Get in line for an avocado tree: orders mount up as planting season approaches

14:55, Aug 13 2018
MARK TAYLOR / STUFF
Wairere Nursery, in the Waikato, has about 200 orders for avocado trees.

If you want to plant an avocado tree, get in the queue.

The ideal time is approaching and Waikato's Wairere Nursery is sitting on 86 orders for Hass avocado saplings alone.

Add the three other varieties stocked at the Gordonton nursery and the order total creeps past 200.

Interest in growing avocados at home has rocketed in recent months.
BAYLEY MOOR/STUFF
Interest in growing avocados at home has rocketed in recent months.

People are asking about avocados all day, every day, owner Lloyd Houghton said.

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When he's interrupted on the subject to serve some customers - sure enough, they're asking, too.

Wairere Nursery owner Lloyd Houghton says he has about 86 orders in for Hass avocados alone. Add in the three other varieties he stocks and the order tops 200.
MARK TAYLOR/STUFF
Wairere Nursery owner Lloyd Houghton says he has about 86 orders in for Hass avocados alone. Add in the three other varieties he stocks and the order tops 200.

The green gold is also popular at The Plant Depot in Te Rapa, Hamilton, which has been out of trees since about April.

The next order it can get is due in late September.

Wairere Nursery doesn't sell avocado trees during frosty Waikato winters, but that hasn't stopped enquiries.

There are 86 for Hass avocados, and about 44 for the Bacon variety, 58 for Fuerte, and 29 for Reed, Houghton said.

He's noticed an uptick in avocado interest over the past two years - but he said that goes for all fruit trees.

Increasing avocado prices could be one reason, he said.

Avocados were $2.95 a pop at New World Rototuna when Stuff visited on Monday.

But Houghton also thinks people like the grow-your-own, spray-free lifestyle.

Avocados aren't the only sought-after fruit, co-owner Harry Janssen said.

There's a wait list for persimmons, too, he said, and about 100 people missed out.

Over in Te Rapa, The Plant Depot isn't selling any avocados at the moment - because it sold out of them in April.

That shipment of about 30 plants arrived at Christmas 2017, Andrew Grilli said.

A quarter of the plants in the shipment due next month have owners waiting for them.

"[Avocado trees] are very sought after and there's definitely a shortage," Grilli said. "We buy from wholesale nurseries - that's where the shortage is."

It takes about two years for wholesalers to cultivate the plant, he said, and their popularity and high prices could be driving demand.

Developers buying bulk for commercial avocado plantings up north could also be affecting supply, he said.

Avocado-growing tips from the nurseries include planting after winter, so the tree will have nine months to harden.

Waikato growers - or others in frosty areas - will also need to cover the tree to protect it from frost for its first three or four winters.

And don't expect avos straight away. It may take three to five years for the tree to gain size and start fruiting.