Growing Avocado Trees in a Hot Desert Climate

Growing Avocado Trees in a Hot Desert Climate | Update

Рет қаралды 980

Ай бұрын

So many of us dream of picking a fresh creamy delicious avocado fruit from our backyard tree. I'm one of them! This is not a fruit tree to start with as a new gardener and is among the most difficult to successfully grow. Avocados may be a nice addition if you are up for the challenge and have an established garden with shaded micro-climates.
This is an update video on the 4 avocado varieties growing in my USDA zone 9B Phoenix Arizona area yard. I cover what has worked and has not when growing these subtropical fruit trees in a hot dry climate (highs up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit). Topics covered include: planting, mulch, irrigation, fertilization, microclimate, shade, and soil composition. I'm growing: Bacon, Day, Gem, and Wurtz.
Planting Avocado in Clay Soil for Proper Drainage (AZ 9 9B) - • Planting Avocado in Cl...
Growing a Bacon Avocado on a Mound Arizona 9B - 6 month update - • Growing a Bacon Avocad...
Summer Shade Cloth and Sunscreen for Garden - • Summer Shade Cloth and...
Irrigation Playlist - • Irrigation | Watering

Пікірлер: 50

@edibletropicaltrees Ай бұрын

Thanks for your video. I also have several varieties of avocados 🥑 trees growing. I have Bacon, Little Cado, Fuerte, Hass, Zutano, and G6 a rootstocks variety from Guatemala they started growing in California around 1978.

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Hi Mel--TFW. Nice collection! Looking forward to seeing updates on your trees.

@lovaleriemullins5813 Ай бұрын

Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try, success with pecan trees and avocado trees eludes me.........your avocados are beautiful!

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Thanks! After trial and error, container growing is the easiest way to go with them. Set them up with the right soil, shade, and water and they should put on growth.

@SpYucaipaSoCal 11 күн бұрын

@@lovaleriemullins5813 my pecan tree seems to love the heat. I had to hide the avocados or shade them the last few weeks.

@khalidachilles Ай бұрын

In case of desert heat, you need an avocado variety like Reed, Lamb hass or Mexicola. + planted on mound with heavy mulch, and you need filtered sun for the first 2 years at least, then these varieties can withstand the heat with minimum damage. Bacon is not that much heat tolerant.

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Thanks for the recommended varieties! My yard has seen cold winters with extreme lows to 24 F. Mexicola seems the best in handling the cold and heat.

@khalidachilles Ай бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden YW 24f is quite low temp, but with protection, a young Reed can survive its first winter, after that it will be just fine.

@jimnaz6281 Ай бұрын

Love it! I have 4 varieties myself. Bacon and Reed I've had for 2yrs in pots that I'll plant in ground this fall and then I picked up a Sir Prize and GEM trees from Gary's Laguna Hills nursery a month ago.

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Very nice collection!

@Daev- Ай бұрын

So interesting. Thank you. I tried with... almost 10 avocados and mangos within the last 10 years. First of all, I realized that salty water was not nice. Neither my ground native red clay soil. Then I started giving them safe-human-grade water with a full tree bark shade and lot of organic dirt in the hole and above (mulch) I'll try with your information: full in-organic soil, lot of mulch above, nice water and a 50% cover shade (similar to your "shade tent"). I have this as a hobby-experiment. I know this tree is not native from my climate and soil, but I like this challenges! Pd: From my experience, mango trees seems to be harder to kill than avocados. Thank you.

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Wish you success! If nothing else, container growing is much easier with proper shade, inorganic soil media, and water frequency. There are quite a few suitable mangos and avocado varieties for containers.

@Daev- Ай бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden Thank you!

@sheri023 Ай бұрын

I learned from Gary's best gardening channel too. Our Mexicola avocado hadn't ever produced more than two avocados a year in 15 yrs.. Gary's channel suggests spraying honey water on the buds and when I did there were about 175 avocados that year. Many didn't ripen but about a third did. The bees were preferring the citrus tree instead and they had to be coaxed to pollinate the avocado tree with the honey water. This year there are at least 30 fruits I can see but they do like to hide. You have a good start on your trees, Natasha. Thanks for the tour!

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Thanks! Yes-- Gary is the best! I'll definitely use the honey trick once my trees are old enough to hold fruit.

@pibblesnbits 23 күн бұрын

Nice tip! What ratio of water to honey? How often to spray? And at what stage of the flowering process to spray?

