I’ve always wished there were a simple formula that could tell us how much and how often to water an avocado tree. Alas, the variables are too numerous: weather is ever-changing, different soils have different water-holding capacities, frequencies are partially determined by the watering method (drip, sprinkler).
Yet! I bulled forward and made this table anyway, showing approximately how much and how often to water avocado trees of four different sizes in each month of the year.
This table will not be perfectly accurate for any real-life tree. However, even if you follow the table blindly without making any adjustments, I bet your tree will get its water needs approximately met and you’ll probably not be wasting much water. These numbers are based on my personal experience growing avocados trees in my own yard in Southern California, as well as my observations of avocado trees elsewhere.
Want to be more efficient and effective with your watering? Read on to learn how you can tailor the application of the table’s numbers for your particular conditions.
Important note: Be sure you’ve first planted your avocado tree properly and watered it through its first couple months properly before starting to use this table.
Gallons are for the valleys
How did I come up with these numbers of gallons? I used weather information that is similar to where most people in Southern California live — basically, the valleys: roughly five to fifteen miles away from the beach. (Specifically, it’s Zone 6 on this map.) Anaheim in Orange County is an example of a city in this zone.
If you live closer to the ocean, well, aren’t you cool and comfortable? And so is your avocado tree. You can give it 10% less water in the summer. Likewise, if you’re more than fifteen miles from the ocean, your avocado tree feels the heat and probably needs 10% more gallons than the table shows for the summer months. (Your tree might also need to be watered a bit more often.)
But these numbers aren’t just theoretical. As mentioned above, they are also based on the quantity of water that I have found to work well on my own avocado trees.
(Here is a video showing how I water my avocado trees.)
In my experience, you can’t give avocado trees much less water without them suffering. (I’ve tried.) And it’s unnecessary to give them much more. (You won’t get more fruit, which is the point.)
One exception that I must note is when an avocado tree, especially a young avocado tree, is growing near a large tree, shrub, or vine. That large plant will often grow roots into the zone where you are watering your young avocado tree and suck up some of its water. Therefore, you may need to water the young avocado tree more, even much more, than the table shows for its size. Keep an eye out for this.
Frequencies are for sprinkling and mulch
The table makes a couple of assumptions. One is that you are sprinkling or spraying the water under the tree, not using drip emitters. If you are using drip emitters, then the gallons don’t change but the frequency does. You must water more often with drip, probably every two or three days in summer.
Another assumption is that there is mulch under your avocado tree. Leaves or wood chips under an avocado tree are extremely beneficial in myriad ways, one of which is allowing the tree to go longer between waterings.
What did I base the table’s frequencies on? Mostly, I based them on what has worked for my trees, as well as what has worked on trees in yards and commercial orchards that I have visited throughout Southern California.
In addition, if you’re familiar with the concept of evapotranspiration (ET), then you might be interested in knowing that the table says to water after between one-half and one inch of ET has been reached. I’ve found that trees tend to need water at about the half-inch ET frequency in late summer, but they only need water at about the one-inch ET frequency in late winter. I believe this is due to the winter rains having wetted all the soil around the trees at this time.
If you want to be extra efficient with watering (especially during the fall, winter, and spring, when the weather is variable), you can find a CIMIS station near you to get actual ET readings. See more on this in my post here.
Please remember that the frequencies in the table are averages and are meant mostly as a point of reference. You must take into account rain that falls in winter, for example. And you should certainly not wait until it has been three days before irrigating again in August if there is a heat wave and your tree is wilting under 110-degree sunshine. Watch your trees for wilting leaves and consider water immediately if you find that the soil under such a tree is on the dry side.
(See more about a situation like this in my posts, “Protecting avocado trees from heat” and “Reading avocado leaves.”)
No automatic watering in winter
Where avocados grow wild, winters are even drier than ours in Southern California. So once our rains begin, sometimes in November but more reliably in December, you should stop watering your avocado tree automatically.
Unnecessary irrigation in the winter not only wastes water but more importantly can keep the soil soggy and disease prone. After we’ve had our first couple inches of winter rain until around the end of March, only water an avocado tree if there is a dry spell of about a couple weeks.
And when you do water, give the tree approximately the amount it has used in that interval according to the table. For example, a 10-foot tree in February that has received no rain for two weeks needs to be given about 50 gallons.
