Great video Jeff! I am debating if I should put on the ground or pot and come up with your idea. I have clay soil and in zone 9B, just killed my Japanese maple last year. Will try both ways for my 2 plants that I just bought from Costco. Any update on your avocado tree growth?
Talk about overkill, I'm in the San Joaquin valley about 20 mi. from you. 4 years ago I took my avocado tree out of the pot, stuck in a hole slightly bigger than the pot and back filled with the soil I dug out. I give plenty of water, and it's grown like a weed.
lol, putting out a lot of fruit too? I planted my first avocado tree 50 years same way that you described. It died. Several more attempts ended up dying as well. Then while visiting an avocado orchard down south, I asked why the farmers planted on mounds. After that , Next tree I planted on a mound grew like a weed and produced like crazy the 2 nd year. This said, if direct planting works , great! It’s always worth a try. At my age, I gotten stick to what I know works every time.
Good, instructive video. Avocado trees don't like wood materials (mulch) around their roots, always put the mulch on top of the soil. I've been doing this for a while and have discovered that avocado trees love decomposed granite. When I plant an avocado tree I do exactly what you did with the raised planter but I fill it up with DG instead and mix the DG with a little worm castings. I get the DG at the local brickyard, it's sort of like the DG used to make baseball infields with an orangeist color (clay added?), and avocado trees really love it. If you put a sprouting seedling in DG, it will thrive and take off. If you plant your tree with potting soil your tree will suffer and may even die on you. I learned that lesson years ago when I darn near killed my first Hass avocado tree.
If you do try it, I would suggest lightly watering it every 2 days in the summer. DG drains better than regular soil which the avocado trees love but means more watering. I have 5 trees now planted in DG and they are getting huge and thriving. My trees are Lamb Hass, Sir Prize, Reed, Kona Sharwill, and Nabal.
@@jondoe5536, I have 5 avocado trees that I planted using DG with some just planted in mounds on top of the existing soil and other planted in circular planters made out landscaping block. The DG is anywhere from 18 inches to 26 inches above ground level. I planted my first tree 10 years ago and the DG doesn't go hard, it stays the same. With DG you need to water it more often with less water, every 2 days in the summer, so the roots don't dry out. I also have a nice thick layer of larger wood chips on top of the DG for nutrition. Avocados trees just love DG and thrive in it.
@@jondoe5536,unless you live in an area that's in-hospitable to avocado trees, I guarantee that the raised DG beds will work. Try and mix a little fertilizer in with the DG like Osmocote or worm castings before you transplant the trees. For the first few weeks water the trees daily until the roots pop out into the DG.
@@jondoe5536,well avocados are hard to grow. Half the people I know have failed and their trees have died after one year. And I live in Southern California which is one of the easiest places to grow an avocado tree. You almost have to have perfect soil to grow them. One thing is for sure, they love pure DG and will thrive when planted in it.
Great video. I'm one of those people that have already killed 3. Avocado trees planting them in the ground. I just bought a little cado tree and I'm going to plant it in a 150 gallon fabric bag on top of the ground. This time I'm using well draining soil.
Im not a fan of those bags, but I understand your frustration. I know a guy that mixed sand into potting mix, moves 5gal up to 15 gal then Burys the bottom 3 inches of the pot into the ground. He only waters the pot and eventually the tree sends roots into the soil. Works for his clay soil but imo it’s a little extreme
@TropicalGardenGuy I know the grow bag will probably only last a few years so I was planning on putting some blocks around it like you do. I just went to Ace and bought a 5 gallon Sherwin. I think I'll put the Sherwin in the 150 gallon pot and get a smaller pot for the little cado. Is it really necessary to keep potting up? I just wanted to choose a big pot and not repot it.
In NSW Australia. My garden is next door to a property with a huge Avocado tree, which is loaded with fruit a lot of the time, which drops onto the ground on my side of the fenceline. I just dig them out once they are big & strong enough to replant them around the edges. Almost 100% success rate.
