Ancient farming technique

Avocado trees can take years to grow from seed to a tree that bears fruit.  As far back as Egyptian times, farmers have refreshed a grove of fruit trees by grafting. An old tree is cut back and a young tree’s branch is bounded (grafted) to a branch of the old tree. Farmers will often graft a tree branch of younger tree that has desirable qualities, doing this to add or blend the desired qualities of the new to the old. Qualities like a favorite avocado “flavor”, tree hardiness, season’s time of year and disease immunity are all qualities taken into consideration when grafting.