The Tropical Fruit Forum

I haven't had a lot of luck with 3 gallon Avocado trees from the box stores after planting in the ground. Usually you get a green stick that's well rooted in the pot and has small bushy branches full of nice green leaves. Usually when I buy one I bring it home water it and plant it in the ground within a few days. It always seems to struggle. Some of them have die but most of them have just died back almost to the graft and then just lingering there before after a couple of years finally taking off. I think I have read on this forum that it's common that when planting in the ground an avocados roots will go into shock. For whatever reason it seems that the scion has a hard time drawing enough water and or nutrients from the roots to keep itself alive. I've noticed that a lot of times when it dies all the way back it will sprout new growth from below the graft. I wonder if the root stock in its condition of shock is out of self preservation recognizing the graft area as an injury zone and purposely cutting itself off from the scion? In any case I'm thinking of getting a new avocado this spring and I'm going to try something new. I'm going to help out the root stock by cutting off all the branches and snipping of the main stem atleast by half. There will be no leaves left and I will only moderately water and no fertilizer. On another note I have bought 3 gallon avocado trees from nurseries that look like they are older than the ones from the box stores with darker more gnarly trunks and I've never had problems after planting these trees. I think the grafts on these have more fully healed and that is why there is a notable difference.