Re: Bark damage on an avocado

Leon Fisk <lfiskgr@gmail.invalid> wrote:

On Wed, 14 May 2025 14:32:20 -0000 (UTC)
bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
 
<snip>

It does explain the anomalous flowering, however. Still, it doesn't seem
like a good practice for general cultivation. It's effectively starving
the roots.

 
In case you didn't read all the way to the comments... I found them
interesting, voicing some of your concerns too.
 
Seems girdling would only be done on some branches, not the whole tree.
It would insure the grower that part of their tree would likely have
fruit this harvest season.
 

After thinking it over, maybe shortening the life of the tree, at
least in a commercial context, makes sense. I've noticed that the
nut tree orchards near me are getting pulled out and replaced with
presumably more profitable crops. Sometimes with newer varieties
of the same tree. It seems odd, but industrial agriculture is the
model of rational action.

I'd noticed small trees on my property flowering after rabbits had
badly girdled them earlier during winter. They always die but I'd never
paid attention to whether they set fruit or not. Plan on paying better
attention to this, for curiosities sake.

Did the trees you observed live long enough to ripen any fruit they
might set? I summarily removed the girdled avocado limb, thinking
any fruit set would never mature.

In the case of the lemon tree last spring, fruit on the girdled
branches didn't drop, but it was large, bland and not representative
of the other fruit on the tree.

Thanks for writing,

bob prohaska