My Theory on Avocados

[Gnarled J Trunk]

Spaugh. I was purposely letting them grow in shade because I thought it would be beneficial to them. I will start to cut the shade away from that Oro Negro just not all at once. Thanks

[spaugh]

I would just let them have full sun if possible.   Its a good time of year to get them going in full sun. 

[Lory]

I've 5 avocado trees in my garden, I attach you a couple of pics.












According to my experience I give you my one cent opinion.

1- Chose well your young trees before buying: don't pick the big ones of the bunch in small pots or you will end for sure with a root bonud tree. Small tree in a decent size pot is much better. don't worry for the size, once in the ground, if the conditions are right they will grow like a rocket.
This tree was put in the soil exactly one year ago. It was 2 feet high now it's 10 feet.








2- Among all the trees i have avocado are probably the most root-sensitive ones. when i transfer lemons i usually massage the rootball and often cut as much as 50% of roots to spread them. For avocad that's not allowed.  when you transfer them  into the soil, be careful not to damage the roots, try to touch or "disturb" them as less as possible, they are brittle and quite prickly  Prepare everything beforehand so that at the last moment you get the plant from  the pot (if necessary cut it) and the tree will go straight into the ground. Then water abundantly but don't make the soil damp and  muddy.

3- In my place avocado can still grow in awful limestone  soil with a 7.5 pH where other trees would struggle just to survive.
BUT at one condition: a PERFECT DRAINAGE. No wet feet, no stagnant water. Wet feet = phytophtora root rot = poor growth or death this is a MUST for avocado.

4- Keep a wide area around your trees clear of weeds. DOn't just cut them but eradicate them  completely.  Remember the point 2? Roots are touchy and they don't like competition with hungry and invading weeds. This is especially true for young trees and in dry season when water is scarce.
As for my experience 90% of avocado health is below the ground. Helthy roots will make a healthy tree.

5- Keep your young trees in partial shade if the temperatures are high until they grow a bit  and look strong. This is valid for my location just 10 °N from equator, sun is scorching for at least 6 hours a day.

6- Fertilize lightly but quite often and don't forget microelements

Last but not least:  DO NOT GIVE UP!!! 

[johnb51]

Here's the Catalina again

No disrespect intended, but your pictures make it appear that your trees don't get much attention and care, that possibly you just put them in the ground and they're on their own.

[johnb51]

Lory, your trees look beautiful.  Are they grafted or seedlings?  If grafted, what varieties?

[Gnarled J Trunk]

Thanks Lorenzo. That is all good advine I will incorporate it all into my avocado care plan thanks

[Lory]

You're so welcome!
I forgot one very important adivce:

MULCH MULCH MULCH!!!  and when possible use AVOCADO LEAVES for that purpose. Avocado loves when you make a thick layer of its own leaves all around the trunk, ideally the same diameter as the canopee. The tree will quickly develop a thick net of feeding roots just under the soil surface  that will keep your tree green and  healthy.
By the way, the decomposition of the leaves will create a nice envirnment for good fungi and microorganisms and will greatly help to prevent phitophtora root rot that is the real nightmare of every avocado grower

[Lory]

Lory, your trees look beautiful.  Are they grafted or seedlings?  If grafted, what varieties?

Thanks Johh.
Unfortunately they are all seedlings.
Here in my place it's virtually impossible to find a grafted avocado and my grafting skills are still....let's say....deficient 
Right now I'm trying to graft some seedling with the help of the videos that Carlos kindly shared on youtube and of the good  advices you can find in his great website myavocadotrees.com
As for my trees are concerned I just planted the seeds of some fruits that i selected for their quality.
I'm perfectly aware of all the problems/variables/pollination issues etc. etc that this means but at the time i planted the trees  i had no choice since no nurseries here and nobody that could help me with grafting.
We'll see what I will get,  hopefully soon!

[Gnarled J Trunk]

Your off to a perfect start Lorenzo! I don't think it's unfortunate that your trees are all seedlings, I think it's ideal. Now you can make what you want with them and if left alone some of your seedlings may grow to be awesome in their own right. You never know.

[Lory]

Yes they are a prefect QUESTION MARK, sexual propagation and cross pollination have played their cards, let's wait and see the results in the future, as for now I just try to grow my tress happy and healthy :-)

[CTMIAMI]

Something is wrong. I have no idea where you are located but before you spend more time and money get a soil test/evaluation form a lab on your soil.

[Gnarled J Trunk]

I'm about 20 miles inland on the west coast of Florida. The esrth is sand anda it's deep in spots and there are huge limerock boulders just under the surface in others. I haven't done any tests but I assume it's probably alkaline. Besides the avocados in the picks there are just a few feet away a bacon that after going through a similar phase eventually took off and is now a full beautiful 5 foot tree. On the other side there's a 50 foot seedling avocado that gives off fruit that has a raised ridge that runs along one side. I've never seen that before

[Mark in Texas]

Yes! Totally agree. Root prune the garbage out. You want a branching root system instead of circling. Roots tend to react like branches. If they tip they branch out.

https://rootmaker.com/sites/default/files/pdf/4inchRuleWeb.pdf

I have seen trees that never came out of the swirl as well.

