How to Grow & Plant Avocado Trees in Poor Drainage or Clay Soil

This video shows how to successfully plant avocado trees in areas containing clay soil. Root rot disease and poor soil drainage is the number 1 reason why avocados fail and die but this method helps considerably to get your tree off to a good start and turn into a great producing avocado fruit tree! Enjoy :)
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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland Australia about 45kms north of Brisbane - the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started SSM in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online so come along with me and let's get into it! Cheers, Mark :)

[@douglaschaney7487]

In 1959 my Dad, myself and my cousin planted an avocado seedling, that we had started in a jar of water with tooth picks stuck in it, next to our compost pit in our backyard. 60 years later it is still producing enough fruit to supply 4 or 5 families in the neighborhood. In 2009 I took a seed from that tree and planted it in a small pot of potting soil to see if it would sprout on it's own. It took months to sprout and when it outgrew that pot I replanted it in a 5 gallon pot using a little Miracle Grow mixed with potting soil. In June of 2011 I planted it in my back yard where we had removed another tree and had ground the stump below ground level a couple of years earlier. Again I used the Miracle Grow and potting soil mixture. It took 3 years before it produced fruit, which was not abundant, but tasty. Except for one year, 2017, it has produced 40 to 60 fruit per year and currently stands at about 15 feet tall. I live about 3 miles from my Dad's house here in Southern California where the soil is clay based.

[@imedimed8025]

Nice :) did you know if the tree was grafted ?

[@regiodeurse6513]

@@imedimed8025 he literally said he grew it from seed..

[@imedimed8025]

@@regiodeurse6513 thank you yes i know but I thought the tree was grafted after that. and maybe he forgot to mention it ..or maybe he does not know about so it is sometimes useless to graft the avocado because even obtained from seed it does not put enough time to fructify

[@imedimed8025]

@Island Mike indeed, every tree is supposed to give fruit .. whether it is obtained from seed or other .. why graft then? 1- it is to shorten the time of fructification instead of waiting 10 to 15 years .. we wait only 3 to 4 years .. is not better ?? 2- but also to be sure about the variety of the fruit obtained .. 3- for the tree to be compatible with the type of soil 4- to change the tree variety ... or to have a self-fertile variety ect ect ... but rarely to make sure that the tree will give fruit ..because I mentioned ... any tree gives fruit

[@regiodeurse6513]

@Island Mike All fruit came from seed at one point. All those grafted clones had a motherplant from seed even the mutated ones found their origin in a seedplant somewhere along the line

[@wingabouts]

2 minutes in and I can't listen to anything you're saying... I'm completely mesmerized by that gorgeous blue butterfly!!! 💞 I will have to listen again without looking at the screen. ☺

[@justins8739]

They make Adderal for this sort of thing.

[@CoronaTheVirus]

Butterflies = catapillars = not good

[@invalid1012]

@@CoronaTheVirus I think butterflies are fine pollinators if you keep the caterpillar numbers under control!

[@damianmcgeown9096]

Bloody streuth. I am so blown away by this legend. I'm binge watching all this and it is so inspiring. We need more people on Earth like Mark.

[@seriousguitarinstructionbo6690]

Great stuff. I'm seriously jealous of your beautiful property. It must be a great feeling to have accomplished that.

[@skeso2k157]

Who wouldn’t be

[@sklogistics3802]

Q

[@leodiaz9137]

GREAT Info just something to add when growing grafted tree. you must cut all the branches from the non-fruit part of the tree. if you let the branches grow it will kill the grafted fruit part! i lost 4 grafted trees in the past from not cutting the non-fruited branches!

[@matamataio4325]

so remove all branches or growth from the rootstock. great idea.

[@envirowisenz]

Leo Diaz that's good to know, thanks

[@NMW80]

Omg really? I didn’t know that. I wonder why that happens cos some tree rootstocks have like 7 varieties on the one tree. I know people have done ten on the one tree. But thanks for the info, I will keep that in mind.

[@atifrc]

Wow a video a day after I asked the question! Thanks so much really helps me a lot, hopefully mine can survive! They get delivered this week!

[@Selfsufficientme]

Glad you liked it Atif! All the best with your avocado trees, cheers :)

[@evan.norwalkcalifornia562]

Delivered from were

[@allee3476]

@@evan.norwalkcalifornia562 Delivered from where, instead of delivered from were, makes more sense. Just saying.

[@evan.norwalkcalifornia562]

@@allee3476 🙄ok smart guy

[@allee3476]

@@evan.norwalkcalifornia562 Good question, though 👍

[@valiantthor6450]

Self Sufficient, thank you for your valuable insights on problems with growing avocados. I think your video clearly identifies perhaps the main reason why avocado trees so often fail. It is because of videos like yours that youtube remains so popular.