Big trees get water elsewhere
The table only goes up to 15 feet because bigger trees in a normal yard will have grown extensive root systems that drink from neighboring plants, maybe even from your neighbor’s plants. So if you have a big avocado tree, you almost surely can give it less water than an avocado farmer would have to give such a tree in an orchard.
It’s impossible to say how much to give your big tree. Just think about what is being watered under its canopy and even within ten feet or so of the outer edge of its canopy. If there are irrigated plants all over that area, then you might not need to give the tree any water of its own. This is particularly true if there is lawn being watered within the tree’s reach.
An example from my yard
This is a Lamb avocado tree in my yard that has a canopy diameter of 9 feet as of December 2020. The sprinkler that I use on this tree puts out 12 gallons per hour. I usually water the tree for two hours at a time. Last summer, during July, I watered the tree for a total of 28 hours, and I watered it every two or three days. The average volume I gave the tree in July was 10.8 gallons per day.
If you look on the water table, it says that a 10 foot (diameter) tree should get 10.3 gallons per day, and it should be watered every three days. My yard is in Ramona in San Diego County, a slightly hotter and drier location than the zone used for the table. Therefore, giving my tree about 10 percent more water and irrigating it a bit more often makes sense. And it is effective: as you can see, the tree is healthy with little to no tip burn on its leaves here in winter.
Watering is, by far, the most important thing we do for our avocado trees in California. We must spend a little time on it. Getting the watering right gets almost everything right, and our trees show us their gratitude with green leaves and, possibly, lots of avocados.
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I need to water more…
Sure? Your trees look like they get an ample, steady diet.
the tips of the leaves on my avocado tress are like in your pictures Greg but the water i use is from a bore and has iron in it. Could this be the reason
I’m going to call you the Avocado Whisperer
How can I tell want verity my avocado tree is. The tree is more then 60 years old and was at one time 30 feet high.
Thanks Greg for the water table. I usually water with a hose and don’t measure in gallons so i guess I will fill up a 5 gallon bucket and figure it out for my over 10′ tree.
You’re welcome, Teri. Don’t stress on being precise about it, but it’s a good idea to measure into the bucket once so you can ballpark it from then on: something like, “Five minutes with the faucet half open gives the tree about 15 gallons.”
How do you know when your avocado is ready to pick? Our tree is in Lafayette calif
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/when-to-pick-avocados/
I know some will hate that I’m going to say this, but…. you really should charge a fee for all this research and knowledge. For those with your constitution, I imagine they already constructed their own watering table, but for folks like me who are a tad too preoccupied and/or less disciplined, this watering table is a great help. I appreciate all your hard work, enjoyment, and sharing, Greg. I owe you one (or two). Jeff
Do you have any experience with the white powdery sap stuff on the branches then the branch falls off? I don’t see any holes or anything. What causes this?
yup, that powdery sap could be indicative of any number of things, usually some type of rot or injury from a bug. Not much you can do about it, avocado trees are prone to every disease imaginable.
Hi Eric,
See this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/white-powder-on-avocado-branches/
Hi Greg – I have recently planted a GEM Avocado tree (3 mo ago). It’s about 6′ tall. It gets full sun and soil content is moderate clay but drains pretty good since I planted on a mound approx. 8″ higher than surrounding soil. It hasn’t flowered but had a good amount of new growth with some older leaves having some browning on the tips. It has stopped all new growth but majority of the leaves are green. I am worried about the abrupt stop in new growth. Can you give me any ideas? I’m in Aliso Viejo ca.
Hi Paul,
Most likely, your GEM is fine. Avocado trees grow in “flushes.” They usually have three or four each year here in Southern California. Starting from winter, they’ll flower and then have their first flush of new growth (red leaves at first). Then they pause. Sometime in summer they’ll have another flush of new leaves. Pause. In late summer or early fall, they’ll have another flush.
Each variety is on a slightly different schedule, but this is generally how avocados grow new leaves. So, probably, your GEM will flush again within the next month or two and right now it’s just in between flushes.
Hi Greg,
I have 2 trees, 2 problems.
