Keo: Totally understand. Trying a soil that is....not "soil" is unnerving! I just started making "gritty mix" and I was a ball of nerves, lol. Absolutely, I have a place. In my area (Peninsula), Lyngso in Redwood City is the best. I got enough bark, quartz and pricey pebbles to make gritty mix for both of your planters for $17 and change. Since you're doing the 5:1:1, just the bark would cost considerably less; I opted for some very pretty stones that cost entirely too much compared to the other pieces. Perlite, as it's only one part, should be more than enough with 2 cu. ft. (or much less). Same for sphagnum peat moss. Garden lime, you can buy at OSH in small sizes for about $9--probably enough to make 100 half wine barrels. And that's it. Re: your citrus trees, at first glance they appear healthier compared to the avocados, but if you look closely, the leaves in the lower half are completely yellowing. This could be a result for many things (nitrogen deficiency?), I suppose, but it's also one of the first signs when a plant is drowning....just a heads up. Left alone, I think it's on the same path, unfortunately. As for watering, in my area (SF-SFO), I'd never think you would need to do more than one full watering every other day and daily during one of our 85 degree + heat wave days. In the east bay or hotter areas, I think you'd probably need to water daily, period, during the hottest months. Now gritty mix -- I could see one potentially needing to do more than once to be good for the plant in really hot areas if the plant is really sensitive to heat/drought. (Gardenias? Haha.) Given that my natural tendency is to overwater, this works for me but it may not be for you? If not, then I think Al suggests replacing one part bark with another part peat (or maybe just potting soil) to increase retention. With the plants I have in 5:1:1, I upped the peat only by making it 5:1.2:1 (I live dangerously lol) but its very NICELY moist, and not "soaked". In any case, while I can't speak to avocado trees specifically, I would definitely remove all four trees, wash off all the roots to bareroot and repot all four trees to start with a clean slate. I would also prune back the tree a little but others may disagree; I tend to repot when I feel like it. Don't fertilize it for awhile either -- just clean soil and water thoroughly once -- and a week later when completely dry, reassess. Oh. One other thing: I don't know that I'd use a drip system for 5:1:1. It beats not being watered, but unless there have been major advancements in drips since I last used them in 2006, this soil simply doesn't absorb and transfer moisture like regular potting soil (dense) would. There's so much space and aeration between chunk/bulk pieces that if a drip drips water into one area, it really doesn't mean the water will flow/absorb into the other parts of the soil. DEFINITELY for me anyway, this is a hand watering or at worst, sprinkler type soil--not drip. A garden hose fully showering each planter shown for 45 seconds, I'd guess, would be ideal for summer days, to ensure each piece of bark and perlite is as soaked as can possibly be. I don't know if this is a deal breaker for you. Good luck! Hopefully, someone with more avocado experience contributes!

Nice photo Kendra. Your 1st picture looks like the beginnings of South West injury. To stop this from getting worse paint your tree with a flat white interior latex paint in a 50/50 water to paint ratio. Heres a link if you have any questions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qJtVd2k_lI With so many trees I would go to a big box store. Tell them what you are doing. Ask them to put a half gallon of interior white flat latex paint in a one gallon bucket. When you get home fill it the rest of the way with water and shake it up and you are ready to go. Most of your trees look like someone had tried to prune them into a Delayed Open Center form which is fine. However the work on some of them was never completed or they were left to do their own thing and the trees have been neglected for along time. There certainly is a lot of pruning that needs to be done. There is also more than one way to go about it depending on what form you ultimately want the trees to take. Here is a link that may be helpful but is not directed at older neglected trees. It will however give you some ideas that may be helpful and has good descriptions of each tree form. