I slip a post about a fruittree that is not a citrus, they notice it right right away.

I personally don't care, this forum need to be regroup like it use to be. There are a lot of growers that buy fruittree's that are very lenghky, some fruittree's even have flowers you buy. I prune them right away to just a stick and let it developed a shorter tree, more manageable and better looking. some members have better idea's .

I am now only with 2 forums because i need more info about sub-tropicals and i started one post in the tropical section today. It probably dies tomorrow.

I like to stay with one forum only but some members are just too sensitive and move or start a new forum.

Hmm. So you like to prune it back and let it focus on developing roots and new growth instead of getting all the energy way out there to the ends of the current limbs. I can see the logic in that.

I may do that if it keeps on being limp.

It's got to earn a spot in my garden. I'm not here to coddle! It's gotta get strong or get out!

I know some plants need the leaves to absorb nutrients and get strong tho... but I'm just not sure if avocado is one of them. I guess I will just try to keep it warm this week in the evening and see what happens. I wish I saw some new growth on it. That might prompt me to trim it a bit... but I don't see any yet. What to do?

I didn't mean to bother anyone here since it's supposed to be citrus and I'm asking a question about avocados... I just figured citrus growers would have good, helpful advice ... and I'm not getting any responses in the avocado forum.

Maybe I will cut another 6 in or so off the top. Those leaves are small and super limp and just look like energy suckers rather than providers.

I certainly do not mind, but can't help you!

I have several potted avos, and to me, your avo looks fantastic for 2-3 weeks post transplant. Have you tried giving it a bit of shade? My avos will be droopy if they are directly in sun, but when I give some protection from direct sun, they perk up again.

Thank you Chris. I have been known to be an impatient gardener. He is looking not too shabby... you're right. My Mexicolas (and all my citrus) just have so much spunk and perkiness... it's making him look bad. He gets some shade... but maybe he needs a little more. I'm sure he's just freaking out from being shipped then being in a new place.

Ok I won't chop him just yet. I will warm him at night and shade him just a bit during the day. Maybe he deserves a little coddling. :)

Thank you!

Cori,

I live in Guatemala, the home of avocados; we have over 100 varieties here; and the one I grow is the Queen. I personally dislike the Haas; but it is the best known most traded in the world and should be okay in your climate. I think your tree looks fine; and I wouldn't prune it until it starts growing.

Thank you John!

Cori, just to clarify, in my experience (again my avos are in pots), avos are really picky about their roots being disturbed, so I shade them after transplant for a couple weeks and gradually reintroduce them to the sun. They still droop when full sun on them then perk up when sun not directly on them, (either naturally or by me providing shade).

That said, transplant shock takes a good month for my potted avos to get over transplant shock. During that time, having the leaves stay green and hold is fantastic. Somehow I would bet if you saw your tree closer to when the sun was down, you may be surprised how not droopy the leaves are. :)

Thanks Chris. I could have acclimated him a little gentler, but I didn't. That's my bad.

But I will take your advice on the fact the leaves are green and holding is good. :) So... I must have not been that bad!

I can give him some filtered shade with burlap during the day and use the same burlap at night to cozy him up if it actually does get closer to 40ish at night this week. Thanks again!

Hi Cori Ann, I have a few avocados so I want to "talk story" and share some of my experiences with you. One of my avocados, a Malama (a University of Hawaii hybrid of the Guatemalan variety), was doing really badly when I acquired it (it was a rescue). I was ecstatic to have it because this variety often wins taste tests here in Hawaii, far more than the Kona Sharwil (Hawaii's export avocado) or the Hass (the supermarket standard). Also, it is a regular, heavy bearer. Anyway, this little tree was literally a little stick that had lost its leaves and looked very spindly and weak. I really chopped that tree down, maybe about 6 inches above the graft line. It took a long time (I am spoiled as I am comparing it to my fast growing bananas and mangos), but it has recovered and it is a much lower, bushier little tree (I shared a pic of this tree with you before in another thread). It has a long way to go, but I like it far better now than when it was a single stick. I was unsure if as tall as it was, it would branch out and fill itself in, so chopping it was the best option for what I was looking for, size and apparent strength. I am not suggesting you chop yours drastically, but I just wanted to let you know that my tree survived a drastic chop and looks much stronger now. Before and after pics below. I've been meaning to do it for a few days now, but I need to add more soil to it.

