Gardeners in the Asylum

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by bvilchez

Mark, I'm in the Temecula/Lake Elsinore area....Wildomar to be exact. The avocado tree is a standard fuerte.

You're definitely in avocado country Jay. My parents have 104 acre's of avocado/grapefruit property in Pauma Valley (just South of your location). Your fuerte will have no problemo in surviving. You will basically have to go out of your way to kill it by not watering it.

Well, that standard tree can reach a height in excess of 25+ feet for one. At some point in time, and for convenience of harvesting, you will want to keep it trimmed low in time (maybe to around twelve feet). It will be easier to get a picking latter up into the branches that way. There are picking poles that extend with a small canvas bag on the end. You telescope the pole to the desired length, find a avocado, cut it, and it falls into the bag. However, that's some time down the road for you.

Make sure you have dug a nice size hole to plant the tree in, add the appropriate nutrients and compost and work it well into the soil, then water it all in, and plant your tree. Back fill with a mixture of the original soil and compost, and water in good. I don't know what the diameter of your tree's canopy, but your hole should be approximately the same size. When irrigating the tree, you should irrigate underneath the tree about the same diameter of the canopy. That is, the circumference of the spread out branches (hopefully that made some sort of sense). You can check out more here:

http://uccemg.com/Edible_Plants/?ds=530&uid=127

http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.o...%20Gardens.pdf

Originally Posted by azar

Mark absolutely beautiful to bad we weren't closer together I would give you the patio pots I have gathered over the years. An older neighbor of ours gave us a ton of them. She moved to a nursing home.

Thanks Mack. I'm sure someone in your area can make use of those pots...