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/ag29.html I see lots of advice and people trying to tell you what you should do. I dont think we are that point yet. There are at least three basic tree forms you should be considering. Each with its own advantages and disadvantages. They all have their merits and only you can decide which one is right for you and your family. A few things to keep in mind.. You do not have to prune them all the same form. Even if you decide to train them all to the same form you do not need to do them all at once. Apples are usually trained to one of three forms. They are "Central Leader" "Open Center" and sometimes "Delayed Open Center" You should read the descriptions from the link I provided above as I will not be describing them in any detail here. Instead I will give my personal take on what I think are important to the home orchardist and your trees in particular. Central Leader Trees trained to this form are tall Christmas tree shaped trees. They have good fruit production. The disadvantage is that they are tall which makes spraying, picking and pruning harder as you will need ladders and long reach pickers. The trees that look like they were left to their own designs from the start may be a good candidate for this form. Not that you cannot train these trees to either of the other two forms but this may be the easiest and quickest form to achieve with these trees. To do this you would start by cutting any dead or diseased wood then move on the crossing branches that rub. After this cut any branches with bad crotch angles then cut any wood that is growing toward the center of the tree. The next step would be to thin out the branches to let in light and air. You dont want to have scaffold branches all attached at the same pint on the trunk. If you can have them spaced vertically on the trunk 6" or more apart and branching off in different directions. Open Center/Vase Trees trained to this form have less production than the other two forms. However this form has other advantages. They are much shorter which makes them easy to prune, easy to pick and easy to spray and easy to inspect for diseases and infestations. I see none of your trees pruned to this form. If you were going to change to this form you would have to severely top your trees and you would not get any fruit the first season. With trees the size you have there would be some debate whether you should top them in one radical cut or over two seasons. If you chose this form and the trees are still dormant I think I would go with the more radical approach on the smaller trees. On the larger trees I would cut off all the small twigs and cut the current scaffold branches back severely to like 2-3 out from the trunk. The following year I would cut the trunk at 24"-30" from the ground. If it were me I would do this with the smaller trees in one cut while still dormant. If you chose to do that there is nothing wrong with doing only 1-5 trees the 1st year. That way you can see the results and how the trees respond and learn the pruning steps and how they shape the trees before doing more of them in proceeding years. Delayed Open Center The majority of your trees are trained to this form and you may wish to keep this form. If it were me I would keep this form on all the larger trees that are currently in this form. They still need a lot of pruning though. Start by cutting all the dead wood then move on to cutting the crossing branches that are rubbing against other branches or that may rub when it gets windy. Always preferring the larger healthier branches so long as they are not 50% or larger than 50% of the trunks diameter where they are attached. Then move onto cutting water sprouts and any wood growing toward the center of the tree. After this cut any branches that will shade out other branches preferring the branches that have better crotch angles. Then cut out any small branches or wood that is necessary to allow for good air flow and light penetration and you are done. Remember if you have to cut something because of a bad crotch angle or because its shading out a lower branch or because its diseased it does not mean new branches will not grow to replace them. This is the beauty of pruning. The pruning you do will spur more growth and more branches will grow. Cutting out a bad one will often cause many more to grow and you can then cut off the ones with bad crotch angles or that will rub or shade other branches and keep the best new ones next pruning season. Its all a learning experience and you will get better and faster at it as years go by. Most of the good videos are on Open Center pruning but there are others. If you would like I will post some of the better pruning videos I have found if you think you will have time to view them.