In 2017 I planted a 15 gallon Reed in the ground north side of house in North Tustin. I also repotted a 5 gallon HAAS into a giant whiskey barrel kept in south west side of small backyard. Both had some fruit but only one Haas fruit fully matured. Both adapted very well and looked very healthy with lush leaves and vigorous growth. I was hoping for more fruit in 2018, but Reed had very few flowers (only has 2 fruit) and haas never flowered. What stunted the flowering? Can flowering be induced in healthy avocado trees? If so, how and when?
2. My beautiful haas suffered serious sunburn from 115 degree temps during 7/6/18 heatwave. He looked great that morning when I drenched his barrell, but by 5pm all 2″ new shoots were wilted and completely dried out, many leaves toasted brown and a few branches burned brown on top. The barrell was boiling hot to the touch. It was shocking how fast the sun damaged such a healthy looking tree! We built a cover to block the sun. I will paint his burned branches with white paint today (thanks for that tip!). Does he need special watering? Will misting him during this excessive heat help or hurt? He is over 12′ tall with 5′ canopy in the barrell. I would hate to lose him. Any advice would be great. Thanks
Hi Robin,
North Tustin is a great place to grow avocados. Two of my friends grew up there and I know the area pretty well. Your trees are going to do great in the long run. This heatwave, unfortunately, torched avocado trees from Ventura down through San Diego, including my own.
When the temperature reaches above around 105, young avocado leaves start melting and there’s almost nothing you can do about it. If possible, putting shade over a tree helps. I did that with some of my small trees. Also, yes, misting does help. The problem is that at such high temperatures, the water almost instantly evaporates. Therefore, in order for the misting to have a real cooling effect it has to be continuous. But if it is continuous, it can definitely cool and save avocado leaves.
During heat like we just experienced (I think the worst is over?!), a tree in a barrel is more vulnerable than a tree in the ground because the barrel’s sides heat up and roots on the sides can be damaged. Shading the barrel’s sides would help. It may also be necessary to water multiple times in a single day.
As for your Reed, it can only be expected to bear a real crop of a dozen or more avocados in its second or third, maybe fourth, year in the ground. So expect a fruitset like that in the spring of 2019. There are techniques to induce flowering, such as girdling, but sometimes they end up causing a tree to bear a lot of fruit that year and then having very little fruit the next year. Reed is a variety that is highly productive everywhere I’ve observed, but it just needs a couple years in the ground first.
As a typical example, I have a Reed planted as a five-gallon tree in 2013 that set its first fruit in 2015 of nine avocados, which we ate in the summer of 2016. So that’s three years in the ground until eating the first fruit. (But since your tree was a 15-gallon, you can expect to be a year ahead of that.) Then its next crop was 35 avocados which we ate in 2017.
By the way, this Friday’s post will be all about the terrible, record-setting Southern California heatwave we just went through and all of the lessons I can gather from it, including how to get your avocados through such an event. Thank you for getting me started on it!
I have started spraying my avocado trees remotely in 1 minute intervals whenever it gets over 90F. Trees seem to be responding well compared to last year.
Re: Containers. Upon their spring arrival from the nursery, I put a couple of avocado trees in 10-gallon fabric “grow bags.” I did it to avoid planting before the heat of summer. I used a compost thermometer to check their temperature and, to my amazement, they stayed around 70 degrees on the hottest days. The soil wasn’t soaked, just kept moist. Unlike others containers, the grow bags apparently “sweat” and stay cool. The trees loved it, put on growth, and are now going into their permanent homes in the ground on November 1, 2024.
After 2018 I put a sprinkler on a pole at the top of 4 trees. When it’s 90+ I use a timer for 10 to 15 min. every 2 hours. My trees think they live in Guatemala. Near the section house on Yorba.
Great going, Roger. Or I should say, great growing. Your trees say, “Heat wave? I don’t feel no heat wave.”
Avocado questions
1) Hello. Very happy to find your blog. It’s great. I just bought two avocado trees for my backyard, one 15-gallon Hass and a 5-gallon Fuertes. Since planting them 2 weeks ago I have been going slowly insane. I did a test soil drainage test. If was 4.5 hours before the hole drained for the second time. Also, the PH around the tree is 5.35
2) The tag on the tree itself (the Fuerte) said to bury the bulb of the tree 2-3 inches below the surface to prevent the cold weather from getting to it. So we did that for both. And we put a well around it that goes down one foot, and it’s three feet across for the big one and 2.3 feet for the little one. Since then, I have been reading a lot and most sources say to do the opposite, as far as putting the bulb a few inches below the ground. What to do? Since I just planted them two weeks ago, I don’t want to dig them up again, I think that would kill them. My guess is just leave it alone. Right?
