The Tropical Fruit Forum

Is that a Duke avocado tree?  It's not only huge but gorgeous.

Yes, two beautiful, soulful Duke Avocado trees growing together in an old, abandoned train-station "garden."  I'm told they are incredibly hard to get a graft to take.  I'd love to have a couple of these growing in my front-yard.  That's a long term goal.

Great choices.  That's a lot of work regarding winter protection.   Stewart would not need to be protected once it's thick and woody.

I know that protecting the trees from wind and cold will be my primary challenge.  The past several Winters have been particularly mild in Northern CA, however this Winter has reminded me of the unpredictability of weather.  We had a week or two in the mid-70's (F)/ Lows in the mid-50's before getting hit with a week long freeze down to 18F, and then another;  Hail, all of it.  Given this, my large consternation is over the counter goals of creating a big, woody tree to help protect against the elements as opposed to the John Yonemoto process that seeks to achieve the opposite by limiting tap roots to reduce girth and vigor in the tree's trunk/branches as well as using supports -- all to focus energy to fruiting.  Will those greenhouse concepts work outdoors in a "pot-culture?"

Quote from: z_willus_d on March 14, 2018, 02:24:12 PM

$240 to ship two rolls to CA.  Ouch!

Huh?  $40 from Alabama to central Texas, one roll.

Shipping turned out to be more reasonable.  UPS had $96 to ship two of the [RBII17H, 17" X 96 Panels RootBuilder II] rolls to CA, so that's not too far off from the $40 you had.  I should be set for a while.

One curiosity I had was around what the actual size of each panel is.  Apparently a 100' roll is made up of 96 panels, so does that mean the length of each panel comes out to just above a foot at 12.5", or are each panel exactly 17" x 12".

For the bottoms, I'm contemplating running cement pavers atop the 4foot-wide dirt run on the West by SouthWest facing 50' area shown in the below pics.  I think I can fit six trees in individual RBII expandable containers using 8' spacing and applying the John Yoshimi Yonemoto process.  I think the pavers migh provide some temp buffer in the cold months while also blocking roots from the neighbor's trees (and limiting the Avocado tree tap-roots).  I might run a trellis above down the line to support the horizontal branches.  Hopefully the spacing isn't too cramped, light exposure too low, nor wind/cold-temps exposure too great.  At any rate, I don't want to hijack your topic here further, but I do appreciate the inputs.  If folks are interested, I can post on my progress.  I think this is along the lines of projects performed by at least one or two other folks on the forum, though I haven't seen anything like this done as far north as Sacramento Valley.

Quote from: z_willus_d on March 13, 2018, 03:51:07 PM

Hi Mark, I'm about to make a RootBuilderII purchase of the 100' rolls.  I mean to use it on the side of my house (as you can view here: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=27042.msg312313#msg312313).  I haven't yet decided whether to block the bottom of the pot (no in ground roots) or allow root penetration (up/down).  The reason I would want to disallow below surface rooting are:
1) I might want to relocate these trees in the mid-term future.
2) The neighbor has three well established fruit trees, and I don't want those roots "feeding" into my rootbuilder soil
3) I had several trees in the area that I recently pulled up, and their roots are overrunning the sub-surface.

I'd love to hear what folks think about blocking the roots at the ground surface.

Another choice point I have.  I can purchase the double-height (34") Root-Builder roll.  This is double the cost, but it might work better if I were to block the surface off.  It would also give me more room to create a mulching layer.  Thoughts?

BTW, working with a local Hydro store, I was able to get the Wholesale pricing for these ($250/roll standard height).  Something to consider if others are looking to purchase in bulk.

Thanks,
Naysen

3M makes an product, I forget the exact name. Its the one used by Dr Yonnemoto (Japanese greenhouse mangos) for keeping the roots from penetrating. I believe I posted the name on the forum a few years ago.  It's similar to tyvek but I think its thicker. If In a pinch I would use tyvek.

Thanks for the note.  I see products that might be similar on Amazon (search "tree root shield"), though they are somewhat expensive.  The larger question I have is as to whether or not limiting the roots in such a way will be detrimental to Avocado tree growth, even if I limit trees with heavy pruning, dwarf variety, etc.  Another option I've read used with Fig is to drill one or two large holes in the root barrier, which allows a tap root that can easily be cut if/when moving the above ground "containered" plant.

Hello,

I'm relatively new to the hobby of growing Avocado trees, though I have some years caring for various other citrus, stone, and veggies.  Right now, I have three avocado trees in large ~45-gal containers that I purchased from Four Wind Growers) 3+ years back.  You can see them in my pics below, left-to-right: Mexicola, Fuerte, and Bacon.  The latter two set a few fruit last year, however in the heat of our 110F Sacramento summer, all fruit dropped.  I tried to maintain an even water-level in the well-draining soil.

I now have six new #5 Avocado trees, purchased from the local Green Acres Nursery (from Four Winds Growers).  These are 2x Holiday, 2x Lamb-Hass, 1x Pinkerton, and 1x Sir Prize.  I want to plant these trees in some kind of future transportable solution along the south-west side of my house.  You can see that space in the last two pics I posted below.  I checked temps in this space compared to the rest of my backyard, and the in-between fence-house location seems to be ~4-deg F warmer.  I was thinking I might plant one of the above threes every 6-8 feet, and top the tree to keep them low.  Having read Mark's Thread:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=7511.msg266615#msg266615

I thought I might try out the RootBuilder II expandable container solution that Mark is using, but I am having trouble sourcing the wholesale rolls.  I'm not sure if I should allow the bottom to remain open to the soil below, given I plan to relocate these trees sometime in the medium term future.  What's worse, constraining the tap-root at the bottom or cutting it sometime in the future??  Another thought I had was to plant a couple trees in one of my large raised bed/retaining wall structures (see pics 1/2).  These would be permanent I think.

For the potted plants, I was thinking to use freeze cloth covering and C7 lighting for times like we've had here recently with lows in 18F and multi sub-32F nights.  I'm not sure if folks have other solutions that have worked better for protection short of a full greenhouse.  You can see some of the new trees in the 6th pick.  I have them living under a freeze cloth these past couple weeks.  So basically, I'm just putting out a call for any help, and/or advice from you Avocado experts, particularly any that have been successful with container-culture and in colder zones.  I'll do just about anything to make this a success.  Also, are there any of you in the area?  I'd love to commiserate with like-minded "arboriculturists."  Finally, do any of you know of a good northern CA nursery to obtain ready (already grafted) less common varieties, such as GEM and so many others that pique my interest for their flavor or cold hardiness (or both)?  Are there any group buys in the works this season?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you all!
-naysen