Avocado Cultivars
There are generally three main families of Avocado accepted in the scientific community: Mexican, Central American and West Indian.
Many viable varieties are a cross between two or more of the families, with characteristics of each.
The vast majority of commercial avocado groves are growing the Hass cultivar, as this variety is the most desirable at market. This mass monoculture of
a single genepool leaves the entire industry at risk of a newly introduced pest or disease that is particularly adapted to that variety with no
natural defenses in place. It is not unthinkable that the entire multi-million dollar industry in California could be devastated in a year's time.
Because of this fact, many organizations are working to develop new varieties with desirable characteristics (taste, storage, shipping characteristics, appealing
to consumers) to increase the diversity of the genepool and spread the risk. There are a few hundred registered varieties of avocado, some of which are adapted to the dry
mediteranian climate of California, while others might be more adapted to the wet and humid areas of Florida.
The cultivars grown in our groves are listed below.
Hass
Bacon
Carmen
Daily #11
Ettinger
Gem
Lamb Hass
Leavens Hass
Nabal
Pinkerton
Reed
Walter Hole
Zutano
Citrus
Improved Meyer
Satsuma Mandarin
Gold Nugget Mandarin
Washington Naval
Hamlin Sweet
Valencia
Pixie Mandarin