Too bad about the Bing Cherry. That is a rather high-chill cherry (700 hrs). OK you made me look more carefully at the “low-chill” varieties. I guess I meant the ones touted as low-chill, usually stone fruits around 100 - 300 hrs. Chill hours for me are usually >800 hrs. I see you are in Sac…they have roughly 700 - 800 hrs. My best varieties are 300 - 850 hrs. Of course figs and persimmons are not part of the conversation.
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Which ones have been failures for you? I moved to a new house 2 years ago (same zone) and have planted as many trees as I can fit at any given year, and they’re all low chill varieties ~200-500. So you stating you’ve had bad experience with such, it makes me a bit nervous.
Zone does not equate with chill hours. Zone is a very broad characteristic, while chill hours can vary significantly depending on local conditions. Where I’m in Tracy we are in zone 9b and used to have 900-1000 chill hours a few years back, but in the last couple of years it was between 650 and 750. Also, chill hours themselves are just a rough approximation of chilling requirements. Chilling portions in the dynamic model are considered to be a more accurate measure of what trees need. Finally, cherry trees are much more particular about their chilling requirements than most other fruit tree varieties.
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Off the top of my head I remember Royal Crimson Cherry, and Desert Delight and Desert Dawn nectarines as being disappointing.
Planted a Royal Crimson in February. It seems to be doing just fine in terms of growth but it has massive bacterial cancers on it that I just removed. I assume you’re referring to production, so that coupled with the cankers, this variety has me perplexed. I’m going to let it go for another year to see what happens. I did buy another one last week that will come in January top replace it in case it dies, but on a different root stock to see if that works better.
Misunderstanding the fact that while Avocado trees need lots of sun, they also need plenty of shade when young. I killed 4-5 young trees by planing in fun sun, then trying to save by over watering.
I finally figured out that they need plenty of shade with only dappled light for the 1st 3-4 years. I now have 4 trees that are doing well.
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The first year on the Royal Crimson the new growth was attacked by something…it grew about 8 inches. Next year it lacked the crud but grew a whopping 6 inches. Pulled it out.
I’m curious – how did you provide shade for the 1st 3-4 years? Is white washing the trunk of the tree enough protection from direct sunlight? I’m hoping to plant a phoenix in March.
Not sure about their method but I know some people plant a vigorous-but-easy-to-kill shade tree just south of the avocado and then remove that tree in a few years. E.g, this recommendation from a grower in north-central FL:
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Ah – that’s an interesting idea…
My biggest mistake - and probably the funnest - has always been trying to grow plants that really don’t grow well, ‘historically’, in my area. Hence . . . . . I have 28 pomegranate trees! LOL
'Have had more than my share of deceased cherry trees. Replaced many stone fruit trees. Basically - nothing grows here easily - without spray of some sort. Too humid. Winters aren’t quite cold enough or long enough to kill insects sufficiently. And I could go on . . . .
Except for earthquakes and taxes - I wish I lived in CA. 
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I planted my trees in areas that already had partial shade, then was able to trim back or take down the shade providing plants. I also whitewashed the trunk and provided lots of mulch. so far so good in a not great Avocado zone.
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Did you also mound the soil around your avocado, or did you place it into a raised bed? I’m in an area with lots of clay (non-draining) soil, and from what I’ve read, avocados aren’t fans of poorly draining soil.
I tried to just plant trees and be very hands off. I imagined them thriving naturally after I abandoned them to an alien environment.
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My biggest mistake was not doing better soil preparation.
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My biggest mistake, at least that stands out to me now, is failing to provide adequate nitrogen. I think I overreacted to cautions against using too much.
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Do you mean in the first few years of trees age, or even after they got established?
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@Ahmad Both.
I have Feijoas that have probably been in the ground 7 or 8 years and put on more growth in 2020 than the previous 5 years combined.
The one that grew most vigorously of the 3 got a minor aphid issue towards the end of the season, but otherwise they seem much happier to have gotten the nitrogen. Got probably 2 feet of growth rather than 2 inches.
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I planted my first 10 apple trees 13 years ago on mm111 rootstock. I will not use that rootstock again as management is time consuming. I have since used mm106 and m26. This year will be g890
