Fix a bad planting

[Cythompson159@yahoo.com]

I am trying to fix a bad planting of my avacado tree that has been in the ground about 1.5 years. The tree was in a 15 gallon pot. When purchased. I planted at ground level and it has sunk an inch or two. The rain has been above normal here in east central Florida and am worried about root rot although the tree is still healthy.  I started to gently try to dig it up and plant it on a raised bed but the tap root was pretty fat and I looked to be run a long ways. So I now plan to dig a deep trench around the root roots that spread about 2' out in each direction. Then load it with potting soil and a heavey dose of perlite.
Will this work or help?
Is there any better suggestions?

[achetadomestica]

Is there water sitting at the surface where the Avocado is planted?
If not dig down next to the tree and see where the water actually is.

I tend to lean on if it has been in the ground a year and a half leave it,
I add a circle of mulch around all my trees away from the trunk. I add fresh
mulch 2-3 times a year and I also add coffegrounds and oak leaves and other
various organics. I also add a worm I discovered down here that looks like a
wiggler and crosses a road in September. I added them to pots and plants in
the ground. One day I planted a potted plant and one of these worms was as big
around as my pinky and about 6 inches long. Probably an African nightcrawler
but whatever it is it thrives in Florida. What I noticed is most of my older plants
look like I planted on a mound and I originally planted them level. The ground is slowly
rising and the white sand is black and even resemble dirt. In a million years I am
going to have rich black dirt. If your plant has been in the ground for a year and a
half, it made it through Irma and I remember we were WET for a couple weeks after
Irma

[Cythompson159@yahoo.com]

Thanks, she made it thru Irma alright because I topped it and pruned right before the storm not to mention using 1" x 2" x 10' stakes around it with twine to keep it from bending to far or breaking.  I just trenches it and replaced with a lot of perlite and potting mix.

When I dug around it I did have standing water flooding the trench about 6-8 inches down. Kind of scary, but if we can make it the today with out rain Sunday and Monday are supposed to be dry before the rain returns. That should dry things up a bit.

[CA Hockey]

I say dig a berm around it . If you can’t raise the tree, then lower the surrounding soil by 5 or 6 inches within a 6 foot radius. Just be careful as many avocado roots are superficial and live in the top 6 inches.

[achetadomestica]

Wow water 6"- 8" down already. In my area we haven't hit the wettest time yet.
How are your other trees? Have you had an issue with root rot? I definitely would plant
future trees on mounds. Is the tree ever in standing water? Unfortunately if you scrape
off 5-6" in a 6' radius then your tree will definitely be in standing water. I would be more
incline to add organic compost away from the trunk and eventually build up the area?

[Cythompson159@yahoo.com]

All my other trees are fine, I planted them on 6" mounds and my lychee is n a 40 gallon pot. Peaches, lemon/limes mulberry, acerola, sugar apple, guava and mangos are loving it. This is a slightly lower area of my yard, never have standing water but is on a lower grade.