Tree fruit·Harvest November – May·Half-hardy · scorched by a light frost, killed at −3 °c

Avocados

Persea americana

A fruit that will not ripen on the tree — so the tree is the store, and the kitchen counter does the rest.

Signs of ripeness: Avocados do not ripen on the tree, so maturity is judged by the variety’s season and the size of the fruit. The easiest test is to pick one large fruit and leave it on the kitchen counter: a mature fruit softens in 3–8 days, while one that shrivels, turns rubbery or rots at the stem end was picked too early, so wait and try again. Fruit can hang for weeks through its season and be picked as needed, but eventually it drops.
Harvesting: Clip the fruit with a short piece of stalk, using secateurs or a picking pole with a bag, rather than pulling it. Immature fruit is prone to stem-end rot as it softens, which is one more reason not to pick early.
Frost tolerance: Cold tolerance depends on the race: West Indian avocados are damaged at about −1 to −2 °C, Guatemalan types at −2 to −3 °C, and Mexican types, the hardiest, at −3 to −4 °C, with hybrids in between. Young trees are the most tender, and fruit on the tree is lost to a hard frost. When frost is forecast, pick mature fruit you want to ripen and cover or wrap young trees.

Storage

Storing avocados

Where	Temperature	Humidity	Keeps	How
On the tree	10–30 °C50–86 °F	moderate	Weeks, through the variety’s season	The tree is the best store: pick a few at a time as you need them.
Kitchen counter, to ripen	16–24 °C61–75 °F	moderate	3–8 days to ripen	Ripens best at 16–24 °C. Warmer, it ripens unevenly and develops off flavours.
Fridge, ripe fruit	4–7 °C39–45 °F	moderate	A few days	Refrigerate only ripe fruit. Hard fruit held below about 4 °C — 13 °C for West Indian types — suffers chilling injury: darkened skin and grey-brown flesh.

Preserving

Preserving avocados

Avocados are eaten fresh; there is no tested home method for canning or drying them. They freeze satisfactorily only as purée, not whole or sliced: peel and stone fruit that yields to gentle pressure, mash it, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for every two avocados — or ¼ teaspoon (750 mg) of ascorbic acid per litre (quart) of purée — pack with headspace and freeze, unsweetened for guacamole and sandwiches, sweetened for desserts and smoothies.

Freezing
The fastest route and the one that keeps flavour best.

Seed saving

Grown from tubers, cloves, crowns or runners, not seed

Avocados do not come true from seed: a stone from a good fruit gives a tree of unknown quality. Named varieties are grafted — usually cleft- or veneer-grafted onto vigorous seedling rootstocks — and grafted trees begin to bear in three to four years. Seedlings are the usual rootstocks, though, so a stone is worth sowing if you plan to graft onto it.

Keeps: Short. Sow stones fresh; held in sealed polyethylene bags at about 4 °C they have stayed viable for up to five months.

Seed saving →

Next year

Planning avocados for next season

Drainage is everything: avocados will not tolerate flooding or waterlogged soil, and in wet ground they die of Phytophthora root rot, the most serious disease of the crop worldwide. Where drainage is doubtful, plant on a mound 60–120 cm high and 1.2–1.8 m across, in full sun and away from lawn sprinklers. Some varieties fruit well on their own; others set better with a variety of the opposite flowering type (A or B) blooming nearby, so look at what your neighbours grow. Water young trees once or twice a week in dry spells for their first three years, and avoid drought while flowers and fruit are developing. Plant at the start of the rains in the tropics, or in spring after frost in Mediterranean climates. Guatemalan and Mexican types and their hybrids suit cool highlands and Mediterranean coasts; in the hot, humid lowlands, West Indian types do better.

Avocados at a glance

Botanical name: Persea americana
Group: Tree fruit
Picked: November, December, January, February, March, April, May
Frost: Half-hardy: scorched by a light frost, killed at −3 °c.
Best put up as: freezing
Seed: Grown from tubers, cloves, crowns or runners, not seed

Questions people ask about avocados

Do avocados ripen on the tree?

No. Avocados soften only after they are picked or fall, which is why the tree can be used as a store through the variety’s season. A mature fruit picked and left at room temperature ripens in three to eight days.

How do I know when to pick my avocados?

Pick one large fruit during the variety’s season and leave it on the counter. If it softens evenly within about a week, the crop is mature; if it shrivels, turns rubbery or rots at the stem end, wait a few weeks and test again.

Will an avocado grown from a stone produce fruit?

It may eventually, but not the fruit you planted: avocados do not come true from seed. For a known variety and a crop in three to four years, buy a grafted tree, or graft a named variety onto your seedling.

Do I need two avocado trees?

Not always. Avocado flowers open as female and male at different times of day, and varieties are classed as A or B types by that timing. Some varieties fruit well alone, but others set better with an opposite type blooming nearby; a neighbour’s tree often does the job.

Can you freeze avocado?

Yes, as purée only. Mash ripe flesh with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice per two avocados, pack with headspace and freeze. Whole or sliced avocados do not freeze satisfactorily.

How cold can an avocado tree take?

It depends on the race: West Indian types are damaged at about −1 to −2 °C, Guatemalan at −2 to −3 °C and Mexican, the hardiest, at −3 to −4 °C. Young trees are more tender than established ones, so wrap or cover them on frost nights.

Local frost dates

Harvest timing for a place

Enter a town, postal code or ZIP to build the garden year, the frost forecast and this week’s guide from local weather.

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Checked against these sources · last reviewed October 2026

Harvest months are typical for zones 4–6 and shift by weeks north and south. Storage figures assume ideal conditions; without a cold store, expect the shorter end of each range.