[@lalo18214]

My wife got me into watching your videos, love your Aussie accent. We are from San Antonio TEXAS and I'm trying to grow avocados and I keep having the same problems. Well you just told me how to fix them my yard is nothing but clay soil, I will have to mount them up now. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

[@darrencollins1804]

Great tips! If you get a grafted avocado where the graft dies and the rootstock takes over, you can let it go for a couple years (until it's nice and strong and established), and then cut it off and graft on some branches from one of your other avocado trees. They should grow quickly with a strong base plant, and will give you much better fruit than the rootstock would have.

[@nicoleh.9898]

Wonderful video - thank you so much. I live in Phoenix, AZ (USA) where we have clay soil and I'm putting in Avocados this year so I'm so glad I saw this before I started. Again, thank you.

[@kayprime1967]

Hi, I'm from São Paulo, Brasil, and here clay soil is everywhere. Avacado trees grow really easy, but they get really big. So if your soil is clay based try getting one of the "big tree" avacado varieties. When I say big I mean 5 - 7 meters, and the roots are really thicc and will bury itself really deep. I know cause I had to remove an avacado root once and I'm never doing it again! *If anyone like the idea please do not plant the tree anywhere near a wall or a house. The roots also grow sideways!*

[@scarlettrubyrose]

Thank you so much for the tip

[@nunseik]

Kay praetor In my neighbor we have some of these varieties and they can get even bigger than that! I've seen some trees over 15 meters high.

[@daanzoomer2997]

Fabio Dantas wow thats high

[@migs192]

So that’s why our avocado lived

[@Nemesis_T_Type]

My grandmother had a tree like that and it still produces fruit for more than 40 years. It's slightly bitter when not ripe but very sweet and oily when ripe. There was no maintenance or care done whatsoever.

[@jeffavery5278]

if you dig a hole,it needs a sloped trench so water can drain away and filled with sand or gravel fines ,sorts like a french drain,but if your land is low,this wont work...not tried this with ava's yet but works great for other fruit trees,,,,,your way looks to be the most efficient..great vid,,,thank you

[@olympicgardencrafts]

2:17 SO BEAUTIFUL with the butterfly! It came to help you shoot the video!

[@martysgarden]

Aaah the dreaded Phytrophera hits the clay and gets attacked,,I managed an Avo farm and the trees on the highest points suffered. The old farmers always hunted down deep red soils,,at least 6 ft to 2 metres deep to avoid this problem. You can also solve this problem by planting dwarf Avo's as they don't have a long tap root, as you mentioned. They can also be managed much easier in a small backyard garden. I am currently growing mine in containers. I know that sandy soils they grow ok, but as you say clay soils can be tough. Cool video and super helpful for many for sure. Happy Gardening Marty Ware

[@devbachu7072]

martysgarden ads manure ,compost ,sand to u clay soil an avoxados trees are surfers feeds not deep feeders

[@scarlettrubyrose]

Why were the farmers wanting red earth? Is red earth high in iron? I found your comment so interesting

[@BESHYSBEES]

scarlettrubyrose red sand is free draining so the avo’s don’t have root rot problems

[@UndefinedBailiwick]

You can turn clay soil into a more sandy soil with the right amount of gypsum. I cultivated the top 1-2 ft of my whole yard and mixed in gypsum. I also dug 6' holes, used a jackhammer at the bottom and then backfilled with more gypsum and river rocks to start with. I planted my citrus trees and avocados 1' above the ground and had about 1' of woods chips. I made sure there was plenty of worms so they could start breaking down everything and mix the mulch with the cultivated soil.

[@lcjohn51]

Experimenting can take so long and when you are in your 60’s 2 our 3 years of failure can be disappointing to say the least. Videos like this sure can be helpful. Good job! Good luck on mounding I am doing the same thing here in Florida. My soil is sandy but after losing 3 trees to root rot, I dug down deeper and found a solid sheet of limestone everywhere I dug down. What was happening is whenever we had heavy rain the sand wood fill up with water and it would take a long time to drain down with the limestone holding the ground water. So I got root rot. I am trying the mounds so far so good. The rainy season will start soon here in Florida we shall see 🤞. Mate I just hope we don’t have a another Hurricane!

[@patdthomas]

I live in Florida as well. My Hass avocado crapped the bed a couple of years ago too. Now I'm going to give it another try with a large fruited Florida variety that I currently have growing in a large pot. Maybe I should do an exploratory dig first to see if I also have a limestone layer issue.