@daveaz9962 Ай бұрын

Watching your videos and taking your advice I also started watching Gary’s Best Gardening. It went against the grain of what I thought made a good soil medium. Most nurseries preach the exact opposite and tell you to add organics mixed in. Wish I had known this earlier because I killed a few mango trees in my day. Took a huge mental shift on what makes a good loamy soil and now my mango trees are super healthy. In the past I had the perfect micro climate for my mango trees but I had made the mistake of adding organic matter to the soil. Even nurseries that sell tropicals often get this wrong. I stopped following much of their advice, it was killing my trees.

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

I couldn't have said it better!

@SpYucaipaSoCal 13 күн бұрын

Sand is organic as Garys says so is pumice. I recently purchased a couple trees from Maddock nursery in Fallbrook in the avocado Capitol area there and I was amazed how heavy a 15 gallon pot was. It’s amazing the amount sand that they actually put in their soil but you can see some wood material in there. When I water them I have to put a little on then wait and give them a good drink. Otherwise the water just runs thru the pot quickly. The Home Depot 5 gallon they call it but typically three actual size avocados I purchased don’t have the same type soil they soak up water like a sponge. I have a creek bed near my house and I just go down and fill up 5 gallon buckets with course River sand and that’s most of what I put in the pot like this lady here is doing 1/3 Pete Moss mostly sand and other organic minerals People can learn a lot from Gary if they have the patience to watch one of his videos they are all long

@TouchGrassGardening Ай бұрын

I like that you make 5 year goals - not many people can do that! I'll be interested to see how the in-ground avocados do with the light+frequent watering as they get bigger. I imagine the tap root will be into the native soil soon, and likely want more and deeper watering to break through it.

@humzilla707 Ай бұрын

Lost one of mine to a freeze then lots of rain in Tucson. Winter has been much harder than summer for mine here

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

For your area, you may want to try a cold-hardy variety like Lila (good down to 15 F)

@epigeneticnerd4244 Ай бұрын

Two questions: where did you get the conduit for the shade apparatus and where do you get your sand? I see paver sand at Home Depot but wasn’t sure if that would suffice

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Home Depot sells the 10' lengths of emt conduit. That's where I got mine from and had them delivered. I buy the Deco Rock brand all-purpose sand at Lowes in the garden center. It's just under $6 for a 40 lb bag. They sometimes put additives in paver sand to make it bind so I stay away from it. It's also more expensive

@NormaCruz-vm2fw 28 күн бұрын

Any suggestions for getting bacon avocado to flower n fruit will be greatly appreciated.

@EnlightenmentGarden 28 күн бұрын

While I have not done it yet because my trees are young, I've heard spraying diluted honey water on the flowers works great for attracting the bees to pollinate them. Some sources say 2TBSP per quart of warm water but you may want to research the best ratio.

@AMAOG78191 19 күн бұрын

I live near you in the flood irrigated properties. I have a few spots that have good shade, but they are in the flood zone. I read about mounding up, but that once the tap root hits the clay, it will start to die. Is there anything I can do to be able to get the tree to do well?

@EnlightenmentGarden 19 күн бұрын

I would mound up--3' high by 3' wide like in the Cali avocado orchards where there is heavy clay. The comment about the tap root hitting clay and causing an issue does not make sense to me. The first few feet of soil is where the feeder roots are and what matters.

@AMAOG78191 18 күн бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden so like 1/3 native clay, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 lava rock?

@EnlightenmentGarden 18 күн бұрын

@@AMAOG78191 Yes; perfect. That would provide aeration to the important roots and never decompose or rot.

@benlabarre8072 20 күн бұрын

Do you think Old Hamii bamboo will get less bleaching if they are watered twice a day instead of once a day? I have one in a hot area with 110F temps.

@EnlightenmentGarden 20 күн бұрын

That will help if the soil is drying out. I find the key is to keep them shaggy and do not limb them up so they retain as much humidity and inner shade as possible. If in direct sun all day in our 110+ temps, solar bleaching is possible, no matter how much water you give them. Mine seem to be handling the summer ok so far but we have a few months to go.

@benlabarre8072 20 күн бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden Thanks. Do you think 3 fertilization’s a year is too much for bamboo? For example Feb, May, Sept? I don’t want to sound ostentatious but I want my bamboo to be looking like it has walking around money.

@EnlightenmentGarden 20 күн бұрын

@@benlabarre8072 It all depends on what kind of fertilizer you use. Nutricote 18-6-8 Slow Time Release Fertilizer feeds for 6 months (amazon carries it). I personally apply that once a year in early spring. Ammonium sulfate is available immediately and is depleted within 4 weeks. You would need a new application monthly during the growing season if that's all you use. I apply ammonium sulfate twice a year; once in late spring and early fall or whenever it needs a little extra boost.