3) The nursery gave us a starter kit, and it has a starter fertilizer with it. I got someone to follow all the directions and put it in as instructed while I was at work. But the starter fertilizer is only 2% nitrogen, and most authorities seem to say nitrogen is the main thing they will need. So I ordered some ammonium sulfate and plan to add it now. Am I right, or should I wait?
4) We hit a high of 113, and the next morning the bigger one, the Hass, suddenly had all the leaves noticeably wilted. The day before they were pointing up, looking good, the next morning they were all pointing down, 100%. I figure it was the heat and the tree needed to be shaded, so I ordered shade cloth and plan to drape it over the tree until the high temperature for the day gets down to 90 or below. Right?
Hi Bruce,
Glad you found me. Point by point:
2) Where do you live? Can you tell us which store or grower printed that information on the tag? That’s horrible advice. I know it sounds very unappealing, but now that the weather has cooled (relatively speaking) I’d dig them up and replant. You can do this successfully especially if you do it in the evening, water the trees lavishly right after replanting, add lots of mulch, and shade them for a couple weeks. See my post, “How to plant and stake an avocado tree”: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
The reason I wouldn’t just leave the trees as they are is that they often settle even lower over time, your drainage is okay but not exactly fast, and if we get lots of rain this winter your trees might rot.
Alternatively, you can leave them be and water them very carefully. This summer you’ll have to water near the trunk because that’s where the roots are now. But starting in the fall, water only a foot or more away from the trunk to make sure water doesn’t keep the trunk moist.
3) I wouldn’t fertilize now. Mulch 3-6 inches with wood chips or leaves and possibly add a little compost. Mulch and compost safely offer nutrients to soil microbes which then offer it to the trees whereas it is easy to overdo chemical fertilizers and burn a young tree.
4) You’re perfectly right about the heat and the shade. Do exactly as you said.
Hi Greg. Thanks for the good info. I live in Highland (just north of San Bernardino). The trees came from Armstrong Garden Center in Clairmont.
Hi, I have Haas Avos and live in San Bernardino area ( with lots of afternoon wind). Why would I not want to water twice daily instead of every 5 days? I have decomposed granite soil and find that it will run off if I water for long periods of time?
Hi Cathy,
There are many small factors that go into finding a good watering frequency for your avocado trees, and one of them is definitely wind. I can’t say for sure that watering twice daily is not good for your trees. But do know that for about a hundred years avocados have been grown commercially in similar situations (Riverside, Hemet, even parts of Spain and Israel) and they have never seen the need to water twice daily as a normal summer routine, unless the irrigation method is drip and not sprinkler.
The best way to prevent runoff is to add a thick layer of coarse wood chip mulch under the tree. If you still get runoff with that mulch, you can try giving the tree a very light watering initially to make the soil ready to absorb water, then come back after maybe 15 minutes and apply the bulk of the water.
If that doesn’t work for your situation, let me know and I’ll suggest other strategies.
Hey Greg,
I’ve got ½” drip tube rings with 1GPH emitters every 12″ around all of my avocado trees– Pinkerton, Fuerte, and Sir Prize. The drip rings are about as wide as the canopy of each tree, between 2-3 ft in diameter, which means–@ every 12″–there are about 6-8 emitters per tree. Watering for 1 hour should mean the trees are getting between 6-8 gallons of water at a time (1 gallon for each emitter X 6-8 emitters). The trees have about 4-6″ of mulch around them.
The chart you’ve made shows that a tree with a 3 ft canopy should get a little less than 1 gallon of water in March-April, but that doesn’t seem like enough water in my situation. After a week, the ground feels dry, and when I squeeze a handful of the soil, it crumbles and falls apart. The trees’ leaves also start to curl.
I live in LA County, and it gets pretty hot, even in the spring. All of my fruit trees, including the avocados, are about 10 ft apart. They’re all semi-dwarf.
Should I add more time to each watering session? Or should I bag the drip tubing with emitters and use bubblers instead?