Great points. Worst case is J rooting.  It will kill the tree.  Lost this young but bearing Pickering to a "benign" case of root spinout.  Came from PIN which I trust but even they will have potbound trees. 

[palmcity]

I have a planted small Nam Doc trying to grow with an obvious circular root which I plan to cut in a month or so when more consistent rain comes.

It would be nice for us buyers to see a row of date stamps of when the plant was placed in the next size up.
Ex. less than 3 gallon size, then 3 gallon 7 gallon, 10 gallon, 15 gallon, 25 gallon, etc. On scuba tanks, the last  compression test dates are always checked easily by looking for the last date but it is fun to see all the other previous times.

More work for the nursery but they are usually tagged anyways and just make the tag a little longer to stamp dates. I would at least definitely check the most recent date as some nursery are not as good as others in keeping the plant in a growth stage so it is hard to tell how long some plants have been at the last nursery prior to purchase by the home gardener. 

In the least it should be fairly simple to have the wholesale nursery stamp the date the tree was shipped to the retail nursery for the majority of sales so we could tell how long it is sitting before being sold and it would seem to benefit the wholesale nursery in doing so to prevent it's trees from being considered root bound due to them when it very well could be the retail nursery at fault. It would also entice to sell the trees from the retail nursery within 1 year as less people would want to buy the possible root bound plant. So once again the wholesaler would benefit from more tree turnover at the retail nursery with date stamping their containers when shipped. 

I would probably not have bought this last Nam Doc as it was probably in one of its stage pots over a year or two.

[spaugh]

You can always gently tap the pot while holding below the graft and check whats in that pot when shopping.

[Gnarled J Trunk]

The good thing about buying from Home Depot and lowes is that you can always take it back if you're not happy with what you bought. So until they come out with see-tbru pots it's always good to check there first

[Lory]

You can always gently tap the pot while holding below the graft and check whats in that pot when shopping.

Golden rule 

[Mark in Texas]

I have a planted small Nam Doc trying to grow with an obvious circular root which I plan to cut in a month or so when more consistent rain comes.

It would be nice for us buyers to see a row of date stamps of when the plant was placed in the next size up.

Almost pays to knock off all soil so you can make corrections before the fact and I know many a Texas tropical fruit grower that does just that.  No way would I ever consider that for avocados though.

I will always select a bareroot deciduous tree over a potted one.   

[Gnarled J Trunk]

This is a Monroe I purchased from a nursery a couple of months ago. I'm going to plant it on this spot as it is. I want to compare the progress of this with the box store "green stick with leaves avocado" that I'm going to purchase from the box store and plant near by.

[Gnarled J Trunk]

This is what it looks like at the trunk

[Mark in Texas]

I'm going to help out the root stock by cutting off all the branches and snipping of the main stem at least by half. There will be no leaves left and I will only moderately water and no fertilizer.

You don't "help the rootstock" by cutting off the very unit that supplies the carbs and such to make new plant tissue, new roots.

Something is not right with your handling of the young tree.  For starts avocado roots are totally different in structure than other trees.  For example they don't have roothairs, are shallow and are very sensitive to manhandling.  Cut the pot down 4 times, carefully lift out the rootball intact and set it into the hole. If you have a clay soil DO NOT amend it with sand or humus. Backfill with the original soil.

Good luck

[Gnarled J Trunk]

Something is going on just not sure what but we will see how this goes

[CTMIAMI]

Yes! Totally agree. Root prune the garbage out. You want a branching root system instead of circling. Roots tend to react like branches. If they tip they branch out.

https://rootmaker.com/sites/default/files/pdf/4inchRuleWeb.pdf

I have seen trees that never came out of the swirl as well.

Great points. Worst case is J rooting.  It will kill the tree.  Lost this young but bearing Pickering to a "benign" case of root spinout.  Came from PIN which I trust but even they will have potbound trees. 

A lot of the fruit nurseries graft in 1 gallon pot. The tree is there 6-8 months until is up potted to 3. By then is root bound. Lately in spaces where I lost trees I'm planting the seeds and grafting 12 months later. What a difference. They grow like a bad weed.

[Mark in Texas]

Lately in spaces where I lost trees I'm planting the seeds and grafting 12 months later. What a difference. They grow like a bad weed.

I bet!  Best pecan and oak trees are those planted from the nut/acorn out in the field.  That tap root and lateral root system can work its way to China.

[Gnarled J Trunk]

Yes! Totally agree. Root prune the garbage out. You want a branching root system instead of circling. Roots tend to react like branches. If they tip they branch out.

https://rootmaker.com/sites/default/files/pdf/4inchRuleWeb.pdf

I have seen trees that never came out of the swirl as well.

Great points. Worst case is J rooting.  It will kill the tree.  Lost this young but bearing Pickering to a "benign" case of root spinout.  Came from PIN which I trust but even they will have potbound trees. 

A lot of the fruit nurseries graft in 1 gallon pot. The tree is there 6-8 months until is up potted to 3. By then is root bound. Lately in spaces where I lost trees I'm planting the seeds and grafting 12 months later. What a difference. They grow like a bad weed.

I want to do the same in the long run. I will end up with 2 of everything. Luckily I have the room!