avocado

FRANKIE starts with ...
Hi Everybody,

Sorry for my previous attempt to insert pictures, I resized them incorrectly. Here is a new lot, as you can see some of the leaves on the Reed are all yellow. All in the last 4 days.

Regrads Frankie

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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FRANKIE says...
Hi Amanda,

Thank you for your response, the stems seem to be OK perhaps it's the photo.

I haven't fed them at all, my intention was to feed them with dynamic lifter in early spring. I didn't think there was a need prior to this.

The soil here is a heavy clay, when I planted them I borrowed an excavator and dug 20 holes running North South on a hillside. The holes were 2 metres wide by 2 metres deep, these holes were joined by a trench of the same depth running down the hill. The bottom of the holes and trench had 200mm of gravel and then a 75mm ag pipe with 300mm of gravel on top. The trench was filled with the clay soil, however the holes were filled with a mix of half garden mix from a landscape supplier a quarter sand with organic fertiliser and the other quarter the original clay.

You may now understand why I felt I didn't need to feed them for the first 12 months. Nonetheless I think you may be correct, they may be in need of nutrients.

Incidently along with the 3 avos, I planted 7 figs, brown turkey, white genoa, white adriatic and black genoa. I also planted 2 red papaya. You may have guessed I love figs.

Anyhow after borrowing a calculator and doing the maths I found that out of the 20 holes I still have 8 holes to put a plant in. I am looking for tropical fruit trees, I am thinking Frejoa (I think that's how it's spelt) and another called wampi, any suggestions.

Thank you
Frankie

FRANKIE says...
That sounds like major surgery, my expertise in horticulture is zero compared to yours. When it comes to plants I usually walk around with a blank look on my face.

Upon viewing "Amanda's Edible Fruit Trees" my laptop began to shake, obviously the presence of gardening royality.

Frankie

FRANKIE says...
Hi John,

Thanks for the advice John, is "complete fertiliser" a brand name or do you mean a fertiliser that has everything.

Frankie

Brendan says...
Hi Frankie,
The 'guru' up here advises never dig a big hole to plant any tree, and never add foreign soil (or fertilizer) to the hole. (Can add gypsum though, avos love it.)
By doing so, you are making a well that holds water, and the tree will die from Phytophthora (root rot).
I know you've put drainage in the bottom of the holes, but you've also got 500mm of gravel, imported soil, fertilizer & sand under the root system, probably not a good idea.
Ok, lets say you don't want to dig them up and transplant them (I would), you could try what John Mc says, but I would probably add 1 x 25kg bag of gypsum to each tree, and also, spray with Yates Anti Rot as per directions, as John Mc says.
Because you dug such a large hole, spread the gypsum over the entire excavated area and scarify it into the soil, and apply mulch over the same area, keeping it away from the tree trunk.
Mix up 30 grams of copper oxychloride in 4½ litres of water with a wetting agent, and spray the trees, and drench the soil around the trunk.

Please, no fertilizer! They are too young IMHO. BTW, are those trees only 10 months old, and flowering? Never seen that before.

Hopefully, John Mc's tips and mine, 'might' save your trees.
I notice that two trees are flowering, don't forget, most avocado trees usually drop their leaves to expose the flowers to bees :-)

Please search this forum (top right) for Anthracnose Avocados, and have a look at how I planted my Edranol avo in pure clay.

Brendan says...
G'day Frankie,
Yep, there's a good chance you 3 avos will survive, I hope they do.

Here's a photo of my Edranol today, it's been in ~ 18 months.

Because where I planted it is pure clay, (there's only 1 inch of topsoil), I planted it ON TOP of the ground, in a mound, to aid drainage. Seems to be working so far.
As the mulch breaks down, it turns into perfect well drained soil. Different types of mulch helps too :-) The plastic ring ($10 from bunnies), helps keep the mulch away from the trunk.

btw, the milk bottle hanging in the tree has drainage holes with a larger hole towards the top. You put cut up pieces of pineapple inside to attrack bees:-) It does have a few flowers, but to me, it's still too young to bear :-)

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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Brendan says...
Ouch Frankie!
Those bee stings in 'that area' would've been painful! Sorry, but I had to laugh!