Hi Greg,
I have a 50 year old avocado tree in my backyard. We just bought this property a few months ago. The avocado tree had over 200 fruit on it, but the heatwave we recently had destroyed the entire tree. All of the leaves fell off, small branches fell off, and all of the fruit of course fall off. I’ve been doing my best to water it to keep it hydrated, but how much water should I be giving this tree and how often during these months of intense heat?
Also, if I were to build a large shade around this tree, what do you recommend? Like a mesh overhang so some light can penetrate?
And my last question, which is the more serious concern of mine. I think the tree may have termites as I’m seeing a lot of droppings that look like coffee grinds. I haven’t dug up around the tree yet to confirm, but in the event it does have termites, what is the best way to save this tree from them???
Thank you!
Hi Justin,
I’ve never personally dealt with an avocado tree infested with termites, but I know that professional pest control operators do this kind of work.
However, if the tree has actually lost ALL of its leaves, then it’s possible that dealing with the termites now is futile. Paint all of the exposed limbs, and then water cautiously. Even though it’s tempting to try to help the tree by giving it a lot of water, a tree that has no leaves needs very little water. So you run the risk of rotting its roots. Feel the soil where the roots are in order to see when it has dried out somewhat, and only give the tree water then.
Hi Greg,
Were you able to get the photos I sent you?
Thanks
If the heat wave destroyed it and you have bugs, you could actually prune that tree down to almost the trunk and a few limbs and paint it all with 50/50 diluted white latex paint to keep it from being sunburnt…in two years it’ll all grow back and look good again. This is what avocado growers do about every 20 years provided the roots are in good shape and not rotting. If you’ve ever seen an orchard with nothing but trunks painted white that’s what is going on. As far as general sunburn protection on leaves, avocado growers use stuff called “crop white” it’s a type of clay powder called Kaolin that they suspend in water and spray on the leaves and exposed branches before a heat wave.
Thank you for posting your chart on how much to water an avocado tree in Southern California. You tell how many gallons of water to use and how often, but I do not know how to guage how many gallons we are using. How do we measure the gallons per hour? We use micro spray emitters. Also your chart goes up to a tree 5 years of age. Should I assume that after 5 years it is the same for older trees?
Thank you,
Louise Roberts
Hi Louise,
I mentioned in the post above how I measure the output of my micro-sprinklers. Maybe you can use this method? “I measured how much water the micro-sprinkler puts out by turning it on, sticking it into a bucket, and timing it. I found that the water in the bucket filled to one gallon after ten minutes. That’s the equivalent of six gallons per hour. If I want to give the tree its five gallons, then I should run the sprinkler for just under an hour.”
The reality is that it doesn’t matter how old a tree is, it matters how big (how many leaves) a tree has. But I gave the ages of trees that are typically that size just for quick, rough reference.
I only went up to 14 feet (or about 5 years old) because trees bigger than that in a typical yard are drinking water from nearby plants and it’s not very useful to know how much water they would need if they were planted alone, far from any other irrigated plant. So, if you have a typical yard and an avocado tree larger than 14 feet, it’s better to water them based on feeling the soil under their canopy and observing their foliage.
If you have a very large yard with a lone, large avocado tree, let me know and I’ll give you a formula for figuring out approximately how many gallons it will use.
I have all of my avocado trees in large pots. I also have 1/4 inch plywood cut to match the top of my pots on the south and east sides, painted white. I got hurt by the hot spell but not the same on each tree. My year old Sharwil and two year Wurtz were hardly damaged, just a few leaves on the south side. I also paint all of my trees exposed limbs with 1/2 latex white paint and 1/2 water. My year old Reed was hit the hardest and is iffy as there are only two places where there is new growth. My Sir Prize has a fairly large spourt of new growth that I think will eventually be the tree its self as almost all the rest is brown. My Holiday is showing growth in several areas on the tree and I think it will also recover. I have a frost type cover over all the trees right now, in fact I added a Lamb Hass and a Carmen Hass, each about two to three feet tall. I added a Dwarf Hardy Cold avocado today, all three are covered under the cover and the new one I will paint its limbs tomorrow. I have a couple of questions as to proceed. First, I can order another Reed and remove the injured one now or wait till perhaps in November. This would give me some time to see if the Reed will recover. Ignoring the cost, would a new Reed have better growth and thus fruit sooner than nursing the damaged one?
