I have limited space left for ground planting, and I got a reed avocado, because I read this type of avocado was the most amenable to container culture, and that it can also be pruned to keep it smaller while still remaining productive. Gary at Laguna Hills nursery mentioned in one of his lectures that he knew someone growing a Reed in a 25 gallon pot, and the tree had 80 fruit on it.
Initially that was my plan: grow the tree in a 25 gallon pot. But then I thought: why not go one step further and cut the bottom out of the pot, so that the tree can continue growing roots down into the ground?
One question I have is regarding soil type for this sort of planting. I have heard that when growing trees in raised beds without a bottom it is basically like growing in the ground, so best to use primarily native topsoil in the bed. Does the same principle apply to a bottomless pot?
I am hesitant to simply shovel native soil into this pot and plant the avocado tree in it, because we have dense clay soil here, and I know avocado trees need a well draining well aerated mix to breathe. My plan is to fill the pot with a mix that is 1/3 sand, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 perlite. Should this work out even in a bottomless pot situation, or will my tree run into problems once its roots reach the bottom of the pot and discover a much different kind of soil at ground level?
Might as well make a 24” redwood planter box. They will dip into clay with tap roots for extra moisture. Most of the roots are in the first foot and those need aeration but the deeper roots do not. I would use Top Pot or similar in the planter
Thanks for your input. I have actually been thinking I should go bigger and have been looking at 3x3 round raised bed for the tree under which I will lay hardware cloth to keep gophers out. Given that most of the roots are in the first 1’ of soil, do you think a 3x3x1 raised bed should be sufficient?
Mostly I see recommendations on the net of at least 2’ for the height of the raised bed, especially if you have poor soil beneath, but if the majority of the roots stay in the first 1’ anyway I’m wondering if that’s really necessary. I could get a 3x3x2 bed of course, it’s just going to be a lot more work and expense if I do, since I will essentially need double the volume of mix to fill a 2’ over a 1’ bed. So if I’m going to do that I want to make sure I really need to!
I just picked up a GEM avocado as well, which I’m planning to plant in the same way. Between the Gem and Reed I should have avocadoes available in my yard many months of the year.
18” tall would be a good idea. 3 feet by 18” is about the size of a 45 gal pot. I have 3 GEMs in 45 gal pots I had to move because of construction in the yard. They are 6 feet tall and have fruitlets. If they hold on I will probably pinch off the fruitlets. It’s better if they are about 7 feet tall, 1.5” trunk before letting them fruit. Before that you can stunt the growth of the tree. Which might be ok for your situation. Me I would rather have the trees growing very fast and prune them
Don’t get me wrong I have plenty in pots which I don’t have room to plant but if I was going to cut a hole in the bottom I don’t understand necessarily why not to just plant it normally. Don’t think that will inhibit size by much after some time, just make keeping it watered more of an issue. Just curious
At least build a raised bed. I would get some 12”x10’ redwood boards and make the beds 5 feet by 5 feet minimum and 2 foot tall. Leave room for heavy mulch. Ditch the perlite and use large pumice.
I’ve seen a lot of people fail miserably trying to plant avocados in clay soil here. If they survive they’re sickly and small even 10 years later. Definitely not something to get wrong. Get you planting medium at a local landscape supply. Gary has a soil mix called Top Pot you can copy and make your own mix for cheap. Make sure to leave the organic materials on the top.
I haven’t seen 18" raised beds, but I can get a good deal on a few 24" ones, so maybe what I’ll do is use a 24" one but just fill it up 18". Then I can pile leaves and organic matter on top to feed the tree.
Do you think my proposed mix of peat moss, perlite and sand would work? and what about adding native soil to the mix? Since I have heavy clay soil, how much could I safely add to the bed with other ingredients without suffocating the roots of the tree?
My reed in the 5 gallon nursery pot has a ton of little fruitlets on it. I was surprised to see how much fruit it had on it, when I found it at the nursery, as I’ve never seen a small avocado tree with any fruit on it, let alone this much! Should I cut them all off? can I leave a couple on to mature, or will they set the tree back too much? That was part of the reason I bought the tree actually, hoping to get a quick crop… lol. oh well.