Plant a foot up, the roots will be unstable on the mound and in wind this is going to go over. Mounding means 2 to 4 inches, not 1 to 2 feet. But, they are tropical and want water several times a day and you are shedding off the water so slightly raised and mulch on top to retain wetness but not against the trunk. For me in SoCal High Desert, flat with ground, retaining mound of dirt to hold water when watering, in shade of bigger trees to keep main heat of day off in summer for at least part of the day.
I would plant on a mound because of the trees tap root. Also use gypsum to negate any salinity in the soil, if you have bay of Biscay soils use extra gypsum as it acts as a clay breaker and add sand any sand even building sand
I bought a self-watering rolling metal container for my avocado tree, transplanted it and then I found out avocados don’t like wet roots. Same happened with my new lemon tree. Live and learn. Now what to put in those self-watering rolling containers. ☺️ Same zone as you.
I have put a seed in water, and it start growing it's first leaf, so is there any possibility of it growing in India's weather? And how should I plant it into soil , actually i'm scared about it ,thinking if I put it into soil it may die. Please help me.
1. I would shred the leaves. 2. Chip the woody parts up into small pieces. 3. Shade, especially newly transplanted, in hot weather. 4. Get all that plant matter across the street to process as mulch. I favor deep mulching, at least a foot to preserve/protect the soil.
In south Florida avocado and mango trees are not at all hard to plant. If you plant in spring to take advantage of the daily summer rainstorms no need to even water. It is citrus that is more of a challenge.
It doesn't help that most bags of "soil" at the big box stores are *not* soil but various formations of compost and bark chips. That throws so many beginning gardeners off-track! Vendors love the "all organic" marketing angle, since bags are lighter and less expensive to ship without real soil in them. In my area, I try to buy my soil from landscaping companies or farmer's cooperatives instead. I visit the big box for insecticide or tools.
I'm lucky to have Garry's Best Top Pot mix soil retailer nearby. everything is growing much healthier since i ditched the 'compost' based 'soil'. I also use the Garry's Acid Mix (Peat Moss & Pumice) mixed with Decomposed Granite to amend my native clayish soil and my plants love it
I’m confused. What about if your soil is clay soil . I mound my avocado tree with my clay soil? I’m sorry Im new to planting avocado tree. I did raise it up I little and I just realized I made a huge mistake . I added a lot of soil with compost underneath it (not added much of my clay soil into it ) . I’ve had it planted for a week. Should I uproot it and make it more like a mound ?
Hard to say without seeing the whole setup,. I never mix compost into the soil. You can mix in sand . Put lots of compost on the surface, worms will help fixing the soil
Hi Jeff, I started 2 avocado plants from Pits and they are in water in the house. They are now about 18 inches high. When should I plant them out side. I live in Boca Raton Florida . Do I have to cross breed them or something??? Thanks . As-always, Lewie 😳👀
Hello again, thanks for the info. I’m not sure how to graft them or when to do it. I will plant them outside this week. I bought some miracle grow soil. I hope that’s ok. If that’s not correct, please let me know 😊👀thanks again 👍🏻👀
@@a.shmeckel6934 I would not use that soil mix. It’s mostly organic material. If you’re planting them in the ground just use your native soil as long as you haven’t amended it with compost. Or use decomposed granite, or play sand. Whatever you do don’t add any compost to your planting hole
Do you worry about what the nursery has used for soil? I just repotted 4 trees with 30% sand, 30% peat, 30% perlite, 5% gypsum, and 5% micorrhizae/fertilizer. I broke up the root balls because the soil from the nursery appeared to be mostly bark-mulch and likely would end up causing root rot. The trees look awful (dropping all leaves and soggy) but I imagine they just need to grow new roots before they look great again. Any advice/thoughts?
@@eligomez7667 4 days ago, it’s been fairly mild here (usually 100+ but we’re in the 80s), the soil is still moist and clumpy when I squeeze it so they have not been watered yet. Trees have not perked up and look like they’re going to drop all the leaves.
@@rbps1337 did they lose a lot of their roots when you planted them? If so you may want to consider trimming the trees a bit. Your soil mix is pretty good 👍 though.
I use wood mulch on my garden. Tons of earwigs and pillbugs. I haven't noticed any issues for my trees. They will eat your leafy plants and young seedlings though.
