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If I were to describe the Day Avocado to an Avocado Connoisseur from California, I would call it “Florida’s Fuerte.”
For those in Florida who have not had an opportunity to sample a California Fuerte, they are DELICIOUS. So if you are in Florida and are looking for a good “California Style” Avocado (nutty, oily, rich), then you may want to potentially consider adding Day Avocado to your yard!
With that being said, this grow guide will cover everything that you need to know about Day Avocado:
Table of Contents
- Day Avocado Tree Characteristics
- Day Avocado Flavor Profile
- Day Avocado Season (And When To Pick)
- Day Avocado History
- Day Avocado Tree For Sale
- Conclusion
Day Avocado Tree Characteristics
The Day Avocado Tree is a Flowering Type B Avocado. In other words, the female flowers open in the afternoon and male flowers in the morning. In order to maximize Day’s fruit production, the tree should be planted near a Flowering Type A Avocado with a similar fruiting season.
This includes avocado cultivars such as:
- Catalina (FL)
- Choquette (FL)
- Florida Hass (FL)
- Lula (FL)
- Super Hass (FL)
Day Avocado is a precocious avocado cultivar whose fruit production consistently ranges from good to heavy. The avocados themselves are small, elongated fruits that typically weigh between 0.5 and 1.0 lb.
By the same token, due to the presence of a larger seed, Day Avocado has a decent flesh-to-seed ratio.
The Day Avocado is a Mexican X West Indian Hybrid and is moderately cold tolerant to temperates as low as 25°F, possibly even slightly lower due to its Mexican genetics.
This makes Day Avocado a great option for those in USDA Hardiness Zones 9B and above.
Finally, the Day Avocado Tree has a somewhat vigorous and upright growth habit.
Day Avocado Flavor Profile
The Day Avocado’s shape and feel are very similar to Fuerte. It has smooth and shiny skin that is soft and thin, though not as thin as Mexicola or Brogdon. Additionally, the skin is pliable and easy to peel.
Before slicing open and consuming the fruit, it’s essential to allow the Day Avocado to properly ripen until it’s soft all-around, similar to that of a ripe mamey. Otherwise, parts of the fruit will remain hard (especially near the center), which is honestly not that enjoyable.
Upon opening the fruit, the seed will pop right out of the cavity with little to no seed husk sticking to the fruit. The thick, greenish flesh has a very firm yet buttery/creamy texture that is dense with an oily richness.
This makes Day Avocado an excellent choice for making guacamole.
From a flavor perspective, Day Avocado is very rich with a distinct nuttiness that is complemented by a strong sweetness component.
While Day is not as nutty as Hass or Fuerte, it definitely ranks up there with Lula, Catalina, and Malama in terms of overall flavor and 100% beats out something like a Brogdon. Day definitely appeals to those who enjoy Mexican-race avocados or avocados grown in California.
As a result, I have no problem saying that a perfectly ripe Day Avocado is one of the best-tasting avocados that can be grown in Florida.
Day Avocado Season (And When To Pick)
Day Avocados are considered a mid-season avocado (September – November).
Despite Day Avocados having an extended season, I have noticed that they can have problems with uneven ripening when picked in September. As a result, one of the most effective ways to minimize this issue is allowing the fruit to hang longer on the tree and to harvest them closer to October or November.
That said, the best time to pick Day Avocados are when they are mature on the tree. In addition to the fruit turning a light green color, we can check if the fruit is full size and then attempt to gently remove it from the tree.
If both of these conditions are met (in addition to it being Sept – Nov), then Day should be ready to harvest!
And while determining an avocado’s maturity can be difficult and require some trial and error, I have developed a repeatable process that has worked great for me:
- Starting Sept 15 (I personally like waiting until Oct), pull a single fruit off the tree and allow it ripen for 3 – 8 days (at room temperature)
- Delicately create small indents all around the fruit using your fingers.
- If you detect a mixture of hard and soft spots, the fruit is not yet ripe.
- Conversely, uniform softness (not super soft) throughout the fruit indicates that it is ready for consumption.
- Delicately create small indents all around the fruit using your fingers.
- Taste the fruit – is the taste or consistency off ?
- If the fruit tastes great, the rest of the avocados on our tree are ready to be harvested
- If the fruit tastes sour/foul/rancid, wait 1-2 weeks, and repeat the process with another single fruit
- Fruit that are picked too early will often become black/inedible.
After confirming that the avocados on our tree are mature, we can begin developing our ‘avocado pipeline.’ This involves picking some fruit to ripen on the counter for more immediate use while also placing others in the refrigerator to be used later. By adopting this approach, we can ensure a continuous supply of ripe avocados.
Day Avocado History
While the Day Avocado has been around for a while, there isn’t a lot of literature regarding this cultivar’s origin story. However, the consensus is that Day originated on the west coast of Florida almost a century ago.
Day Avocado is also known as VC207, where it is commonly used as a rootstock in Israel due to its increased salt tolerance.
Day Avocado Tree For Sale
Fortunately, due to Day Avocado’s delicious flavor and excellent cold hardiness, it is common in the nursery trade.
That said, if you are unable to find one at a local nursery, your next best option is checking out Lara Farms Miami (not sponsored). They are one of the only legit places online where you are getting exactly what you are paying for.
Lara Farms has over 30 varieties of avocados available. They do ship!
Conclusion
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If you have any questions regarding anything mentioned in this grow guide, please comment them below! This way, others can also benefit from the answer to the same question. For any other questions or growing tips that you think may be helpful, feel free to use the contact form and drop me a line.
Thank you for reading! 🙂
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