21 year old Hass avocado not holding fruitlets. (forum)

John, Melbourne starts with ...
I have a 21 year old Hass avocado seedling growing in the ground in Melbourne:

- at 17 years old it flowered for the first time but did not set fruit,
- at 19 years old I cinctured it,
- later that year and again the following year (years 19 & 20) it produced a mass of flowers (thousands), lots of fruitlets, and for the first time 1 mature avocado,
- in winter this year (year 21) I cinctured it again,
- this spring / summer it again produced thousands of flowers and hundreds of fruitlets,
- and as in the previous years within a couple of weeks all fruitlets bar 1 have dropped off.

The tree looks very healthy, has received ample rain watering, it is in an area protected from wind, has not had heat stress, and would have been about 5 metres tall if I hadn't trimmed it to a manageable height after this year's failed fruit set.

Can anyone suggest any ways to make the fruitlets hold and develop to maturity, or is this a lost cause?
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Time: 26th December 2025 8:19pm

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About the Author John, Melbourne
NIDDRIE,3042,VIC
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PlumRob says...
Hey mate that's a beautiful tree but the problem is probably self-incompatability.

Some avos are self fertile, however most aren't, needing pollen from another tree of a different flowering types (there are 2 types, A and B). Single, self incompatable trees can hold the odd fruit if there is a bee passing through that may have come from a tree say 10kms away.

The best thing you can do for your tree is get it some friends. Buy a Bacon (B) and a Reed (A) or Hass (A), plant them at the start of spring to give them time to grow before the frosts, and keep them happy and in a few years you will start getting fruits on all 3 trees.

Time: 13th February 2026 5:24pm

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About the Author PlumRob
GLENORIE,2157,NSW
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