Well, avocados are very particular about how their roots receive water, Suzi. Sitting in standing water is sure death for an avocado tree. Which is why Fallbrook and N. San Diego County were so perfect - all planted on slopes. Avocados prefer being planted on a slope so the water will drain away. Their feeder roots prefer water to pass by them. Yes, they need a LOT of water. And the only reason they are still hanging on in our area, is because they really don't grow well anywhere else (as opposed to citrus, another water-hungry commercial crop). And, the fact that people are willing to pay $1.50 to 2.00 a piece for them. But, unlike citrus, which are being successfully grown in other areas of California, due to water prices having climbed to the outrageous amounts we see here in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles counties (and to almost the same extend in Riverside and San Bernardino), avocados have not been able to acclimate to the Coachella or Imperial Valleys. So, they're hanging in there, in Fallbrook, still. So, standing water is about the worst thing you can have for avocados, proper drainage is critical to having them survive. Ben, to your questions: Jan Boyce, Reed and Sharwil all sound like excellent avos, but will my limited spacing realistically allow for these cultivars because of their size? - You can keep them pruned down to size using drop-crotch pruning. Those 3 cultivars are worth the pruning, trust me. How close can I plant to the wall? Naïvely, I was thinking I could just plant within a couple feet and just have a bed extending to about 3-3.5 ft from the wall, but thanks to you all, I’m questioning how realistic that is now, considering the size potential for mammoth-sized trees - at least 6 feet. Preferably 10 to 12 feet. I think raising the root ball up in a raised bed will help considering my poorly-draining soil. Since I don’t have a slope, I plan to put in a French drain at bottom to hopefully help with drainage. - Yes, Yes, Yes! Thing BIG mound or berm. Excellent option. And, a french drain below the mounds, a couple of feet down, sloping away from the trees, hopefully towards your front yard (and out to the street if you don't need the water elsewhere in your yard). I would also see what's happening with your next door neighbor's drainage. Is it draining over to your yard? Are you dealing with your and THEIR water? If so, make your neighbor fix their drainage issues. That's really a big no-no, as some else's water draining over into your yard could affect your home's foundation and that is grounds for a lawsuit. I would make your mound or berm at least 1 to 2 feet high (if you can make it 3' high, that would be superb) and 3 to 5 feet around (or, just continue the berm straight across for all 3 trees). Put down at least 20 pounds of gypsum spread around the base of each of the trees, plant and then mulch the area with 6 inches of woody mulch keeping the material about 6-8 inches away from the tree trunk. Of course, the french drain system should be below the mounds, about a foot or two down in the ground. You can also spread gypsum down into your french drain system as well. That gypsum application will really, really make a difference in the drainage of your soil. And, lastly, it wouldn't hurt to apply one application of Agri-Fos at planting, then again in 1 month. Apply a 3rd application of Agri-Fos in Feb or March, and then once a year in Feb or March thereafter, just to make sure you don't end up with Phytophthora issues due to water built up in the soil. You can also apply it to your citrus for the same reasons. An ounce of prevention can save you a pound of cure (and agony) later on. If avocado roots are shallow, how deep do they typically go? How much spacing tree to tree, at minimum, should I allow? - the feeder roots are very, very shallow. Most exist within the top 6" of your top soil (as compared to citrus feeder roots, which exist in the top 12 to 18" inches of your soil, and they're considered shallow rooted, so you can see how very shallow avocado feeder roots are). That's why their leaf drop is so critical to their survival. They literally make their own mulch, and if removed, it will affect the health of your trees (and even kill them, eventually, believe it or not.) Their feeder roots will grow into their leaf mulch/mold. They have very sensitive root systems, and do not like to be transplanted after being established. But, they can send down fairly deep anchor or tap roots. And being between the 2 houses should getting enough sunlight be a concern? - It can be. I have an inherited (was planted here before we bought the house and moved in) that was planted in the worst possible spot on my entire acre for an avocado - in nearly full shade, at the lowest part of my yard where the large part of my yard drains down to via two large swale systems. It is amazing it is still alive. I would have transplanted it, but it was too large and established. I figured I'd kill it for sure if I tried. It has produced 3 avocados for me since we moved in, in 2009. As opposed to my Lamb Hass, in the ideal location (full sun, on a nice slope), that produced about 30 avos this season (3rd season), and will have over 100 this next year. So, sun is pretty important. If you're sure they will get at least 6 hours of sun, I think they'll be okay. They might grow slower, and produce a little less, but, considering avocado trees can be prolific producers, that may not be a bad thing with 3 avos, lol! I would plant the Reed in the middle, as it is the most columnar in growth habit, and then simply keep them all down to about 15' and you're good! Patty S.

That might be a scale in the bottom pic. See if it peels off easily. One won't kill it, but it won't help either. If your climate is agreeable, put it in the ground. Remember, you will have to graft it to make it fertile. Young avos are temperamental. Make sure the soil is dry before watering. Bark chips might retain too much moisture.