Second, I use a earth probe that shows whether the soil about 10″ deep is moist or dry. I check each tree and if it shows on the high moist, I will skip a day before checking it again. I haven’t had any that went from high moist to dry in even two days, thus far.
I also use a foliage spray (Organic Plant Magic) which is also poured on the soil. It is a type of compost tea and I have seen really great growth on almost all my plants. I did give the new growth a light spraying, do you think I should only use it a week apart spraying? I am located in Eastvale which is west of Riverside. The Santa Ana River is about 100 yards east of my home. I have been delighted by your site and posts. You are a real jewel!
Hi George,
You’ve got a fantastic collection of avocado varieties there. I would guess that a new Reed would outgrow your damaged Reed based on how slow it has been to bounce back compared to the other trees.
I don’t know anything about Organic Plant Magic and their website doesn’t say what is actually in the product. What I do know is that researchers haven’t found avocados to be particularly receptive to foliar feeding. See this recent article: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27840
Nevertheless, if you’re satisfied with how your trees are doing, then maybe you should keep doing it. If it ain’t broke . . .
As you know well, avocados in pots are different beasts compared to avocados in the ground.
Hi Greg,
I’m so happy to have found these posts. Thank you for being so helpful!
We are up in Eagle Rock, CA and have three giant Fuerte avocado trees about 25 feet high and canopies about 30 feet across(1 of them may be a Pinkerton though). The trees have been producing like gang busters for several years and we have done precious little to help them along. After these several years of drought, I’m seeing a few smaller branches toward the outside of the canopy dying off while most of the interior branches appear to have healthy green leaves. One of the trees seems to have many gaps in the canopy and I am concerned about the interior getting scorched. They had a nice burst of production a few weeks ago but so many of those little green balls have since fallen off.
We have not specifically watered the trees a whole lot. One of them probably gets most of its water from the yard area which has sprinklers. They run for 15 minutes each section. The other two trees lie right between our house and the driveway but the canopies extend to and over the neighbors yard so assume that’s where they are getting their water.
I’m wondering what I can do to halt the dying of the branches and or encourage their health. I have no mulch underneath any of them but was planning on doing that ASAP. I’m not sure how to water 2 of the trees do to their proximity to so much concrete but it is the third one I am most concerned about with the gaps in its canopy.
Any and all watering and feeding suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks so much!
Mike
Hi Mike,
Sounds like you may be looking at a root rot situation with the one tree. Coarse mulch will certainly help with that or even if the tree is healthy. Good idea to add mulch wherever you can.
It may also help to occasionally water a lot, just one time. This pushes salts down below the trees’ roots. Some people find success doing it once per month during the summer. It’s tough to say how much to water, exactly, but often just running your normal irrigation cycle for twice as long will do the trick.
Thanks Greg!
I’ll give it a shot. Root rot sounds scary, especially for such a big tree. Should I add gypsum?(I just read that after a quick googling.)
Take care!
Mike
Adding gypsum is said to help with root rot, but only as part of an overall scheme which includes good irrigation, mulch, etc. You might want to get a better idea of whether or not root rot is your issue first. A simple start is to scratch under the tree and find roots: if they’re white or cream colored when broken, that’s good; if they’re black, mushy, rotten smelling, that’s bad, that’s probably an infection.
Thanks again, Greg!
George, if you’re still watching…where did you get all those varieties, some are not easy to find. Carmen Hass is one I’d like to have, and what is Dwarf Cold Hardy and where did that come from?
Hi Greg. You mention different watering frequencies/quantities for drip vs. micro-sprinklers. Would you recommend one over the other? I am currently using soaker hoses buried under layer of mulch for two 8-10ft trees (Sir Prize and Lamb Hass). I am constantly questioning my methods, and wonder if watering on top of mulch would replicated what happens in nature the best. I live in Pasadena and the soil here drains instantly. A two foot hole won’t hold water for more than 10 mins. Thanks!
Hi Ryan,
Your climate and soil seem very similar to mine. I know Pasadena; I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. And my soil drains out of a hole in about ten minutes too. Both factors together mean that micro-sprinklers are likely to work slightly better than drip for us.
(I’ve been thinking of writing a whole post about sprinkler vs. drip for avocados. Maybe I’ll do it this winter.)
