Back to Containers for Avocados

[JeffDM]

Well, it looks like I'm in serious jeopardy of killing off all three of the avocado trees I planted last spring (Holiday, Hass, Fuerte) even though I gave them raised mounds, good draining soil and plenty of mulch.
They all have curling brown tipped leaves even thought they have flowers.  I don't know if it's too much water, poor drainage, a reaction to fertilizer or a salt build up in the roots from the terrible water in San Diego.
My Manilla Mango is doing OK in a large container and I've been giving it a good flushing with water about every two weeks.
I just bought two new trees (Bacon, Holiday) and will try to grow them in simulated half whiskey barrel type fiberglass pots with plenty of drainage holes and on wheeled dollies.
At least I will be able to make a good comparison between the container plants and the ones planted in the yard.
Of course, there's always the possibility that the avocados will recover in the spring, but I'm not holding my breath.
I don't know why I'm addicted to this hobby. 

[simon_grow]

Hey Jeff, don't get discouraged. If your avocados have a strong bloom and some leaves left, it can still make it. My reed avocado has lots of blooms on it right now but it recently dropped about 90 percent of its leaves. I expect it to leaf out soon. I planted my reed only about seven months ago and the first year is usually the roughest. Avocados hate waterlogged soil. My tree is in my front yard on a small mound. With the rains we've had I haven't watered my trees for about 3 months.
Simon

[zands]

Here is one solution but you have pretty much done this. Perhaps a larger above ground growing box? There are some useful comments at the video at youtube.

Elevate Your Fruit Tree Planting

[ericalynne]

Jeff, I can sympathize. I lost two avocado trees last year in the ground. Group consensus on this forum was that the soil did not drain well. They had been doing very well in pots. Now I have two new avocado trees and am starting to rethink this in the ground part for them.
Erica

[JeffDM]

Thanks for the responses and the video.
I guess I just need to wait for a few months to see what happens with the avocado trees.
In the meantime there's still mangoes, papayas and avocado seedlings to fuss over. 

[bsbullie]

That wood box would most likely be worse than mounding as it would tend to hold/confine moisture.

Jeff - when you mounded your trees, did you literally just take them out of the pot and place on top of the soil and mound top soil around the rootball or did you actually build up a mound/berm and plant within the mound/berm?

[JeffDM]

That wood box would most likely be worse than mounding as it would tend to hold/confine moisture.

Jeff - when you mounded your trees, did you literally just take them out of the pot and place on top of the soil and mound top soil around the rootball or did you actually build up a mound/berm and plant within the mound/berm?

A little bit of both.
I built the mound planted the trees in shallow holes on top of the mound and then added more soil to cover the root balls.

[zands]

That wood box would most likely be worse than mounding as it would tend to hold/confine moisture.

Jeff - when you mounded your trees, did you literally just take them out of the pot and place on top of the soil and mound top soil around the rootball or did you actually build up a mound/berm and plant within the mound/berm?

A little bit of both.
I built the mound planted the trees in shallow holes on top of the mound and then added more soil to cover the root balls.

Very nicely done! My ultra sandy soil here, I never have to deal with your problem, I have others. But a Dave Wilson style above ground box and planting should help a lot. The box will drain enough. You have already amended the soil. So just add a box . Make it higher than Dave Wilson nurseries youtube example. You will have a lot of custom made aerated soil for your trees to root into. Then at a slow pace they finally reach the clay and will not be affected by it because they are older and stronger. This is my thinking