Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion

Mix for avocado-mine feels heavy

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Sven_chinotto:
Hi everyone,

Last spring I started growing an avocado from seed and I got it to 30cm high in water before planting it in soil. After potting it, it kept growing nicely. I used 1 part of agricultural sand on 2 parts of compost which is basically potting soil with a balanced addition of nutrients. At least thats what I could find about the term 'compost' in Ireland as where I am from compost is just compost: organic waste.

So yes the plant did really well in water and later in soil. Went on holiday end of september and when I came back, some leaves were shrivelled because of drought. Weirdly enough, the pot still felt heavy. I did water it again and the other leaves just stayed happy and green.

I always assumed they didn't like this heavy, water carrying soil. Anyone got some experience with certain soil mixes for avocado? I feel like the plant is doing well but that water holding soil feels a bit weird to me and I also was not expecting it to be this heavy, hence the sand i used.

Cheers

johnb51:
I think that as long as the soil drains well and does not become waterlogged/saturated, you'll be okay.  When you have to step it up to a bigger pot, hopefully you can get advice on the best potting mix to use.  I've got some avocado seedlings also in heavy soil that doesn't seem to retain water, but they'll go in the ground within a year after they're successfully grafted.

K-Rimes:
For long term pot culture of  sub tropicals, you really need good drainage. For avos and citrus, I would go to 2:1 sand / perlite to compost in future up pots. If you leave soil dry for too long, it can become hydrophobic which may have been what you experienced. It takes a good few waterings to overcome that sometimes.

It is common for avo to have a weak root system in a small plant, so don't overpot it. Narrow tall pots would be my vote. Once the tree has some good width to it, then consider a wider nursery style pot such as 15g.

Coconut Cream:
I like pine bark fines to keep the mixture loose and fluffy. I use lots of sand, pine bark fines, perlite, and maximum 25% of potting mix. It drains well and does not compact so the roots have room to grow.

Sven_chinotto:
Thanks for the replies!

After putting up this post I checked the plant for the first time in a while and it was really dry. The opposite of last time: this time it looked really good in dry soil while last time it had shriveled leaves when the soil was not dey at all. Maybe seasonal change. I will monitor going forward.

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