I for one agree with you for the most part. There are a lot of us growing rare fruits in containers...even some of our more climatically advantaged members grow some in containers. C'mon...say it again...."climatically advantaged". Y'all like that don't you? This is of course, quite the opposite of my climatically challenged area of Ohio. But I digress. Due to my climate...I have no choice but to keep most of my plants container-bound. My plan all along has been to practice agressive pruning to keep the plants smaller and more manageable. The experience I've had with my apple trees is that the more I prune, the more apples I get the next season. Is there a downside to this somewhere? I believe there is. Even if pruned well, these trees are going to reach some size. There's root restriction and then there's just a root mass where there is very little soil left in the container! We've all experienced that. You grab the plant by the trunk, pull, and the entire plant comes out of the container. Where the hell is all the soil? I can't see any benefit to the plant when it reaches this point. No way to retain moisture and other goodies that soil provides. Okay, time to root prune and replant. This is fine and dandy and I do this all the time...when the plants are manageable. This is not going to be the case when these plants reach a certain size/weight. This has been a huge concern of mine for some time. And I'm certainly open to any suggestions this group may have. So while these plants that are grown in hard clay and other restrictive soils, they are still getting more benifits from that little bit of soil than I can probably provide my plants in containers if I let the roots take over the container. Maybe this is where the dissention stems from? Could I do a Bill Whitman in my greenhouse? Meaning, could I remove all of my solid clay, high PH soil and replace with the stuff our plants love? Sure, but it would kill me physically and financially!

Great topic. I can see myself frequent this forum, as I am looking to add an avocado tree to my fruit garden. Thanks.

sounds good to me.... i did post "viburnum tribolum (cranberry) HELP" thread.... would love to get more responses....thanks :) Re-posted here: hello, my leaves are curling under and the veins are turning brown. when i touch the leaves, they crack. this happened last year and all the leaves were skeletonized. does anyone know whats going on with this shrub? i planted 2 in the fall of '13 and its happening to both. once leaves are skeletons, hardly any leaf growth. no flowers or berries. i have been spraying with soap and water for 2-3 weeks, 3-4 a week. now and its happening again. i don't see any bugs or beetles, unless they are microscopic. any thoughts as to what's going on?? TIA

Hey from Texas also! Personally, I would allow only one stalk to grow from each seed to ensure it is a strong trunk for what will one day hopefully be a tree. If your intent in growing avocados trees is for the avocado fruit then there is a lot more work that goes with growing an avocado tree. I highly recommend looking up on youtube or other forums avocado growers in texas, california, florida, and australia. You will find lots of useful information from videos and other people's experiences. I would also love to help out if you are still working on it. Send some updated pics. Cheers!