I’ve used both on avocado trees here in Ramona (twenty miles from the ocean in San Diego County) and found slightly better results from micro-sprinklers. Most commercial avocado growers in California use micro-sprinklers now after trying to use drip for decades starting in the 1970s.
What happens is that young trees do fine on drip, but bigger trees start to struggle in our summer heat. Your trees might do fine on soaker hoses though. Soaker hoses apply water more broadly than drip emitters, especially if the hose is spiraled under the canopy.
Watering under the mulch has the advantages of less evaporation and being more attractive, but laying the hoses over the mulch wets it and causes it to break down faster, meaning it is adding organic matter to the soil faster and also meaning the tree’s roots can poke up into the mulch more and get air and nutrients.
When I used soaker hoses, I hated tripping over it when it was above the mulch though. A compromise that you can follow is keeping the soaker hoses under the mulch, but then soaking the mulch with a hose or sprinkler every month or so in the summer.
Hi Greg!
I live in Camarillo and have 4 mature HAAS trees. I have them on micro sprinklers and get a nice circular soak between all trees. I have noticed a lot of “chloride burn” on the leaves and fruit this year. Per your advice, I flushed the soil (24 hrs on the sprinklers) about a week ago. Is it too late in the year to try for another flush to get out some of that built up chloride?
Thanks! Love your info!
Hi Reed,
Thanks for writing. It’s not too late! This time of year (mid-fall), salt concentrations are often highest because we still haven’t received significant rain. Leach as necessary.
This has been a tough irrigation year since we got almost no rain last winter and then the summer was extra hot. My Hass is now showing tip burn too, which I expect will worsen until new growth in late winter.
I’d like to plant my first two avocado trees. I like Haas from the store, is there a specific Haas type you recommend?. Do you recommend a particular nursery to mail order from? I’m located in the far southern tip of Texas, should be a good growing location. Thank you!
Hi David,
If you like Hass from the store, then you’ll go crazy for Hass off your own tree. Hass trees are widely available and hard to beat even though some Hass sports like Carmen and Maluma are interesting. Hass relatives like GEM and Lamb are good varieties too. I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed with any of them.
I’d recommend getting a Hass as one of your two trees, and then getting a second tree that complements Hass in some way. Either you can get a B type so there is cross pollination for extra fruit set (Bacon or Fuerte, for example) or you can get a variety whose harvest season is different (Lamb or Reed, for example). Actually, Bacon and Fuerte accomplish both goals since they are ready to harvest before Hass.
I don’t know what will work best in your part of Texas though. I’d try to find someone near you growing Hass to see if it does well. I may know such a person close to you if you can’t find anyone else. Let me know.
I’ve never mail ordered an avocado tree, but I have found Four Winds Growers in Northern California to be reliable with citrus, and they also ship avocado trees. I’d try them.
Hi Greg,
Can you tell the difference between overwatered vs underwatered avocado? From all the reading I did and talking to people, the symptom is the same. The leave turn yellow and wilted. Can you shed some information on this?
Hi James,
It’s true that just looking at leaves won’t give you an easy, clear answer about whether the tree is being underwatered or overwatered. But there are subtle differences to the look of the leaves in each situation.
When an avocado tree is being overwatered, the leaves not only wilt somewhat but also take on a pale yellow look whereas if a tree is being underwatered the leaves will not be that pale yellow color. Eventually, in the case of underwatering, the leaves start to brown at the margins.
But there are better ways to tell if a tree is being watered too much or if it’s thirsty. Feel the soil where the roots are. That’s the best test, always.
The second best would be to give it water and watch what response the leaves make. If the leaves perk up, then it was just thirsty. If not, then it wasn’t.
Thank you for writing such an informative blog! I live in the San Fernando Valley (Reseda) and have a 4 year old avocado tree that has not fruited at all even though it is growing vigorously and leaves seem ok. I don’t know what variety it is. It is about 15 ft tall and canopy is about 8 ft wide. I have it on drip emitters (fullly open) about 8 mins a day every 2-3 days. Also, it has two trunks. One is about 10″ circumference and the other is just slightly less, about 8″ circumference. I’m afraid that one of the trunks is an overgrown sucker and might be the reason why it hasn’t fruited? How can I tell which is the sucker so I can remove it? Also, is there any way to know what variety it is? Thank you so much!