[@JohnSmith-gy4qj]

Make a small reservoir to collect the water and then pump it out

[@IsaKocoglu]

I love the thoroughness of your explanation in this video. Thank you very very much. Keep up your great stuff please.

[@charlheynike9619]

I helped my parents plant about 40 different fruit trees in their lifestyle block in Auckland. Heavy clay about a foot down. All the trees flourished except for the avos, which all died.. we then did the mound thing, which seems to be working.

[@ItsBrendo]

How are they 3 years on?

[@charlheynike9619]

@@ItsBrendo they all died..

[@ItsBrendo]

@@charlheynike9619 Damn, that sucks. Were they mounded up pretty high? Or just a bit?

[@charlheynike9619]

@@ItsBrendo pretty high actually

[@chan_for]

Fruits planted by your ancestors are always GREAT

[@eatyourgarden]

Cool video mate. Completely correct about mounding on clay. Another very important thing that avos need protection from is hot drying winds. They hate it. Mound them, protect from wind and they are generally pretty hardy. Trees are also social creatures, just like chickens, they need to be with other trees, if that makes sense. Cheers Mark. Hope your enjoying the cooler weather, i know i am :)

[@nzzenith]

eatyourgarden australia . cross pollination required.

[@Swimmyfishgirl]

I just have to say. I wish I could meet you, I absolutely cherish your videos. Thank you so much for your content, educating, and zeal for gardening. You are an inspiration.

[@NopeAndYep]

Ahhhhh, Avacado trees. One of the two types of trees I have given up on growing because they always seem to die. The mounding method is interesting! I might give it another go.

[@jescojesco2494]

I've killed a few avocado trees due to clay soil, after watching this video the next 3 avocados will get a mound! Thanks for the video.

[@PaulineBro100]

Thanks so mych , Mark, for this info. I've tried to grow from seed numerous times and they get to 45 cm high and wither and die. Probably when the tap root hits the clay!! Might try in a large pot. Very well presented video.

[@Selfsufficientme]

Thanks Pauline! I have grown them in large containers and they do well except I used fake wine barrels which deteriorated so I had to move them - just another lesson learned by me... :)

[@USSBB62]

I have had good luck with Avocado's in clay on a nasty 30% slope. This takes care of the wet feet problem. Bacon variety. Best cold tolerant tree.

[@celegleeson1767]

How cool for all of us around the world to be here learning about our avacardo trees. I have 4 from seed and so far I'm not worried about anything. Just happy to begin learning. They are in pots. I just might learn enough to end up with some lovelie fruit.

[@berniefernandes5835]

Thank you Marc, I enjoy your channel immensely. You have motivated me to start a veggie and fruit garden. Your videos are diverse and never boring. Keep it up, 💯 greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦

[@stanlevox2291]

Really enjoy all these videos. When planting trees I take a lot of time (couple weeks) and make a huge mess and dig a 20ft hole using shovels and a makeshift auguger sort of like a Well digger. And then when planting it a bit above ground to avoid root gurdle. The results after 10 years is amazing. That tire method you showed near the end is so cool!! Raised beds are my favorite.

[@temperancepress2230]

Fantastic, detailed advice that should save many people years of wasted effort on avocado trees. Many thanks

[@worldcitizenra]

@Self Sufficient Me - The timing on me seeing this video was perfect to address a problem I just had with one of my avocado seedlings. I just wish I had run across it about 8 months ago. The best growing of the five avocado trees I first planted just had one of the two main stems die off from what appears to be root rot. The problem seems to be that the fill dirt my wife bought a couple of years before we were married to raise the grade of her land where we live was almost 100% clay and rocks highway construction fill. Rainy season just ended (I live upcountry in Thailand), so the tree had spent the last 4 - 5 months with its feet soaked due to the near daily heavy rains. The mail order nursery I bought the trees from swore that they were grafted varieties, but it turned out they were grown from seed. The foliage is nice, so I want to save the tree, if I can. Even if it never bears fruit or the fruit isn't good, the foliage is perfect for the part of the yard where the tree is planted. Another video on treating root rot suggested digging down 20 - 25 cm, replacing the soil and mixing in gypsum to discourage fungus. The video also suggest that for clay soils, plastic pipe could be buried radiating out from the planting hole to serve as a drain to let water accumulating in the clay soil escape to avoid the water bowl effect around the roots. I hope it works, but if not, I won't consider it a great loss since the uncertainty is so great about ever getting edible fruit from the tree. My wife recently obtained adjoining lot that does not have fill. It used to be part of a farm, but has not been used for farming for several decades and nothing has been grown there except volunteer trees, weeds, and grasses. In your video, you said that avocado trees are sensitive to having their roots disturbed by replanting after they've started to grow. Considering the heavy clay soil and rock on the house lot and the farm soil on the adjoining lot, would it be worth the risk to transplant the four avocado trees that I still have planted in the clay soil? They are all from the same original lot of avocado trees I bought. About 4 months ago I bought 3 small grafted avocado trees and planted them on the adjoining lot.

