What Climate Does an Avocado Tree Need?

The avocado tree produces a green to black skinned, pear shaped fruit with one large seed. These trees can grow quite large under the right conditions. These trees are picky, though, and won't grow just anywhere.

Avocado tree with fruit

Types

Avocados come in three main types, West Indian, Guatemalan and Mexican. All other types are hybrids of these.

Descriptions

The West Indian avocado is the least cold tolerant with a more watery flavor. The Mexican variety tolerates cold the best and has a very good flavor, but is thin skinned and more prone to disease. The Guatemalan type falls in between the other two for tolerance and flavor.

Geography

The avocado is a tropical to subtropical tree. In the United States, if you were to run a line from approximately Santa Barbara, California to Goldsboro, North Carolina, everything south of this would be considered subtropical.

Considerations

Wind and humidity also matter to avocado trees. Planting trees in a place sheltered from the wind, especially if you get cool winds, can be very important.

Soils

Avocado trees are also picky about their soil. Soils that have poor drainage or that tend to flood are not good location choices.

References

• Texas A & M - Department of Horticultural Sciences
• UCLA Botany