Talking avocados with grove expert Charley Wolk

In Fallbrook, Charley Wolk’s name is synonymous with avocado groves. Many would think that Wolk’s vast knowledge of avocados was something he must have learned growing up in a family agriculture business; however, this is not the case.

Wolk was born and raised in St. Louis, MO – not an area where avocado groves are generally seen. His interest in avocados began when he moved to Fallbrook in 1972. “I lived in Fallbrook before traffic lights and shopping centers,” said Wolk, owner of Bejoca Grove and Landscape Maintenance.

Holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps, Wolk was transferred to Camp Pendleton in the early 1970s. It was then that he decided to purchase a home in Fallbrook. “Then came the search for a three-bedroom house, which was very difficult at the time, but we eventually found it,” said Wolk.

The Wolks’ new home, located on a one-acre parcel, was surrounded by an avocado grove. At the time of purchase, Wolk had no interest in avocados. “But when I got the property and it had the avocado trees, I started to learn about them; I went on a learning adventure.”

As Wolk immersed himself in the learning process and gained new knowledge, he decided that avocado groves might be a nice thing to work into his future after retiring from the Marine Corps. With this in mind, he purchased two more adjacent parcels which added five more acres of groves to his collection.

With a desire to buy more property, he found the price of land to be a sobering proposition. “I then decided if I couldn’t own more avocado groves then I would manage avocado groves for other people,” said Wolk. And in 1976, Bejoca Grove and Landscape Management was born.

While operating his new company, Wolk was still active in the Marine Corps. Simply put, he was a very busy man. “I used to go out and turn on the irrigation in groves,” he reminisced, “and put my uniform on in the groves and then go straight to Camp Pendleton.”

After retiring from the Marine Corps in 1980, Wolk became a full-fledged avocado expert. In fact, now, he’s clocked 30-plus years in the industry. “From the standpoint of personal satisfaction, my business has been tremendous,” he said.

What has continued to intrigue Wolk the most about the industry has been the ongoing challenges. “The only thing that keeps the avocado business interesting is that they keep on changing the challenges.”

As many already know, challenges for local farmers have been significant over the past few months with the damage inflicted by the Rice Fire in October and mandatory agricultural water cutbacks implemented by water agencies.

In reference to the water cutbacks, Wolk said he has advised avocado growers, “The simple advice is do not try and cut back 30 percent of water on all your trees.” Wolk says to stump 30 percent of the crop so the remaining crop can receive its water nutrients and not be starved. By starving a tree, the outcome can be devastating.

“An avocado tree needs a lot of water,” said Wolk. “If you starve a crop of water by 30 percent, <avocados> will not gain enough weight, and the grower gets paid by the pound.” A starved tree may produce avocados, but the fruit will be small in size.

Putting a tree under stress by not giving it the water it needs will set the wheels in motion for additional crop devastation. “[Next spring] it will either not flower or it will flower and drop its flowers because the tree as been stressed.”

According to Wolk, farmers are well advised to stump 30 percent of their avocado trees, take the remaining 70 percent of that water and give it to the existing crop. In doing so, the fruit will size nicely. “And your trees will be healthy in 2009 for flowering and new fruit.”

For those avocado groves that suffered fire damage, Wolk opines that they are now commercially destroyed. “The tree may live, but it will never be a good-producing tree again because the bark has been destroyed by the heat of the fire.”

In more than 30 years, Wolk has endured many challenges in the avocado industry. The secret, he says, is that essentially one must be an optimist to farm. Innovation and creativity is the key, he said, and keeping up with the industry will keep a farmer profitable.

“We’re looking at planting trees closer together so you can increase the productivity per acre; we have different strategies now for controlling the height of the trees.” With challenges comes new innovation, and it’s these tactics that can assist farmers in producing more pounds per acre.

“And that’s how you end up surviving and making money,” said Wolk.