I am new with avocados. I have had mine for about 8 months. It was about 3 feet high when I got it, now it about 6 high and growing like crazy. Some tips that I have learned along the way. Water. They don't like wet feet, trust me I almost killed mine. Depending on the soil you have, mine is heavy clay. It retains water too long, so I water it once a week with a soak hose in the middle of the summer. Now in the winter, I havent watered it since Thanksgiving and its still pushing new leaves. It rained last week and the soil is still moist. Fertilizer. I use it every 3 months. I use the same one you mentioned. Citrus & Avocado mix. Soil. When I planted in the ground, It was bald and limp. The air would bend it side to side. I placed a metal rod next to it and tight it. I dug a hole twice the size of the pot both wide and deep. I filled it with compost (homemade), composted cow manure, gypsum (they love it, I used 80 lbs of it),play sand, miracle grow garden soil (very little) and native soil. All mixed in to the hole. After about a month, I saw new growth coming out of it and it hasn't stopped. Sun. They love the sunlight. Mine is placed with no shade. Some of the leaves will get sunburn but its normal. Some people recommend adding water with white non latex paint and spraying the leaves and trunk. I was thinking of doing so, but I didn't and mine is doing pretty good with out it. Last. They like to be felt alone. This is the advice the person who sold it to me told me. Let it be, don't worry about it. Once established, they are very low maintenance. Don't rake up the leaves let them compost in the ground, they drop alot of leaves but if new ones are coming there's nothing to worry about it. This is why your tree has made it thru the "without love" period. I hope you found this helpful with your tree. PS. the pic was back in June. It had gotten bigger since then.

Avocados are not "same hole" trees like stone fruits. Think of them as the "SUV's of the garden", lol! Even more "compact" avocados are only relatively compact (as opposed to ginormous non-compact avocado varieties). They need their own space. A slope is ideal, as they don't like to sit in standing water, but DO need lots of water, even more than citrus. Backfilling a hole just creates a "bathtub" effect in clay soil. The current line of thinking with trees is NOT to amend the hole, but to top dress with compost and other soil amendments. With clay you would want to plant on a mound to help facilitate drainage. You're going to want to monitor your soil moisture about 18" down to make sure you're not creating a water logged environment. I would try to move the the Reed, but warning - avocados do not at all like their roots disturbed, so this very well may spell the demise of the Reed, as may also upset the Gem. Always leave their fallen leaves underneath as this is something the feeder roots like and actually require. Drip emitters are fine, just make sure they do give a good soaking, and the well should be dug out to at least the drip line (edge of the canopy) where the feeder roots reside, just make sure that you're not creating too wet an environment for them. Drip emitters come in varying gph outputs, so you can get a very large volume of water to a tree with drip emitters. I have two per avocado, and have actually had to dial them down a bit. And your trees are still pretty young to bear fruit, not to worry. It can take up to 5 years for an avocado to become established enough to bear fruit. I have a Lamb Haas that is full of fruit in it's second year with me, which was shocking. All my other avos are still barren. Who suggested to you to plant these two trees in the same hole, anyway? Patty S.

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.

Pip your Carmen looks great. Mine seems to have had a lot of leaves broken. Was my first time ordering online. Four winds is good for hard to find varieties. Unfortunately finding harder to find varieties in the shops is difficult. Drove around way too much. Hopefully the tree grows vigorously.