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Author Topic: Avocado's Yes or NO?!  (Read 7978 times)

Alex_

  • Joined Jul 2016
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #15 on: August 15, 2016, 02:42:56 pm »
Yes I read that, as they like a hot humid enviroment. You can grow them in the south of England/cornwall area?

You can grow them In herts. Mine were in a greenhouse that has a pond with circulating water.
They like rainforest conditions. Hot and humid  :thumbsup:

If anyone wants to start them. I would recommend trying to germinate indoors in Feb/March as it takes them a while to burst through the shell

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #16 on: August 15, 2016, 02:50:27 pm »
apparently it can also take them 10 years to fruit? Very slow maturing tree
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #17 on: August 15, 2016, 04:33:02 pm »
I love a ripe avocado but don't expect it to grown in Britain, no more than oranges or bananas but, I was so cross whilst looking at organic spuds and courgettes in Tesco to find that one was grown in eygypt and one in the USA!!

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2016, 05:53:44 pm »
^ yup, and one from "sunshine farms", and the other from "happy valley" or whatever fake farm name they think the public will fall for next  >:(.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Piggerswiggers

  • Joined Jul 2015
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #19 on: August 18, 2016, 09:30:30 am »
Hmmm, I like avocados and absolutely don't expect them to be grown in Britain. This is food for thought and I hope I can source some Fair Trade ones.
I agree with Devonlady that at peak British production time I don't expect courgettes or new pots to be coming from abroad. If you must eat asparagus out of season then you have to expect it to come from a more exotic climate but COURGETTES in August. I know that as a nation we're not self sufficient in the amount of food that we grow but something seems to have gone awry, is there no profit in growing crops to eat in this country?

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #20 on: August 18, 2016, 10:19:42 am »
The effects of the supermarket giants is enormous both in Britain and overseas.  I only know a quick overview, but basically if you are a big producer and don't sell via a supermarket then you will have few outlets.  Overseas they have contracts in various countries where they can dictate exactly what is grown and the price paid.  Equally, if one line becomes unfashionable so unprofitable then they drop it, and the producers of that line will suffer accordingly.  Here, you accept what they pay too, and the same thing happens if a line is dropped.   There is massive waste if each fruit and veg doesn't conform to exact size and shape requirements - the failed produce is dumped to rot.
You could spend a lifetime researching all this and not cover the whole problem.

For small producers, it's a whole lot of heavy work for not much reward, if you don't have the big machinery and have to find your own outlets.
We have complained to the big boys about them buying in produce from overseas when it is grown just up the road.  The response is nearly always either that local producers can't supply the amounts the supermarkets need, they can't keep up a continuous supply, they already have a contract with an overseas supplier or..........it's what the consumer wants  ???   Oh really??
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 10:23:18 am by Fleecewife »
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #21 on: August 18, 2016, 12:44:58 pm »
The effects of the supermarket giants is enormous both in Britain and overseas.  I only know a quick overview, but basically if you are a big producer and don't sell via a supermarket then you will have few outlets.  Overseas they have contracts in various countries where they can dictate exactly what is grown and the price paid.  Equally, if one line becomes unfashionable so unprofitable then they drop it, and the producers of that line will suffer accordingly.  Here, you accept what they pay too, and the same thing happens if a line is dropped.   There is massive waste if each fruit and veg doesn't conform to exact size and shape requirements - the failed produce is dumped to rot.
You could spend a lifetime researching all this and not cover the whole problem.

For small producers, it's a whole lot of heavy work for not much reward, if you don't have the big machinery and have to find your own outlets.
We have complained to the big boys about them buying in produce from overseas when it is grown just up the road.  The response is nearly always either that local producers can't supply the amounts the supermarkets need, they can't keep up a continuous supply, they already have a contract with an overseas supplier or..........it's what the consumer wants  ???   Oh really??
Actually that is starting to change a little, I watched this not long ago.
BBC iPlayer - Hugh's War on Waste - Episode 3: The Battle Continues
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #22 on: August 18, 2016, 02:08:44 pm »
Yes it has now become a recognised phenomenon and is being studied and possible solutions explored.  However, what the supermarkets are doing about it is minimal in the great scheme of things.
For most families, the cheaper they can buy their food the better, so the supermarket way is great for them, and they don't want it to change....and who can blame them?  The difficulty though is allowing the producers themselves to make a living wage.  It is nearly always cheaper to source produce from overseas, which goes a long way towards explaining why so much of our food is not home-produced.   Here, we have much higher welfare standards for animals and workers than many countries abroad, but those higher standards come at a price.  Only those with a surplus of income can afford to choose the more expensive item above the cheaper, even if ethically and nutritionally the more expensive item wins out.

You can get into the rights and wrongs of shareholders wanting the best returns, but we are bordering on the political here, which is verboten on TAS.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #23 on: August 18, 2016, 03:23:09 pm »
It is too, too easy to shop in supermarkets, at one time I wouldn't have dreamed of using them but now I'm as guilty as any!
Friends of ours have a beautiful market garden and, this year after being ill and unable (or unwilling!) to grow my own have relied on them for veg.
They sold e.g. a good sized bundle of French or runner beans, Six lovely courgettes, a kilo of new potatoes etc for a pound a go (all grown without pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers, in fact grown with love!) and not until they dropped their prices to 50p a go did folk flock for them. How mean is that!!
Sorry to shout, but GOOD FOOD SHOULD NOT BE CHEAP!!!!

Ina

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • South Aberdeenshire
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #24 on: August 23, 2016, 03:22:32 pm »
Yes, good food should not be cheap - but there are too many people in my situation (and not just families - it always annoys me to hear it all being brought back to families, singletons like me are just as affected!), who are on a close-to-zero budget and not willing to let benefits agencies drive them to suicide... If I didn't buy the cheapest stuff at the supermarket, my choice would not be between ethical and non-ethical food, it would be between food or not eating. Fortunately, my council home comes with a smallish garden, so I can grow at least some of my fruit and veg myself.

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #25 on: August 23, 2016, 04:24:57 pm »
I disagree. Good food should be cheap. It's should be a basic right to a healthy belly-full. It's exotic, fancy and imported that ought to reflect it's true cost.
And by good food I mean simple staple fruit and veg. Storage and preservation aren't the issues of centuries past so UK grown stuff can be kept for out of season.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #26 on: August 23, 2016, 10:31:49 pm »
I too am on a low income but I try to buy at least some of my fruit and veg from my local shop. The owner goes to market three days a week so it is fairly fresh and they save all the over-ripe and damaged stock for my goats.


I do grow as much as I can though.

Jullienne

  • Joined Apr 2016
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #27 on: August 28, 2016, 11:12:36 am »
I love the way the conversation on this thread has turned, thankyou for all your input it has been a truly fascinating discussion :)
boast not yourself of tomorrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. proverbs 27 verses 1-2.

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: Avocado's Yes or NO?!
« Reply #28 on: August 28, 2016, 11:31:54 am »
I know Avocado's are poisonous to chickens, but who could afford to buy them anyway?


On the subject of good food and the price, we were surprised how expensive supermarket prices for veg were here in the Southwest of France, perhaps double the prices in England. The reason is that all the Supermarkets source most locally from small producers, presumably because of the delivery distances otherwise. Vegetables do taste noticeable better though, just like home grown. Almost everyone who can has a 'potager' (vegetable garden) and spends a large amount of time collecting rainwater for it, because tap water is expensive -50% more than England. But you can save a lot of money. The weekly markets are full of small producers selling their crops and surprisingly they cost even more than the Supermarkets, but people here are prepared to pay extra to support their farming neighbours.

 

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