I've heard it can take up to 8 years to bear fruit.

I think I've heard 3 to 5 years, but I've also heard that seeds from store-bought avocados are typically hybrids that will not bear fruit, and also that some avocado trees are bisexual while others are monosexual (or whatever the word is), i.e. with some types of trees you need at least one male tree to fertilize the female trees, and only the female trees will bear fruit.

I've got an avocado tree that's less than a year old growing in a container, and it's only about a foot and a half tall, so we'll see what happens with it - at least it's attractive even if it doesn't bear fruit.

If you want fruit, your best bet is to purchase a plant of a known variety.

Paraphrasing from an article I read a couple days ago:

Avocados do not come true from seed, meaning the fruit won't be like the one the seed came from, and you have no idea if the fruit will even be any good. Seedlings can take up to 10-15 years to fruit. Most fruit from supermarkets are from Mexican-Guatemalan hybrids; seedlings grown from them will usually have "moderate to severe" leaf tip burn, as well as some necrosis due to salt injury.

It looks like I'll leave the seedlings to the ornamental growers and buy a producing plant.
Thanks

I have heard of two instances where a Hass Avocado seedling has produced a nice fruit, no different from a Hass. I can't remember how long it took, but I believe it was from 5 -8 years.

They weren't too clear in that article about what they mean by "do not come true from seed." I think they must be talking about the hybrids and grafts that are used commercially. If you're taking a seed from a tree of an established breed, I can't think of why it wouldn't be true from seed.

But either way, yes, you want to make sure you get a known variety, and if you're starting from seed, it's probably going to be a long time before you see fruit.

I have a tree that's about 12 or 13 years old, planted from seed. It's about 30 feet tall. It's been bearing avocados for the past 7 or 8 years. I don't know the variety, it's from a supermarket avocado, very large smooth skin. I had bumper crops for a couple of years, just a few avocados for the last 2 or 3.
So, yes it is possible to get fruit from a tree grown from seed.

It won't be true as in it won't have the same dna as the parent. The seed is the baby with dna from mom tree and dad tree. The commercial varieties are basically grafted clones. SO it won't be EXACTLY the same, but it could be very close you just don't know. You could grow it from seed and graft it onto another store bought variety which would then cross pollinate and yield better harvests. I haven't done any of this btw, just read about it online.