Planting Avocado Trees in Heavy Clay Soils

This Soil can look deceiving. At first glance, it looks sandy and silty, but upon closer inspection, this soil is very heavy clay. Once you add water, it gets mucky and sinks. Planting avocado trees in this kind of soil can be tricky, but with a few adjustments, your tree will thrive in this “bad” soil!

0:00 - 0:39 October is a great time to plant trees!
0:40 - 1:27 Sometimes clay doesn’t look like clay
1:28 - 2:13 Avocado trees grow well in clay!
2:14 - 3:01 The key to planting in clay soils
3:02 - 3:45 Preparing the tree and placing it
3:46 - 4:35 Putting the native soil back in place
4:36 - 6:17 The secret ingredient
6:18 - 6:36 Watering
6:37 - 7:18 Mulch is critical
7:19 - 8:17 Adding the mulch
8:18 - 9:02 Showing some trees planted in the same style
9:03 - 9:39 No need to overthink planting avocados

#avocado #clay #avocadotree

[RobertSolo]

What’s up brother..
I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
Have a great night 😃👍

[ivanguajardo]

I like you're last message that avocado growing should be kept simple with no fertilizers or fancy stuff. I've been basically doing the same as you and my 5 avocado trees are all flourishing with thick beautiful growth. I have a Bacon, two Reeds, Mexicola and a Gem. I plant the root ball 1/4 to 1/3 above ground, mound it up with a mixture of my native soil, some sandy soil from the base of a native so cal hill, and some DG. Then I use heavy, heavy mulch from weeds, leaves, and grass from my yard. Then I keep the mulch in place with a 4 x 4 ft x 7 inch tall frame I make with plywood.

[SVmathfarmer]

Awesome AJ. Great message to teach. I do same thing more or less but on a much larger scale (I’m
OCD). I make a massive hole and backfill with a mixture of sand and Sandy loam from my local rockery - like 2-3 big wheelbarrows full to make a big mound that tree sits in then top with a heavy mulch layer. The clay gets ditched and tossed elsewhere. That Nimlioh I planted this way last Spring was only about a foot tall in a 1 gal pot now towers over 12 ft tall and is expanding in all directions. I’ve had similar massive growth results with Fuerte, Carmen, Nabal, Lamb, etc.

[daggius]

Why didn’t u fill in the sides of the mound more with dg before adding the mulch?

[hankfrierson]

Man you are incredible. I have two avocado trees that did exactly what you said. I used the wrong soil mix. However i want to try to save the two i have. Any suggestions? And im looking to buy another grafted one. Peetmoss, perlite, and decomposed granite, yes !!

[calebsun]

How long does it take for avocado grafts to fruit after grafting

[AdolfoCastillo-ky]

Great tips on planting avocados and I've been using DG as well, need to know if both avocados that you replanted survived? Thank you

[JesseWarnMusic]

Hi i have a question. So for example with gary's top pot mix recipe, do you measure by weight or by volume? So like if it ask 10% sand and you making 25l of potting mix. Do you do 2.5kg worth of sand or do you pour the sand in a measuring jug and measure 2.5l?

[jamestnguyen]

great vidieo..how about planting the seeds in those spot and let it sprout from the clayish soil?

[MaMaMae_]

Great tip! Ive lost two avocado trees and one mango in the clay soil here in norcal. Where can you buy DG? And where do you initially get your scions? Im looking for Keitt, Joey, Reed and mango scions that tend to be more cold hardy for zone 9B!

[rakeshuniyal]

Thanks for this video ! Can I put DG in a container growing avocado as well ? Is it ok for cold regions ? We get frost for some days here.

[kallahcilliers]

Please if you have any info on the LINDA variety can you post? I have three trees that have been in the ground for 2 years only (bought them 5gal) and they are covered in flowers! Hoping to sample a fruit! Have no idea what to expect! Not much video out there on taste etc…

[aegarden]

Do you have the Green Gold Variety avocado tree? I yet to see a video of a full grown one with fruit. Thanks.

[gilbertcuellar]

I had a mexicola grance that died down to the ground, but pushed up root suckers. Should I plant a new tree, or graft to a root sucker?

[Arcanhael]

Isn't your avocado planted too close to the wall? Will it damage your concrete later on? I am the Mexican sunflower believer. I have a jungle of it in southern California.

[SergioValdez-uv]

I like your videos a lot. I’m looking for reed and naval trees where can I get them. Any place you recommend. Thanks, and keep posting those videos they help a lot.

[segapena]

I use red lava sand fines instead of dg. I like it holds just enough moisture while draining really well.

[RareAvoTrees]

I have worse clay my soil 90 percent clay, the key to clay is go much higher no less than a 2 foot tall mound above soil grade, put large boulders in hole in clay and pour sand or dg on top of boulders then mix 50 percent sand and high grade top soil above grade to make the mound.

[matthewking]

I live in Georgia zone 8. I have a Joey and fantastic/Pryor in containers I think they are cold hardy to 18F. They are grafted but I don't know what seedling rootstock they used. I have been trying to do some air layers but that seems difficult with avocados. They were also struggling in the soil they came in but I was scared to change it at first. I did change it and they do look happier now. I want to graft them over onto a cold hardy rootstock but all I can find is Zutano. I think it is good to 25F which might work if I protect the graft with deep mulch. Do you have any advice?

[ppkgaming]

Isn't the DG going to make the water stay in the hole longer because it's like sand?