I can’t plant any of my trees in the ground - every time I’ve tried, the trees languish and refuse to grow. There are two issues: dense clay soil, and a voracious population of gophers and voles who absolutely devour anything I am reckless enough to put in the ground! It is only since I started growing fruit trees in raised beds and containers that I’ve had any success at all. The nice thing about raised beds is I can very easily lay hardware cloth under them before I set them down, so gophers and voles can never get in. In the raised bed the tree can develop a more extensive root structure, allowing the tree to establish itself better, before the roots poke through the wire and the gophers go after them.
I tried to do a soil test on my native soil, and this is the result. In the jar on the left side is the better quality soil found under the deciduous trees at the edge of my property. On the right side is the soil in the front where I’m going to be installing my avocado trees. I don’t know if you can deduce anything from these pictures. I know they say the bottom layer is supposed to be sand, the next silt, the next clay - so when I first looked I thought I had a lot of sand content. But that can’t possibly be the case, because when I do the squeeze test on the soil from both jars, they both just turn to sludge in my hand, I don’t feel any sand particles or grit at all. But I assume the soil on the left side is still the better quality soil, because of the leaf fall there year after year from the trees, and the fact my shovel goes right into it, unlike in the front, where it’s much harder.
You could do a lot better than that. Perlite and sand are basically both inert. They hold nearly zero water and zero nutrients. And the peat moss isn’t good long term. You need something that holds water and nutrients and doesn’t decay away resulting in dropping soil level in your bed. Use what you wish your native soil was. Some good loamy topsoil would be my choice.
Planting in a bottomless pot of small diameter results in a raised bed that’s difficult to keep moist. The mix in the pot dries out and is hard to rewet. I’d go with a bigger bed about 2 feet deep. A real tree needs more than one foot of soil.
is there a reason, other than weight, that you wouldnt want to use a soil you would gladly plant in the ground with but use in a container? ive seen some pretty nice and inexpensive bagged top soils.
Makes perfect sense now, I hadn’t thought about the gopher pressure you guys deal with. Way easier to cover just the bottom than try to cover a 180 degree subterranean dome.
Are you not planning on moving the pot? I don’t see why this wouldn’t work. It’s generally recommended to mound it on top of clay soil anyway. I have a few in 25g pots and getting up to 75 fruit on one of my trees. I would also use pumice over perlite if possible especially if you are not planning on moving it. If it were to be a permanent place, I would make more of a raised bed than leaving it in a pot like Jeff’s trees: https://youtu.be/uyfjyEN-LY8?si=OhkGr5i07aXNyY6V
Most of those will drop on their own. Like Avofan said, it will inhibit growth if you leave fruit on the tree so better long term to remove. I always keep them on, though, since I don’t want mine to grow too fast and I am curious on the taste of the varieties . My GEM set so much fruit last year and only held onto 2.
Wow, 75 fruit on a tree in a 25g pot - amazing! What kind of avocado is it, how old, and what is the mix you have in the pot?
I’m not planning on moving it, and have actually decided to go with a 3x3x2 raised bed - which is about as big as I can go in dimensions, given the space I have available. The only pumice I can get here is in very small bags and very expensive (made for bonsai). That’s why I decided to use perlite instead. I can get a fairly good deal on lava rock - don’t know if that would be better than perlite tho?
I would get sandy loam if I could but no one sells sandy loam. The topsoil offered by landscape suppliers in my area (I’ve called them all) is always mixed with a large proportion of compost - which I know is inadvisable to use for avocados. That’s why I’m doing my best to come up with some kind of mix that will work for avocados in a raised bed, since I assume using my own heavy clay native soil in the bed by itself isn’t going to have good results.
Only other option would be regular old container growing, guess.
Its a Stewart. It has an especially aggressive rootstock. It’s in Top Pot and on its 4th year in the 25g grow bag. My other ones are producing 10-30 fruits. I did a video on them recently https://youtu.be/8unG345fKdQ
If it’s going in ground I would just use DG or sand.
I have clay soil and am growing two Reeds successfully. I dugout a very large and deep hole, put a 4’x4 square box out of 2”x12” boards on top of the whole, then backfilled the hole with worm castings. Might have been over kill. But doing well and height is controllable somewhat with pruning, which I haven’t done.
. My GEM set so much fruit last year and only held onto 2.