I live in Colorado. It gets very cold here sometimes below 0. I have just started to Avocado plants from seeds and next year i would like to plant them outside. My question is........ Can i protect my Avocado trees/plants from the cold with insulation durring the winter and cold months? Any help or info on this would be great.
Most Avocado trees can only tolerate minimal amouts of frost let alone freezing weather for long periods of time. It would be very difficult to give enough protection if it could be done without a heated structure like a greenhouse. Avocado trees can be kept as houseplants if they are given adequate lighting.
If you want fruit someday buy grafted specimens of named cultivars instead. Seedlings may take quite awhile to reach flowering size and then may not be cross-compatible, or produce quality fruit.
Seedlings normally take at least 13 years to reach flowering/fruiting size, are self-sterile, and generally produce poor-quality fruits if you can get a pollinator. I'm guessing you've got Hass pits or a similar black-skinned cultivar; these are notoriously finicky growers. If you just want an attractive little tree, though, the greenhouse method will be just fine for you, but watch out for spider-mites....
