jmcoreymv
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Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:45 am
Location: Southern California

Avocado Questions!

I just bought two small (~3.5 ft) Hass Avocado trees at Costco. They are in small 5 gallon containers at the moment. However, I currently rent a house, so I'm reluctant to plant them in the ground since I'd like to take them with me when I move. Will they be fine if I plant them in a larger pot? How large? Anything else I need to know about taking care of them? One lady told me I should get a drip irrigation system and let it run overnight once a week to soak it.

Thanks!

dirtyfingers
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Were these the specials that were sold for around $18 or so? I bought the navel orange tree from Costco because it was really cheap. Looks like the tree was topped at one time because the trunk looks to be too thick to be a small young tree. Anyway, it was really root bound and I stuck it in the ground.

jmcoreymv
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Location: Southern California

Yep, they were from costco. I ended up buying two large 24" diameter pots and filling them with a mix of soil/compost. Hopefully things workout :) Although I think theres some sort of bug eating some of the leaves, but I can't find anything upon inspection.

dirtyfingers
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jmcoreymv wrote:Yep, they were from costco. I ended up buying two large 24" diameter pots and filling them with a mix of soil/compost. Hopefully things workout :) Although I think theres some sort of bug eating some of the leaves, but I can't find anything upon inspection.
We planted a dwarf avocado tree a couple of years ago. Just after planting it in the ground, it developed a blight condition which killed the main trunk twice. We thought we had lost it but cut off the infected parts. It has gotten over it and now one of the branches seems to have taken over the role of the tree trunk.

Good luck.

jmcoreymv
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Location: Southern California

One more question: The trees came with a wood stake near the trunk to hold them up. How long should I live this on? Should I restake it, or just remove it altogether?

Dr Greenthumb
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Location: FL

Figured I would post my question here instead of starting a new thread...
So my avocado tree which did well last season has me a little worried this year.
The tree has 2 different sets of flowering stages. Fruits have already formed on the top where it gets more son while the sides seem to have had some delayed flowering. Today I am noticing some of the leaves yellowing. I fertilized with composted cow manure in late February. I think it is too soon to feed again but in a few months I was planning on feeding with a more particular composted mix for avocado and citrus trees. My tree gives big buttery avocados and it is my favorite fruit in the yard. I would hate to have problems with it.
I will try and post some pics tomorrow when it is light out.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Avocado are big trees. You can keep them in a pot for a while, but I don't know how long.

Use citrus food on the avocado, it works. Follow the label instructions. Trees are fertilized based on the diameter of the trunk.

You should remove the stake if the tree is stable. Staking trees prevents them from moving. Trees that have to bend more develop stronger roots.

Avocado 101: Avocadoes come in A and B types. Apparently there are some avocados that have both flowers on the same tree. Probably from grafting an A and a B on the same rootstock.
Avocados exhibit synchronous dichogamy. Avocado flowers will bloom for 2 days. On one day a flower will be open on say the type A tree and the female organs will be receptive to pollen from a type B tree that has flowers open in the male phase. The flower will close on the type A tree in a few hours. The next day the same flower will open in its' male phase and shed pollen to be carried by the wind or insects to pollinate the female flowers that are open on the type B tree.

This type of reproduction was intended to maximize genetic diversity. A normal avocado cannot pollinate itself since male and female flowers do not open at the same time. It is why most people get a grafted tree from a known producer, since like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

https://ucavo.ucr.edu/Flowering/FloweringBasics.html



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