[@cociascarlet4152]

Thank you for all your hard work making these videos. They have been very helpful in learning and understanding how to invest in yourself and backyard.

[@carolemcinnes9060]

I just bought 2 avo trees 1 Wurtz &1 Sheppard&your video on planting &care was really informative &interesting (I like your style of gardening) I think it will be the raised bed method for me 😊 in nth qld

[@arbalc]

Great video Mark. It’s a pleasure particularly after watching so many boring videos on this subject.

[@nicolaiitchenko7610]

Love the tutorial...have used a 1.5 meter wall at the lower end of a 17 degree slope which I then back filled with real good soil, potting mix and six month old mixed poo from the circus - elephant, horse, donkey, llama, camel and goat manures - I also added a bag of course sand and planted the thing (with protection) in the chicken run. The chooks fertilize the area pretty well and are usually above the tree site. The tree grew from a seed (quite a surprise for us) so we are not expecting too much n the way of fruit. The aim was to supply the chooks with shade. Seems to be working so far. The mound is about 1.5 meters tall and we have clay about 300 mm below that, I dug through the clay to make a deeper hole and built a drain (ag pipe short length) using gravel under the ground in the clay soil. This drain, in recent heavy rain produced a lovely little spring below the tree and retaining wall which then directed the heavy rain out of the chook run via the shallow concreted fiberglass bowls set on the floor of the run for their drinking water...made of fiberglass coated in gravel/sand. I have collected rocks to decorate the place where the drain comes out to make it a cascading waterfall into the bowls. Just a spray from the hose is usually enough to clean these bowls very effectively - each weekend, this chore is completed they also get deep mulch spread around the place because they are supplying most of the compost from the floor of their area already...Only had them this last 12 months. Eight chooks averaging 35 eggs per week. Neighbors love them...

[@MathewPretel]

Hi, I like your suggestion. I'm located in Western Sydney and am thinking about doing the same - plant my tree behind a retaining wall (concrete sleepers) where I have good drainage (gravel and Ag line). How's your tree going? Would love to hear more about your experience!

[@staffordgeduld7470]

Now busy with my 15th grafted avo tree. I think its healthy to lose some like I have . That will force one to begin to understand the avo's needs better. Strangely, when we begin to pay the price for not trying hard enough to understand their needs then they begin to survive more AND MUCH BETER THAN BEFORE. Lastly, understanding the needs of my fruittrees made me understand my own needs for healthy living so much better. Your advice made a significant contribution. Thanks from P.E, RSA.

[@homesteading]

Great video on the subject. Having clay soil myself, and having planted and lost 3 grafted Avocado trees, I am reluctant to try again (they cost $70-80 ea here in Tassie!) But your video entices me to maybe try again! I do have one young seedling that is doing much better than the grafted did. It seems soil is everything - a few kilometers away from me there is a small commercial Avocado farm doing fine, but on the deep red volcanic soil that is so good for drainage.

[@Selfsufficientme]

Exactly - soil is everything! In Toowoomba (my hometown) avocados grow like crazy in the volcanic soil and here it frustrates me to see avocado groves literally just kms away. On a positive, the clay does retain some water during dry periods and actually helps the majority of our other fruit trees so you win some and lose some I guess :)

[@adamsolomon8346]

I've got a 10 year old tree I grown from seed, its pretty healthy and yet to fruit. It almost did last year, had lots of side shoots grow, finger crossed this is the year. Too bad you live far away else I would have given it away, its almost 6ft tall now growing in a 40L

[@andersonfarm8935]

Yes its all about the soil but its more the fact that poor soil has poor drainage. Break up your soil with good quailty soil and create a 50cm ridge to plant on to so that the tree is ensured good drainage. Use good quality mulch too. 80% of roots are in the top 30cm below the soil. If you get frosts you may need to grow Bacon variety too

[@caseG80]

Homesteading DownUnder try watering more after the other tips used. Winter watering is often overlooked. Avocados need more frequent waterings because they feeder roots stay high up in the soil

[@rawtinanlal6304]

I am from Trinidad and Tobago west Indes and planting all sorts of crops grow according to the weather conditions so you have to choose the best time of the year too plant

[@rjaquaponics9266]

I planted an avocado seed in an aquaponics system many years ago. When I disassembled the aquaponics system I removed the avocado plant and was amazed how long the tap root was. The plant was about 2' high and the root was 12' in length.. I figured it would die as I wrapped the root around and around in a large pot. It lived and is still living today albeit in a much larger pot. I have to constantly prune it because it grows large limbs taking up an entire room. I just cut it back and it continues to grow. It loves water, but sometimes I will get leaf tip root because I over water it. Avocados will lose its leaves and grow new ones. It seems to be normal. I have never gotten fruit on it, but I don't care because I love the plant/tree !