@benlabarre8072 19 күн бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden For fruit trees and bamboo I use organic bone meal and blood meal several tablespoons. Then I add worm castings and chicken manure. Finally I add about 3 inches of the moon valley bagged mulch. Water that in. For say Hong Kong orchid tree or mesquite I do not use anything but mulch or perhaps some worm casting the first couple years.

@ChristopherARamsey 22 күн бұрын

Sand perlite pumice 🫡

@SpYucaipaSoCal 13 күн бұрын

Your pour Gem looks sad. Hopefully it turns around. I bought mine as 15 and its holding fruit already. Ive had it 3 weeks.

@EnlightenmentGarden 12 күн бұрын

Thanks for the encouragement. My Gem came from a mail order nursery in California. Like I mentioned, it was a 1 gallon plant in actuality and was only recently grafted. A 15 gallon would be amazing but we don't have local nurseries selling Gem in any size in Arizona. Enjoy the harvest.

@SpYucaipaSoCal 11 күн бұрын

I can imagine they don’t stock anything tropical. Im near SanBernardino and when go to Palm Springs or the high desert nobody has them. Im an hour inland from Fallbrook. So I have access to so many types of. Maddock is my favorite. Very reasonable and too many trees to count in multiple sizes. Not to many exotics about 13 of the normal ones. Quite a few nurseries buy from them even crazy hairy Garys comes down from the Bay Area. They just rolled their eyes when I mentioned him.

@neurocognitive 29 күн бұрын

Hi Natasha - I have a question....Do you have any Mamey Sapote trees in your orchard? I am thinking about planting a couple here in the San Fernando Valley which is in LA County, but it's fairly dry and gets into the 100"s. They are rarely in the markets here, so I thought I'd give it a try. Do you think it would be a waste of my time here in zone 10b ? Ordering the fruit from Florida gets expensive!! Thanks

@EnlightenmentGarden 28 күн бұрын

Hi! I currently do not. I bought a 15-gallon Magana year 1 from Shamus and it slowly died. Likely by me torturing the thing back then with no knowledge. You could get it to grow in your area and possibly even here in the right microclimate. I doubt it would ripen fruit given it takes over a year for the fruit to ripen once it sets. I won't try it again knowing it would take a miracle for fruit to hold that long in my climate outside of a greenhouse. Have you tried Lara Farms to buy the fruit? I've never ordered fruit from them but the prices seem reasonable for an occasional treat when in season.

@neurocognitive 28 күн бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden I have previously ordered fruit from Tom at Sleepy Lizard. His prices are better than Lara's Farms, but it still is an expenditure just for a few pieces of fruit. I also wrote Gary Gragg who has a nursery up near San Francisco, but have not heard back from him yet. Based on your experience with the Magama, it might not be worth my while to put in the time and effort to grow a Mamey here in 10b. :( The hang time required might not be a problem here, as it generally doesn't get down to freezing. I'll have to give it more thought and research. Thanks for your input!!

@EnlightenmentGarden 27 күн бұрын

@@neurocognitive Don't let my experience dissuade you. You have a much better chance to fruit mamey in your area. Try and see what happens. My observation is they need humidity and afternoon shade beyond no frost.

@neurocognitive 27 күн бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden Based on your encouragement, I might just give it a try. Today I went to Vallarta Market, and low and behold, they had fresh mamey for sale!! They were kind of picked over, but I found 3 that were still in good shape, but more rounded and smaller in size. I would probably order the tree from Lara Farms. I'll have to check to see if they ship to Calif. I will keep you posted. Thanks!

@MrOrcslayer Ай бұрын

I would tell anyone to not start with avocado or mango trees. They are tier three trees really. Start with figs and dwarf mulberry, Florida Prince Peach. Stuff like that. .

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

Absolutely; avocado and mango are not in my beginner fruit tree video. They both have special needs.

@MrOrcslayer Ай бұрын

Do you have a Aravaipa Avocado?

@EnlightenmentGarden Ай бұрын

@@MrOrcslayer No; I never bought that variety. The hype in that one is not the quality of the fruit but the tolerance of extreme temps. Could be used as rootstock for that reason. For a grafted variety, I think there are better alternatives like Mexicola Grande

@MrOrcslayer Ай бұрын

@@EnlightenmentGarden I never tasted it but heard it is similar to hass.

@MrOrcslayer Ай бұрын

I think they are grafted onto a salt tolerant root stock locally.