Out of curiosity, what made you choose a Hass? Before I bought a second Malama, I considered buying a Lamb Hass avocado. The Hass grows more widespread than the Lamb Hass does. Also, I have read that as a hybrid of the Hass, the Lamb Hass had been bred to have larger fruit. However, still compared to the Malama, the Malama was a better choice for my region (plus I love the taste) so I got a second one. I know... two of the same avocado seems overkill, but we will be giving most of them away whenever the trees start bearing regularly (fingers crossed). At my husband's work, it seems that everyone grows something and they all take in bags of fruit to give away. During mango season, everyone takes mangos in, etc. My hubby takes entire crops from our bananas and they are gone by the end of the workday. It's like a corporate farmers market!

Best of luck to your tree : ) I would love to hear updates on how its doing.

P.S. I am MORE than happy to be your avocado forum buddy. I am not an expert, unfortunately for the both of us, but at least we can bounce ideas off of each other and do some research when we can't figure things out.

Figs your pictures give me more confidence to hack my tall Stewart Avo (which has sparse branching) come spring. "Stewie" is getting taller than me (5'3") and still stick-like. It's great to see someone else who has had avos in containers! Do you plan to put it in ground? I wish I could put my avos in ground.

Thanks Figs! Your avocado trees all look amazing and very happy (here and in photos in other posts). Your story is also giving me more confidence to chop my wimpy Hass...but I think I will wait until after winter and once it starts growing, like John recommended. We will see. I may change my mind over the season. My Mexicola avocado trees will stay in containers so Chris and Figs ... we can all be container avocado buddies. :)

Figs how cool that you have Malama avocados! I chose Hass because I love the taste, the growth habit and the look of the mature tree (and I couldn't find a healthy looking Reed tree in person). Of course right after I bought mine online I went to a local nursery that had quite a few avocado varieties, huge trees and cheaper! Oh well. I'm happy with the trees I have. I just want this Hass to firm up!

Tim in the avocado forum recommended I tie the shipping ties looser to allow the tree to move in order to get stronger. That makes sense to me! I will try that too.

Based on all the suggestions, I think what I really need to do is give him some time. I will try to be patient, let him get over his transplant shock, wait to feed him until after winter and try to wait to give him any further pruning (I took off 6 inches when I first planted him because it looked like it needed it after shipping).

I bought the Mexicolas just to help produce more avocados, extend the season and for their cold tolerance. They are good looking, tough little trees! I'm not expecting too much from their actual fruit, but I really like the look of the trees so far. Very healthy, full and strong for little guys.

Thanks for your help everyone. I really like seeing your tree updates and will post some of my own too! :)

Gosh! It's great to see a real, live, full-size avocado tree.

Cori Ann, you and your "It's gotta get strong or get out!" theory reminds me of a couple I know. Her husband says she is that way about her flower beds. She pulls anything out that looks wilted and plants something new. My friend said he came home after a long day at work and she asked him if he was feeling ill. He said "NO, NO, I'm feeling FINE!"

Figs, I have NEVER seen a full grown one like that and boy do I wish I could grow one..I am living in the wrong place for sure...I would eat one every day like I do now..Fresh? Never..I would love to know what it's like to eat a fresh picked one...Thanks for sharing that!

Now, I have yet to see what a Cashew and Peanut Tree looks like with nuts ready to pick! God, you picked the right place to live!!! Can I move in???

Mike

My wife and I put a bid in on a house that had a 30 year old avocado tree. This thing was huge and when we talked to the homeowner he said he got A ton of avocados every year from it. It's too bad we didn't get the house but it reminds me of the trees Figs posted.

Figs your neighbor's tree is pretty awesome. Free avocados help the high cost of living in Hawaii... at least a little right? ;)

John.... that couple sounds like me and my husband for sure! I pull anything out that looks weak and usually already have something propagated from a strong plant ready to go in its place.

They gotta earn their water and mulch here. ;)

John, that's a funny story! Make me laugh : )

John and Mike, sigh.. you guys would love these trees. Mature avocados like this are all over the place. My son's school is only two blocks away and on the walk there, there are three full sized avocado trees alone. One of them even has a built in tree-house type platform so they can reach the fruit. It is so shameful that not everyone has this climate to grow them everywhere! Same with mango trees; they are dinosaur size. I already consider myself a pretty good "tour guide" since I am familiar with lots of places, but I could even narrow that down some more to plant/tree lovers and point out trees; gorgeous Rainbow eucalyptus trees, giant mangos and avocados, huge palms (especially the Samoan Coconut trees), pineapple fields, coffee fields, tons of other variety fruiting trees, and of course, all the mature citrus trees.

BaconEater (love the name, lol), that is too bad you didn't get the house! We also made this home purchase recently and when we were house hunting, it was neat seeing all the trees that various houses came with. We did see a house that had a mature, giant avocado tree as well and in the middle of our showing, our realtor went to her car to gather a couple of bags so that we could pick avocados off the tree. I don't know what variety those were, but they were HUGE, much larger than my hand. I'll have to come back to add a pic. Since the house was vacant, the avocados were falling on the ground and were being left there!! We each took several and our realtor said that it was "good luck" that we took them, ha ha. My husband was frustrated that I wanted to make a bid on every single house that had a mature mango, lol.