[@gonget]

Mark thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, you have helped me get so many of my problems sorted out plus helped immensely in avoiding so many more. You have a great energy and enthusiasm which gets me off my butt and back to growing my own food. Thanks again.

[@ThaoNguyen-up4kk]

This is awesome, exactly what I needed since my 1.3 acres are full of clay soil.

[@agb0012000]

Thank you so much for all of the videos you post. They are always so helpful, full of useful information, and your always so happy, it spreads. I'm growing mine in a 23 inch container. It Is two to three years old. I'm only getting one or two fruit. Maybe I'm not watering enough. It's in a sunny location and water every other day in the summer.

[@lancer525]

Mark, you're the Bob Ross of gardening...

[@jakesplace9721]

This is great! I live in the south tip of Texas and the soil there is heavy clay and alkaline. I’ve been wanting to grow an avocado tree and now I know what to do. In one of your other videos you described how some plants need more acidic soil but others do better in alkaline soils. Perhaps you could make another video about that going into more specifics? Thanks, love your channel!

[@zacharyolson8767]

Any update? I'm in southwest San Antonio and planning to plant a couple avocado trees. Same clay, alkaline soil.

[@jakesplace9721]

@@zacharyolson8767 sorry, nothing to report now - I sold out and moved to Indiana. Pretty sure avocados won’t grow here. I’m going to have to learn new stuff here! Thanks for your response!

[@50shadesofgreen]

good day to you Mark !! thank you for taking the time to do this how to video on "How to Grow & Plant Avocado Trees in Poor Drainage or Clay Soil"

[@santushabihari2020]

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. I understand now why my avocado plant died.. I will try your method. Thanks!! 🙌🏻

[@jibrilsaneko3969]

Priceless piece of information.. thank you..

[@stupidminotaur9735]

avocado are thought to have co-evolved with giant ground sloths it took the sloths so long to digest the seeds that they already had roots and in some nice compost.

[@nunuvyerbizniz3433]

Love your videos, I’ve been binge watching here in Texas for a week! Your smiles are worth watching all on their own - The great info is just a HUGE bonus and has inspired even me to get a vege garden going, LOL! Keep smiling!

[@annewasmuth1929]

What an amazing amount of very useful information. It changed my ideas of how to grow avos pretty much completely.

[@fn1202]

I totally agree with seed grown avocado trees being a lot more hardy as apposed to grafted Avos. I actually have an avocado tree that was grown from seed here in the UK and I leave it out every winter. It has survived snow and down to -5 temperatures, just sitting out in the open. It will die back, stem and all in the winter and then a new main stem will emerge in the summer and that cycle has continued for around 3/4 years now. So amazing.

[@yessir863]

I planted mine in clay soil they are about 5 years old and thriving i think the fact they were planted on a slope has helped alot with drainage.

[@ms.goodenergy]

Same here. I relocated to a very hot/dry country in Africa. I threw an avocado in a hole in the clay soil (where I fee the birds). It grew a sprout on its own with no amendments. So, I am Positive that it CAN INDEED grow in clay soil...just needs proper drainage. 👍

[@sirjohnahayfalcon]

I threw an avo seed in a clay hole in nc i didnt even cover it, and it has sprouted

[@margaretmarshall3645]

Thanks for that thought! I do have a slope near where I was going to plant my avocados. I will try planting them on that slope instead, since I have hard pan clay not too far down.

[@zacharyolson8767]

I have a slope, too. For other fruit trees, I dug a lateral trench from the hole on the downhill side for draining, then backfilled the trench with wood chips to allow draining and prevent pooling. Seems to work so far. But I'm only a few months into it.

[@Buyo12345]

I had put 3 avacado seeds in a plastic cup with tooth pic before Covid struck.Same year it was put in the ground now its is on its 3rd year has grown up.Hopefully will give good fruit in abundance after a couple of year's. Thanks to all the tips.

