'J.Lo was taken': the Jala avocado, and viewers from Brazil to Zimbabwe who grow bigger
Landline's story of two Sunshine Coast neighbours and their kilogram fruit drew a comment section more than eight times busier than usual, much of it from countries where avocados this size are nothing new.
ABC Australia
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 258,416 views a day, 46 times a normal first day on this channel (5,610).
These avos are huge - and last longer too | Landline
Lorna Spackman wanted a name for the giant avocado growing between her property and John Mongan's, and the obvious one had a problem. "J.Lo was taken, you know?" she tells Landline. So the fruit became Jala, from Jack, John's nickname, and Lorna.
The two former citrus growers did not set out to breed anything. The tree came up by chance from dropped fruit, and its avocados turned out enormous. One, Spackman says, measured 1.2 kilograms. Mongan gave them away at first, then planted rows of them. Grant Southen, a market seller, spotted one on Mongan's counter and admits, "I thought it was papaya, to be honest." He took them to the Brisbane Markets, and he points to something besides size: cut Jala flesh browns slowly, staying fresh for two to three days.
The report follows the fruit through comparative trials for Plant Breeder's Rights, and to Fleming's Nurseries, where Jess Fleming says they cannot grow trees fast enough.
Nearly a quarter of a million people watched within a day, a long way past what a regular ABC Australia video usually draws. The comments came in more than eight times faster than usual, and they took the story around the world. Viewers in Brazil, Zimbabwe, South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and the Cook Islands write that this is simply a normal avocado where they live. Others share their own backyard giants, and several suggest the name should have been Laja, for larger.
The same day, Imaan Hadchiti's Miley Cyrus Short kept running well ahead of the channel's usual pace, as we reported here.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
I hope to someday buy an avocado so big I can move into it.
@sarcasmo57See it on YouTubeWell I've got my drivers licence, but I don't avocado
@tradwardSee it on YouTubethat's a normal size to kinda small avocado in Brazil.
@bernhardjordan9200See it on YouTube
7 more comments
Larger fruit and slower oxidation rate. This is a small but significant piece of Australian gardening history.
@Mark-p9c8mSee it on YouTubeI bought a giant avocado fruit 3 years ago , I dont know if it was a jala, choquette or something else, but it grew so fast, I had to lop it's top off, I also accidentally hit it badly twice with the brush cutter, it stopped growing , but put out flowers this summer and right now I have about 50 tiny avocados in the tree, it's really exciting
@mike_auSee it on YouTubeStrange. We have avos this big in Zimbabwe. Regular avos on sale here have always looked tiny to me.
@TakudzaSee it on YouTubeMy father in-law planted an avocado seed 40+yrs ago and the fruit that we harvest are delicious and Super sized..
@IRAMari-k7nSee it on YouTubeThese are normal size here in the cook islands
@Hfd678vcdgSee it on YouTubeThese are the farmers I want to see more of
@beno_slavaSee it on YouTubeJa-La could have been La-Ja.
@bigpuppy9923See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- ABC Australia
- Subscribers
- 472,000 ▲ 3,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 2,315,844
- Channel views, pace per day
- 352,417 (on a normal day: 324,076)
- Video published
- October 8, 2026
- Video views so far
- 244,573 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 258,416
The numbers
One farming segment carried a far bigger crowd than this broadcaster's regular videos usually see on day one.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which country grows more avocados than any other in the world?
Mexico is by far the world's largest avocado producer, with much of its crop grown in the state of Michoacán.