar to that found in Vancouver, Canada.
The BC Avocado Project was started in 2019 to identify, or create, a variety (or more than one variety) of Avocado tree that can thrive in Vancouver, Canada, as well as produce a crop of delicious Avocados in most years (if not every year).
Don’t you believe it’s possible?
Then watch this video of Joe (from Joe’s Tropicals) as he cuts open and tastes a LARGE Avocado that was grown outdoors in London, and was picked on Sunday 22-Nov-2020:
One good video like this cuts through all the incorrect conclusions that experts have been declaring for decades — that “Avocados cannot be successfully grown in cooler zones.” Another person from the UK, (known only as “Alcina”) actually tracked down an Avocado tree in London (possibly the same one that produced the fruit in the video above) and videoed the tree itself, so that you can see it close-up:
This is not a YouTube video, so it will load differently, and it may not run very smoothly. (When you hover the cursor over the field, you should click on that active area. Then a black screen will show up — click on that black screen…THEN the video will play. If you let it load for a minute before playing it, then it will play more smoothly.) But I have watched it and I was impressed with the SIZE of the large Avocado tree that she found in London, and the fact that it was LOADED with fruit!
Now, here is a video of another decent-sized Avocado tree in London, which had many Avocados on it. This video dates from 29-Dec-2019:
Finally, below is a video of a very different-looking Avocado tree, located near the remains of the famous old London Wall from the Roman era. This Avocado tree doesn’t have too many leaves, and it has no fruit at all. This is possibly because it grows in the shade, or because it is in poor soil.
You can see from the foregoing 4 videos, that there are MULTIPLE Avocado trees growing in London, UK and that some of them are GROWING FRUIT! Also, you need to know that these trees are all old enough that they have to have lived through the most recent -10°C (14°F) freeze, which occurred in 2012. These trees are heroic for the fact that they are still alive. The fact that some of them are producing crops of fruit is simply AMAZING.
SO, WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
This is important because the climate in London, England is very similar to the climate in Vancouver, Canada.
In London, UK, the temperature has reached down to at least to -6°C (21°F) in 8 out of the past 10 winters (reaching -10°C [14°F] in 2012). In Vancouver, BC it has reached down to at least -7°C or -8°C in most of the past 10 years (reaching -10°C in 2014).
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Vancouver, BC was -17.8°C (0°F) in 1950, and also in 1968. While the record cold for London, England was -18.7°C (-1°F) in 1929.
Both cities are famous for being rainy.
And both cities are north of the 49th parallel. London is actually 84 miles (134 km) closer to the North Pole than Vancouver, BC is.
If Avocados can grow and be harvested in London, England, then they can be grown and harvested in Vancouver, Canada, as well. We only need to plant some cold-hardy Avocado trees so that we can watch it happen.
We need to do one of the following:
- Deliberately plant varieties of Avocado tree that are known to be cold-hardy (like the Mexicola Grande, Aravaipa, Wilma, etc.) or plant many seeds from any known hardy varieties, or
- Plant as many seeds from store-bought Avocados as we can. Even though most seeds from store-bought Avocados will not be cold-hardy, a few of them will be. It’s very likely that some of these cold-hardy Avocado trees in the UK were accidentally planted from store-bought Avocados and just happened to grow and survive. This demonstrates that you can succeed if you only plant enough Avocado seeds, no matter where you get the seeds from. (Just so you know — Most store-bought Avocados are of the Hass variety. And the Hass variety is 61% Mexican and 39% Guatemalan. Which means that it contains a significant amount of cold-hardy DNA within it).
SO, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? If you want to grow your own Avocado fruit — Outdoors — in Vancouver, then don’t wait any longer. Start planting your Avocado seeds right now, and GET STARTED TODAY!!!
— George Stancliffe
(FYI: The BC Avocado Project is not a formal organization. It is an IDEA. It is a CONCEPT. Anyone can be a part of it, even if they never contact me or any other person involved in it. If you grow your own Avocado tree in Western British Columbia, you can rightly consider yourself a part of the BC Avocado Project. You are then a part of what is possibly the largest community-wide science experiment in Canadian history.)
For more information on growing your own Avocado tree in Vancouver, BC, go to the following 2 articles for additional details:
- The B.C. Avocado Project — https://georgestancliffe.medium.com/the-b-c-avocado-project-670ed22a74d7
2. How To Grow a Cold-Hardy Avocado Tree in Vancouver, Canada — https://georgestancliffe.medium.com/so-you-want-to-grow-an-avocado-tree-in-vancouver-canada-9472ff5c0b46