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

great vid - I just mound planted Hazelnut trees - so glad you corroborated my views on this - no digging into the top soil that would create a water hole of the clay. thanks

[@ls-33wraith33]

So.. I haven’t planted my avocado tree yet but this has ben extremely helpful!!!!! I have already dug a bit of a whole so my plan is to go way deep back fill with good soil and plant about 2 ft above ground level. I’ll update yall in a year or two

[@manelcastillogimenez194]

Update? Planning to plant one, will dig a big hole, fill with soil and then put a mound on top, as my soil is practically all clay, even topsoil lol

[@ovelizondo7231]

We have an avacado tree in our yard and it was grown from seed. The difference in the fruit is that after 5 yrs growing in the yard and finally got a harvest, is it had paper skin. Really thin skin around it and it had a massive seed in it. 2 yrs after that we had tried everything from collecting the fruit green to waiting until it turned dark' but to know avail... We finally figured out that we had to wait till the fruit fell to the ground and took about 2 days to soften to be ready to eat. The fruit is delicious, but you have to use a spoon to remove the flesh from the skin. Hope this info helps your viewers Mark! I'm finally growing garlic for the first time and I've watched your video on that many times. Thanks so much!

[@rf4215]

paper thin skin is the variety of the cado. Cados do not ripen on the tree. They can stay on there for months after they are matuire and ready to eat. you need to experiment picking them at different times to find out the optimum time to harvest. once picked they will soften in 7-10 days.

[@scoutmeister]

Thanks for a great tutorial on growing avocado trees. Very helpful.

[@thesmokingrooster8791]

I Grow Avo's in used tires, 2 tires stacked on top of one another gives me about 2-3 feet of good organic soil I can plant my ladies in. stacking them also affords a very small gap that oxygen can squeeze through, the roots love the added Oxy. that comes with it. the root ball likes the added heat and oxygen they provide as an insulant. I have not had a failure doing it this way. I have clay soil. Spray them with sugar water and watch the explosion. They love it. And production is quite extraordinary.

[@TheKillingRose]

Spray the trees or the clay soil with the sugar water?

[@thesmokingrooster8791]

@@TheKillingRose spray the tree stems and leaf's, and bud sites, not the soil.

[@TheKillingRose]

Works for other trees or just avocados? I might try with some bad looking trees. I use compost tea and liquid worm castings but one particular lime tree it's still looking weak and doesn't want to produce new shoots

[@thesmokingrooster8791]

@@TheKillingRose I believe it works for all fruit bearing plants and trees, anything that attracts bees to help pollinate is a good thing. It works 100% for me, I get much more fruit, and better tasting.

[@TheSharingarMaster]

How old are your trees?

[@naturewoman1274]

Thanks for this video mark much appreciated my last avocado tree died due to our clay soil so now i will raise it up

[@Selfsufficientme]

No worries Kirsten best of luck with your next avo! :)

[@krishnamanson1863]

Fantastic failures my friend thanks so much . You have answered most of my questions for this summer .

[@AllotmentGrowHow]

Great advice Mark, we managed to grow one years ago when I lived in South Africa, the soil must have been fertile as the tree loved it. Your info about the tap root hating clay soil will be invaluable to people wanting to grow this lovely tree. Cheers Adam

[@hassanhussain1629]

I have a grafted avocado in a pot and was going to do the ultimate sin by planting in a clay death trap. Good million dollar info. Thanks.

[@ameliarose727]

Excellent and comprehensive video. I have clay soil too and so this video was extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

[@YankeeLivn]

Thanks for sharing, wish our climate was right for avocado trees, great info as usual, thank you for visiting my channel.

[@AnnabelleC0306]

Very helpful, thank you. I also have clay soil and wasn't sure what to do. Your videos are a garden blessing, believe me, and your jokes are great.

[@anthonylemkendorf3114]

Here in San Clemente California ( coastal clay ) I have seen six foot retaining walls at the bottom of hills back filled with good soil . This solves the stagnant water hole problem and Avocados flourish.

[@ranakammouj6221]

Dear Marc, your videos are an inspiration to a beautiful healthy good life, almost heaven on earth, the paradise that God put on Adam and Eve on. God bless you and be prosper.

[@antoniorobles3498]

God bless you and please know that your videos are amazing, inspiring and soooooo darn informative !!!!!!! And your observations on the trees and plants are PRICELESS !!!!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK .... YOU'RE ONE OF THE GOOD ONES 💪💪💪👍👍👍💯.

[@cairozulu6700]

Watching your video has solved my problem as to how am I going to plant my avo seedling since the soil in my place is clay. Thank you brother.

[@michellerene3622]

Do interesting. I live in snowy Pennsylvania, USA so I won't be growing any outdoor. But we have lots of clay soil around here. I enjoy watching all kinds of gardening videos. I'll be checking out more of yours. Thanks for posting.

