It's not as simple as male and female; it's A and B types, and sometimes
people will say that doesn't matter. Here are a couple of places to look for
info to get you started. Lots more if you look on Google.

http://www.californiaavocadosociety....g/growing.html
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html

This is what the CRFG (California Rare Fruit Growers) Fact Sheet about
Avocadoes says:
"Flowers: Avocado flowers appear in January - March before the first
seasonal growth, in terminal panicles of 200 - 300 small yellow-green
blooms. Each panicle will produce only one to three fruits. The flowers are
perfect, but are either receptive to pollen in the morning and shed pollen
the following afternoon (type A), or are receptive to pollen in the
afternoon, and shed pollen the following morning (type B). About 5% of
flowers are defective in form and sterile. Production is best with
cross-pollination between types A and B. The flowers attract bees and
hoverflies and pollination usually good except during cool weather.
Off-season blooms may appear during the year and often set fruit. Some
cultivars bloom and set fruit in alternate years."


--

Visit insectgraphics.com for all your insect gift needs
wrote in message
...


I have a question about avocados.

Being from CA, I love them. I want to grow a tree, which I started to
in CA, from a pit, and it took off quite nicely.

Since then, I've been told that bearing fruit is not simply a matter
of planting two together to cross-pollinate; you must graft them, and
one has to be male and another female. You can guess what my question
is- "How on earth do you tell the difference?"

Curious in SC
(Karen)