Fuerte Avocado Tree Persea americana Fuerte

Rich, buttery fruit and a canopy wide enough to sit under are why Fuerte gets planted. The pear shaped fruit has thin, smooth skin that keeps its green as it ripens, and the pale flesh carries plenty of oil, the classic green skinned avocado taste. The tree is a large, wide spreading evergreen, more a shade tree that happens to crop than a compact orchard tree, so it belongs in a big backyard where a broad canopy is welcome.

Cropping is the weak point: a heavy year is often followed by a light one, and cool, changeable weather during spring flowering can cut fruit set sharply. A good season is excellent; a poor one can leave only a handful of fruit.

Room to spread, and a little more frost tolerance

Fuerte is a cross between the Mexican and Guatemalan races, and the Mexican side gives it somewhat more cold tolerance than Hass once established: a light frost marks it less, though young trees still need covering on frosty nights. In most Australian gardens the fruit matures from autumn into winter. Plan for the spread before you plant. A tree from our Advanced Trees looks tidy in its container, but within a few years the canopy grows wide, so set it well back from boundaries, the house and any pool. A canopy this size drops a lot of old leaves in spring, and those leaves, like the bark, peel and seed, carry persin, poisonous to cage birds and to horses, goats and other livestock, so do not let the tree overhang an aviary or a paddock fence, and keep dogs off the large seed, which can choke them or block the gut. Full sun, shelter from strong wind, which snaps the brittle limbs, and deep, free draining soil are the essentials. Where water sits after rain, Phytophthora root rot follows, so plant on a raised mound if your soil is heavy.

Thin skin needs gentle handling

Fuerte skin is thin and bruises easily, and fruit left hanging well past maturity, or windfalls lying on the ground, can attract fruit fly in coastal Queensland and New South Wales. Pick once the fruit reach full size and the skin dulls slightly, then ripen them in the kitchen, as avocados never soften properly while attached. Clip each one with a short stalk rather than pulling it. Watch for fruit spotting bug in warm coastal districts, and net the tree if possums take more than their share.

Fuerte as a partner, and what to grow instead

With Type B flowers, Fuerte is a traditional pollinating partner for the Hass Avocado Tree, and the pair often crop better together than either does alone. If you need a tree that stays smaller in a warm district, the Shepard Avocado Tree is lower and less vigorous, and in a cold, frosty garden Bacon is hardier still. Keep Fuerte productive by pruning lightly straight after harvest, shortening the longest limbs to slow the spread, and avoid hard cuts that expose bark to sunburn. Feed lightly, spreading fertiliser out to the edge of the canopy where the feeder roots are rather than heaping it at the trunk, and water deeply through summer and flowering. For pollination and spacing across a whole backyard orchard, read growing fruit trees in Australian backyards.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 90L, at $599.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.