How to Plant a Hass Avocado Tree
Everyone loves a good slice of avocado toast or a smooth and creamy bowl of guacamole! That’s why we taught you how to plant your very own avocado tree in our most recent webinar. Feel free to watch the webinar to follow along with our knowledgable in-house horticulturalist, or keep reading for our key tips and tricks!
California is the perfect place to grow an avocado tree. This is evident in the fact that California produces 90% of the nation’s avocados! Autumn is the best time to plant an avocado tree in your home garden, but it can be done at any time of year.
If you want a high yield we recommend you start off with a large tree. Be sure to come to Cambria Nursery & Florist to make sure you get the healthiest tree to plant in your garden! We have very knowledgable staff that are happy to help you find the perfect tree.
Be sure to plant your avocado tree in an area where it gets a lot of bright afternoon sunlight, preferably facing the west or the south. This will prevent the stock and leaves from getting sunburnt. Also, make sure that your tree has a decent amount of coverage from the wind so that it doesn’t get damaged.
When planting the avocado tree you want to make sure that the soil you use doesn’t hold on to too much water. Avocados don’t like to have “wet feet” as we call it. This means that they prefer to have their roots moist at the top but pretty dried out near the bottom. To obtain this be sure to use well-draining soil. If you don’t have well-draining soil that is no problem! In our webinar, we planted the avocado tree in clay soil which is not ideal because it holds onto moisture. That’s why we made sure to plant it with a topsoil conditioner. Topsoil conditioner contains gypsum in it to help break down dense soil for quick drainage. We carry Top Soil Conditioner and every other tool you’ll need for this project at the nursery! Once you’ve treated the soil you will need to “wake up your roots” simply by loosening them up with your hands and getting them ready to grow outwards in the soil. At this point, your tree is ready to be planted.
When placing the avocado tree in the hole, be sure that it ends up at ground level and not too far below. This will help prevent it from holding onto too much moisture as the soil becomes denser the further down you go. Once the tree is planted be sure to hold the trunk in place as you press firmly down on the soil to keep it in place.
One of the reasons people fail so often with avocado trees is because of watering. Avocado trees are a heavy watering plant and like to be on a consistent watering schedule. During the first watering of our avocado tree in our webinar, we gave it 2 gallons of water, and our horticulturalist planned to come back potentially that day to give it a couple of gallons more. Avocado trees are very thirsty!
Following these key tips and tricks will help you plant your avocado tree without any problems! If you still have any questions about the process of picking out, planting, and taking care of an avocado tree then feel free to call the nursery at (805) 927-4747 or stop on by and speak one on one with our knowledgable staff.
Happy Gardening,
Cambria Nursery & Florist