Mike, I am so bummed that you can't grow one. Have you tried in a container? Perhaps we should read about this; maybe you can keep one in a container and once its large enough, can be transplanted into the ground and protected in the winters? Tarps, blankets, and Christmas lights during the really cold nights. BTW, regarding you moving in.. while it may be a fun party for you and me growing stuff together and taking tree tours, I suspect that my husband will mind that a 30 year old personal trainer has moved in with his wife, LOL!!!

Figs: that is nice the realtor sent you home with some avocados! We ended up getting another house with a 10 year old navel orange tree so it worked out. :D

Figs I live in Wisconsin. No avo would live in ground here!

Cori, your avo looks typical for a just transplanted one, especially in the heat.

Shading until it cools down would be a good idea. If you have a patio umbrellas around somewhere, just put it over the tree until the weather cools. Plus the umbrella also works pretty good for a temporary cover on frost nights too.

So much has been written about how avocados don't like over watering and wet feet, that a lot of folks end up going way too far the other way and under water their avocados, especially young ones. A mature avo may get away with less water, but young ones just can't take too much heat without regular watering.

What avocados do not like is poor drainage. If the soil drains well, and in your raised bed I would bet it drains just fine, it's actually hard to over water them. They actually like a lot of water, and they also like a lot of air in the soil, so raised beds work very well for them.

If the soil does not drain well, don't plant avocados. (unless you plant them in raised beds)

I find most people in CA underwater them. I have mine in a regular bed, not raised, but the soil is good and it's on a slight slope, so it drains well, slowly down the hill. When the temps are 80*F or more I water at least two to three times a week, over 90*F, every other day. I have lots of leaves and good fruiting.

Remember, they are shallow rooted, so if it's hot and they've had no water for over 4-5 days, their roots are dry, and they will lose leaves to try and conserve water. They love mulch, and after your bark mulch goes away, the best mulch is their own leaves. Something to do with the decomposing leaves and the soil chemistry/biology makes it the very best much for avocados.

So in short, good drainage=lots of water & often in hot weather.

Thanks Barb... I stopped watering it thinking maybe it got too much water with the rain we had a week ago or so... but you're probabaly right! The bed drains great so I will give it a good soak and see what happens.

Good. I bet it will help. I think the whole too-much-water thing relates more to tropical areas that not only get a lot of rain in summer, but also have heavy humidity. Not an issue in CA.

Quick update... I gave my Hass 2 gallons a day and he looked better, but not great... I gave him 5 whole freaking gallons a day and he finally started to perk up! WOW he needs A LOT of water right now! I would not have guessed that! The soil drains really well and is designed for citrus/avo... all my other citrus trees are doing great with normal watering habits. It is drizzling his weekend so I'm letting the sky water him today. He's a guzzler!!!!

I had him tied looser.... but then it got cold so I have him strung with C9 Christmas lights now. Finally perking up!

The top still isn't... making me want to chop it... but I will restrain myself and wait.

Another photo.

My Mexicolas (and all my citrus) look pretty darn good. No limpy lulu leaves there!

Avocados, unlike citrus are fierce competitors for food and water, especially water. A tree that tall, if grown there, would have an unbelievably large root system to find water and/or to steal it from nearby plants. Give it a little time to develop roots and it will be easier to care for.

I even see tiny little bumps of new growth finally on this limpy lulu tree.

I admit I REALLY wanna chop about another 6-8 inches off the top... to right above this node.

I decided he gets until Thanksgiving. After some rain this weekend and sunny 70s this week he should be looking stronger at the top. If the top still looks like it does now next weekend... ba-bye.

I don't think this limp guy has found his competitive spirit yet John. He's gotta muscle up!

Idle hands. So...I'm off work today. Found out my husband bet his friend $20 that my avocado trees would do better than his (3 have died on his watch so it's not saying much).

Limpy Lulu got a haircut early.

"RIP Limpy Lulu leaves. Now you better perk up or else I will do it again!" She meniacally said to her inanimate avocado tree, then evilly laughed as she chucked the trimmings and sharpened her blades.

Cori Ann, aww, your tree has its Christmas lights. Hope it holds up to its chop. I'll be looking forward to updates!

Aww, you should have put those trimmings under the tree rather than chucked them.

Meh... he's got tons of bark mulch. Those leaves were an embarrassment. Chucked. Well, actually composted.