Growing Avocado Trees in a Hot Desert Climate | Update

[@sheri023]

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]

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

[@pibblesnbits]

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

[@edibletropicaltrees]

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]

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

[@jimnaz6281]

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]

Very nice collection!

[@TouchGrassGardening]

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.

[@khalidachilles]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@chosen2030]

Would love to see a video on how you install the edger around your avocado trees (and mango?) and how you use it to plant above grade. Also, why do you use both sand and decomposed granite, I thought those 2 materials served the same function? Lastly, no peat moss for in ground planting, right?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

I'll be planting a Mexicola Grande soon (I just got it), so I'll film it. True; DG and sand are both great for drainage, but DG also acts as a stabilizer, which can be useful if you want to add some additional weight and structure to the media. Some peat in the ground is good when planting tropicals that could use a lower ph. I did use it for the mango plants that are on a mound and will be using it for the avocado to be planted soon

[@chosen2030]

@@EnlightenmentGarden Did you find your MxG avocado locally? If you did, where?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

@@chosen2030 No; I ordered it online from Trade Winds in California. It was held for months due to the heat but finally shipped this week. They still have them in stock

[@1cleandude]

Awesome video and garden thank you for posting! They are very tough to grow. I’ve managed to kill 10 grafted plants! I live in south Louisiana where the summers are very hot and humid. Any suggestions?🙏🙏🙏

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

You are welcome! I suggest focusing on the soil (stick to non-organic media). Growers often use compost as media which is not good for the tree. In those cases, you may need to soak your plant in a bucket of water to clean off the roots before planting. And give your tree 80-90% shade in summer. Finally, plant it 1'+ above ground level on a mound so it can drain if you have clay soil. I have another video that talks through how I planted the Bacon avocado on a mound which may help. Fall is the best time of the year to plant one in my experience.

[@1cleandude]

Thanks for the reply very much appreciated! I’m believing the nursery media has been the main problem being mostly composted bark etc. I’ve watched everything on soil that Gary Matsuoka has posted and will experiment with what he suggests! Thanks again!🙏🙏🙏

[@lovaleriemullins5813]

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

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

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]

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

[@humzilla707]

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

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

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

[@epigeneticnerd4244]

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]

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

[@daveaz9962]

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]

I couldn't have said it better!

[@SpYucaipaSoCal]

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

[@NormaCruz-vm2fw]

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

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

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

[@benlabarre8072]

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]

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]

@@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]

@@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]

@@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.

[@SpYucaipaSoCal]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@@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]

@@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]

@@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!

[@Daev-]

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]

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-]

@@EnlightenmentGarden Thank you!

[@MrOrcslayer]

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]

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

[@MrOrcslayer]

Do you have a Aravaipa Avocado?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

@@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]

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

[@MrOrcslayer]

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

[@ChristopherARamsey]

Sand perlite pumice 🫡