[@sjohnson5602]

I've had no luck with Avo's in my sandy / sandstone. I'm going to try this.

[@kirrileepearson9981]

Thank you this helped me avoid making a big mistake... love all your videos.

[@keirenle]

I have a tropical fruit farm in south johnstone, just south from Cairns. When it rains, it rains. I had 6 grafted varieties and one from seed. 3 saw Jesus on the first 2 years despite my hilly and well drain soil. The seedling one is much more drought tolerance and the other 3 are happened to be on a much higher ground. Beside the bloody beetle that keep eating their leave they grew up fast and I have a first fruit this year

[@ericoh5187]

THAT'S why my avocado trees never survived! I shall try the mound method. I stumbled upon this channel & I've been addicted to it for the past 4 days! THANKS for the great information! Enjoying all your videos

[@paigeburton8995]

Hopefully this will work for my cherry trees. They both died in my clay soil last year even though I did ammend the soil.

[@markirish7599]

Excellent information mark thank you and best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪👍🇮🇪

[@Wingedshadowwolf]

I can't grow avocados outdoors due to my climate, but there are many trees and shrubs that are prone to root rot. So I'm glad you covered this. I was wondering the same thing since I have clay soil too.

[@yogicat8151]

All very helpful, thank you very much for sharing :)

[@carljensen5730]

In the fall of last year, I purchased a ranch in southern california that has a wide variety of fruit trees, including close to 100 avocado trees. The soil seems like it has a LOT of clay to me, but the trees do very well. They are around 30 years old and some are around 30 feet tall. A few, perhaps half a dozen, seemed to be slowing down and not looking as good. I used a 3 foot rebar and hammered it into the ground all around those trees. This spring, they flourished. However, this spring there were tons of clusters of around a dozen new avocados. I didn't realize it might be a problem and a LOT of them fell off. I learned that when you have that many new avocados, it is good to thin them out. Apparently, some times they thin themselves out, sometimes they just all drop. Mine didn't all drop, but I do have some trees where all dropped and some other trees where they just thinned out.

[@ehonda2718]

I’ve got heavy clay in the taproot zone too. I’ve kept my Avos in pots, and in the meantime have planted comfrey everywhere. I’ll give it a couple of years for the clay to break up, and use the comfrey leaves to build upward. I’ll be raising them like you have.

[@beefriendlypermaculture]

Great info! ♥️ Love growing them from seed! 🌱 cheers! 🙏

[@Selfsufficientme]

Thank you! :)

[@suchartboontid2560]

This is very informational. I have one avocado tree in a pot right now but seeing how hard it is to grow I may need a few more so I wouldn't be so disappointed if this one dies.

[@anthonystjohn]

Brilliant analysis snd description there. Thanks so much for positing.

[@patdthomas]

Hello from Florida USA! A few years back, I grew an avocado tree I sprouted from a store bought Hass avocado. At first I had it growing in a small pot and eventually transferred it to a larger one as it was growing quite rapidly. Then it went into the ground. I back--filled the hole with a mix of compost and native soil and topped it off with a thick layer of eucalyptus mulch. It continued to do well for about a year but then began to show similar symptoms to what you described on this video. It was a goner two months later. Our soil here is very sandy and well drained so I'm very perplexed as to what caused it's demise. Currently I have another tree growing, but it is the large fruited Florida variety. It's 20 inches tall (about 51 centimeters) and living in a large pot. I'd like to plant it in the ground sometime this summer but I'm afraid it will meet the same fate as it's predecessor. Since clay is not the issue here, could this be a case of being too sandy? Note: I'm 5 miles from the shore so salt is not a factor.

[@kagepunk]

Did you use any native soil to build your mound or just use compost and other planting soil for it?

[@olympicgardencrafts]

I'm hoping to grow avos in a hothouse up here in WA in the middle of winter even - your advice is super helpful! Thanks again.

[@brettm.s.1169]

Forgive me Mark, I strayed away from the flock and watched other channels but the moment a I saw you doing a video on Avocados I knew I’d returned as the prodigal follower.

[@peterk.6093]

I have been keeping my avocado tree from a seed for about 10 years in a small container. Just cutting it back to keep it relatively small and waiting for that great day when I will have my own greenhouse to let it grow bigger. From this could Europe your garden looks like a garden of Eden. I wold just have the problem accepting those snakes who can kill you too easily.

[@dayanhamine7533]

Thank you sir i really like your video . . . I'm living . Melbourne good luck to. your channel .

