avocado

bsilver says...
Perfect drainage needed , mound and add sand or gravel to mound.

John says...
Ian; more info please. Whats the winds like there,soil type,frosts like and how did you feed it. I thought the Mckay was fairly windy, in which case you need more protection. Just how did it die aswell. For ANSWERS we need to be given infomation.

Ian Rabig says...
Thanks to you all, all relevant info.
There was a period of wind and drought, it died back but I put up shelter and it shot back again.
Then the rain came and it just died back again.
The soil just there is flat, and shallow, with clay underneath.
I will have to try another location on the hill perhaps, and I will add some boron also. Thanks again.
I really want to grow the big round purple ones again.

Correy says...
Libby unless you are able to do grafts yourself multigrafts are not the way to go due to being very difficult to look after and Avocados are the most difficult fruit tree to grow to start with.

My opinion is to get the Secondo Avocado Tree. Simply put it is the best. It is inately procarious (grows and fruits very quickly) and will set fruit without another pollinator.

Here is some more reading:
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/blog/2006/12/secondo-avocado.html
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/avocado.htm

Here is some feedback:
"... the secondo avocado is giving fruit in it's second year (maybe that's why they call it secondo). I tell everyone. David Mane, KENSINGTON NSW"

Gregs advice at Daleys is to get a huge tractor tire and and fill it to the brim with soil and plant your avocado on top of that to get the drainage they require. Obviously this is not aesthetically pleasing but it gives you a good idea of the size of the mound.

I recently asked my mum about our avocado we had as kids. We got a seedling avocado (big mistake) and it was in the ground for 15 years before it got it's first crop. Then soon after that we got a lot of rain and it died a horrible death.

Moral: Lifes too short for seedling avocado trees and make sure it is on the biggest free draining mound you can get away with.

Also with the secondo they crop very well. Apparently a tree of 1.5 meters can give you a crop of 40 avocados. Over time though you can expect them to grow up to about 5-8m.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Correy says...
Yes I am growing a Wurtz as well. It is very slow growing and fruiting compared to the Secondo.

I did a blog on Dwarf Avocado Trees

Yes you are right about drainage.

Kath says...
Ian, yes avocados are the most difficult fruit tree to grow. I have killed 8 so far but I am not ready to give up yet. They will not accept anything less than perfect drainage. With your mound imagine that you are trying to replicate years of falling leaf litter, breaking down to create humus. Build the mound up as large as you can so that you are planting the avocado on the top of the ground level into the mound and then mulch with a thick layer of organic mulch like lucerne hay. This will encourage the surface roots which are the main feeders. The mounding will prevent any root damage from poor drainage and it is true, 24 hours of being waterlogged can kill your avocado tree. Young avocado trees do not have their full canopy of leaves and their beautiful green stems are also sensitive to damage from harsh elements and will suffer from sunburn and frost damage. It is a good idea to construct a small protective house around your young tree to protect it from both these extremes. The house can be simple, 4 star pickets wrapped with hessian or shade cloth will stop the damaging sun, a hat can be place over this on frosty nights.
They are well worth the effort, if you can succeed with them as once they are growing they are relatively pest free.
I replaced a couple of avocados with Guiana chestnuts which do not mind having wet feet, infact they are one of the only fruit trees to tolerate wet heavy soils, they are going great guns in place of my failed attempt to grow avocados.