Don't forget the Gypsum for your new tree. I probably used ½ a 25kg bag of gypsum per tree!

Have you done a soil pH test of the proposed planting site? I think avocados like a pH 5.5 to 6.5.

My 'mounds' were a mixture of composted (old) cow manure and el-cheapo potting mix, with lots of gypsum mixed in :-)
Then mulched with a coarse coco mulch (from bunnies too).

I've read that the Edranol avo has the 'best' flavour, but flavour can be tweeked with trace elements, IMHO.

BTW, where is McLeans Ridges?

FRANKIE says...
Hi Brendan,

PH in the clay is 6.5. PH in the hole around the sus avo is 6.0. I just had a thought, the holes in the clay dirt would not drain too well had I filled them with the soil I took out. I didn't use that soil, I used a mixture of course sand, compost, chicken shit and probably 25% red dirt with the large drain below all this.

Could it be that it drains too freely and washing away all nutrients. I just find it hard to believe that a seedling can be crying out for nutrients after 10 months in the ground. Its not as if it's a large tree.

It was a lot of work digging those holes and digging isn't one of my favorite pastimes. Admittedly I had an excavator but the mixing and filling was all by hand in mid summer.

McLeans Ridges is about 20kms west of Byron Bay. In between Byron and Nimbin, heaps of hippies and dope growers, about an hours drive from the Queensland border. Joh reckoned it should have been in Queensland.

I going to go to Dalleys and get an Endranol next week. I'll keep you posted.

Regards Frankie

Rhys says...
Hi Frankie...yes that is a lot of drainage, and that could be what saves your trees.

Your comparison with a pot is appropriate, because that is essentially what you have dug...a nice pot made out of clay (I've done exactly the same thing before, and the citrus i planted really struggled). However, compared with a normal pot, one dug into clay is below ground, and whenever it rains, not only will your pot fill with rain that lands directly on top of it, but the rain that falls on all the clay surrounding it will drain into it as well. As clay can hold a lot of water, your planting hole may continue to be wet for weeks after any rain. As water drains out through the ag pipe and channels, more will seep in from the surrounding soil, and that could be where the avo's run into trouble, because, as you and the nearby avo farm discovered, they don't like wet feet for more than a couple of days.

Hopefully the drainage you have dug and the slope the trees are on will be sufficient to stop them from staying too wet, but the slope can be a blessing and a curse. Sure, what water is in the hole will drain away more quickly, but then any water uphill will drain into your hole, so it will depend on which part of the slope the trees are.

I'd agree with the gypsum comments as well, and if you can afford it, i'd extend coverage to out beyond the planting holes as much as possible to try and improve the surrounding clay as well.

I know what you mean about all fruit trees seeming to need good drainage etc because that does seem to be the standard and i've found that frustrating because i also have heavy clay soil, but i think some cope better with heavier soil than others, and unfortunately avo's seem to be one tree that really does freak out if it gets wet feet. I think fruit trees needing good drainage is the reason why a lot of places recommended planting into a mound like Brendan suggested, because at least that way, the root crown is kept 10-20cm above the surrounding soil so it should at least remain dry even if everything is saturated.

Sorry, this post is getting a bit long, but one final thing you need to be careful with when digging planting holes is the potential to create an interface that roots won't cross ie the roots will be quite happy growing in the nice soil in the hole, but when they hit the original clay soil, esp. if it is a nice smooth surface from digging with a spade etc, then the roots won't grow into it and the plant ends up effectively pot bound. I noticed you added some of the original clay back into the hole which is good, so hopefully that plus the drainage you've done will mean the plants will be ok. Plenty of gypsum and organic matter should improve the odds...for a quicker fix, see if you can source liquid gypsum, or use the "Ground Breaker" product which is a gypsum alternative.

Anyway good luck, and let us know how you go...maybe start your own "My Edible's" page so we can follow your progress. :)