[@p.a.f.mitasol8071]

New subscriber Ive just moved to new digs with a large run down garden attached. Ill be using you for inspiration over the next 12 months as I go about the big job of restoring from scratch. Cheers 👋

[@jimmowers7675]

Good morning from Yukon, Oklahoma. We use sand to break down clay here, it helps to break down and helps with water drainage. You might give that a try sometime in the future.

[@leonflemingeugeneflemingal1273]

My soil is clay from the top to bottom not even a cm of top soil. I have started using grow organic fert I highly recommend. And I'm trialling microstart farming soon to increase life. I did the regual bucket hole with hugel culture and about 50cm high mound. It's doing ok but slow growth. I had a hass that I stupidly put in as a hole and bury. Surprisingly, it made it 2 years and it just died rapidly this summer with a few straight 36 degree days. This time I'm doing a 80cm deep hole with 1 x 1 sizing and trying to hit 60cm high mound. The mound will go about 1.5 out and slop down gradually. The hole is full of eggs a dead rooster, lucerne from the paddock logs and leaves bark chips etc will level out. The land is slightly undulating So I'm considering installing an ag pipe from bottom of pit heading down about 1 m away to help keep the whole empty. I don't think the avacado dies from wet feet though I think it was just 5.5ph and not feeding tree enough and the sun did it in.

[@pennyhogg1582]

I startedmine from seed in the window , when it started rooting i pot in a clay pot , it has been growing like crazy . I have been cutting the top out of it to try to make it bushy , this is the 3rd year and i wanted to trasplant it . We in penn.usa😊😊😊

[@ltlbnsgarden]

Loved all the information you provided. I will be getting me an avocado tree in March 😊

[@sandrabentley1420]

You explain everything so concisely, thank you! Here in C. Florida we have sandy soil. I believe with some amendments to the soil, I could grow them. They sound finicky though.

[@healinggrounds19]

Sandra Bentley I am in C. Florida too. The avocado at my old house grew easily in the "greenway" between houses. I plan on growing another at my new house but there's no greenway in this neighborhood.

[@Selfsufficientme]

Florida is a good climate for avos and I'd rather try to grow an avo in sandy soil than clay just be sure to add plenty of organic matter (compost) into the planting hole, feed well, top dress with organic matter each year or mulch, and water regularly until well established and you should be on a winner! Cheers :)

[@jaymaniak407]

I live in Orlando and have a huge avocado plant probably 20ft tall that grew in the same sandy soil we have all over florida, I just make organic fertilizer and give some regularly.

[@wmoy8507]

We have a tangerine tree that is planted in clay soil probably over 25 years ago. I try to add as much organics when I dug the hole. Every year we add mulch/compost to let it work into the soil. All those years of conditioning the soil turn the clay into a good draining soil. The tangerines are sweet and out family loves them. We will be moving soon and I am trying to graft a branch to take with us. Love to take that tree with us but no luck so far.

[@hunterwittwer4134]

Been 2 years since I started my seed and it’s tinnnyyy

[@batucarumbata]

Yes I live here in portorico it's crazy how the avocados grow here ... is the soil that is the best for it. I will try with the clay. Gratitude

[@sarahkerrigan6026]

friend, on a hunch. i think you need waxy fatty substrate and a very small amount of salinity. your trees are looking so healthy!

[@aliyahjauza9353]

add JMS (culture microbiology) and powder charcoal regularly...you'll be surprised that your clay soil will become "something else clay soil" that won't hurt any kind of root...not just for avocado...that's what happens to my clay soil... great video as always👍👍👍

[@paulwilliams4600]

We planted about 400 avos and they were growing really well for about 4 years then started to die. Bloody root rot. We tried all sorts treatments to try and stop it. We have around 10 left now and they give us small fruit every second year. There is a root rot resistant avocado tree you can get now so am thinking if we get another 10 and mound up the soil then hopefully they will take. Mark really enjoy your videos.

[@timi3630]

what type of avos did you plant? dwarf?

[@angiemercedes7345]

Thank you so much Mark. Finally this video the answer of my problem, .live in Sydney the soil is no good a clay. i wonder what happened to my avo going to die. thank you so much this information

[@karenhobbs3218]

Hah. My next door neighbour, in Ecuador, has a MONSTER avocado tree. It grows avos twice a year and I get windfall from branches hanging over my wall. they are the largest avos i have ever seen in my life! dont forget I am originally from Canada. My problem is that people rarely top their trees so it really blocks a lot of eastern sun, I am working on a way to convince the neighbours to top this monster and they would get more avos within reach. At the moment they must go up on the roof as none grow down below in their yard. the proof is that the big branches hanging over my wall are relatively new and produce loads of avos that I share with friends and my LL.

[@punker4Real]

just get or build your own avocado picker saying the avocado are too high up is just excuse .