Hi Amara,
Thanks! Can you see where the graft union is on the trunk? It’s a place where the trunk looks kind of warped. Sometimes it’s hard to see though, especially on older trees. If you see it, then anything growing below that graft union is rootstock.
Otherwise, look at the leaves. Are the leaves connected to each trunk the same?
If none of this works, then you’ll have to wait for the tree to fruit — then you’ll see if different fruit forms on the different trunks.
It’s pretty hard to tell which variety a tree is unless it has fruit. It should be flowering about now though, so maybe you’ll get fruit growing this summer and the mystery will soon be solved.
I am glad I found your site. We have a in ground approx 20’ fuente avocado that started in a 50 gal barrel 20 years ago. I first produced 1 piece of fruit 3 years ago and has on average produced 2-3 since. It flowers, then the little 1-2 cm size fruit falls off. Leaves are always brown over 70% year around. We have adjusted watering and have not figured out what we are doing wrong. N. San Diego County 4 miles from the beach
Hi Tracy,
Tough to say what is going on there, but Fuerte is a variety known to have “drone” trees sometimes which are unproductive. An A-type avocado tree such as Hass planted nearby might help but probably won’t make such a tree highly productive.
Having 70 percent leaf burn year round suggests the tree is not being watered enough.
Hello Greg.
Your advise was great. Our tree looked good and produced a tree full of avocado’s.
This last season not so much. Seemed like it took a year off?
Fingers crossed this year. Leaves have dropping and we have some early signs of high production.
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the update. Avocado trees do sometimes take a year off. Wishing you lots for next year!
Ron just a follow up for this year.
Looks like lots of fruit but all the leaves are dropping and new leaves are coming in.
Can I send/post a pic?
Also not sure if fertilizer right now would help or not?
Oops…Greg not sure where Ron came from. Sorry…
Hi Greg,
I am planting 4 Avocado trees and a bunch of citrus trees in one section of my yard. In setting up the irrigation system I noticed that in the winter the recommendation is to water less often than once per week. I have not found a timer that allows to set the watering times in terms of days rather that once or more per week which would not work if you want to water less often than once a week. Are you aware of any irrigation timers that let you set the watering time to less than once per week?
Hi Chris,
It sounds like you’re looking at hose end timers. I have two of those and, just as you noticed, they both can’t be set less frequently than once per week. I can’t find hose end timers that can be set less frequently either, but I work around this in three ways in my yard.
One way is that I use irrigation valves and controllers that can be set less frequently than once per week for most of my trees. But on some of my avocados I do use a hose end timer, and for those I turn off the timer from about November until now (late April). I just run the timer manually whenever I need to irrigate. It’s rare and unpredictable when you’ll need to irrigate in winter anyway. (I didn’t find the need to irrigate once this last winter.)
Thirdly, in the shoulder seasons of fall and spring, I sometimes set the hose end timer to run a bit more frequently than I otherwise would, just with slightly less run time. For example, right now I’m running irrigation on some avocados on a hose end timer once per week even though my other avocados are getting water only every 12 days or so because they’re on a controller that allows that. I’ve just adjusted the run times and it works out fine.
Hello, I have a Mexicola avocado tree. It’s been in the ground for roughly 5 years. It gets new leaves every year and new flowers, but no fruit. I am in Hollister, CA zone 9, not sure if a or b. It gets very windy in the afternoons during the summer. It is planted in the middle of my 1 acre yard (no protection from buildings) in full sun all day. There are other fruit trees planted next to it about 10 feet away on either side. It is watered on a drip line that gets watered every other day, but I have a feeling the watering is inadequate so I hand water too. I also planted plants nearby that attract bees, but I never see any bees on my Avocado. There is a layer of mulch across all of the trees. Soil could be a problem too (clay), not sure. Please advise.
1. Do I need a second tree to pollinate? 2. If so, how far apart should they be planted? 3. Is Fish Emulsion a good fertilizer?
I can send a picture of my tree area so you can get a better idea.
Thank you!
Hi Linda,
You remind me that I want to write a post about why an avocado tree might not be fruiting. In your case, with flowers but no fruit, the possibilities include lack of bee or other insect activity. Another thought is that your spring weather could be too chilly for the flowers to open in the female phase often. See my post about hand-pollinating avocados for photos and descriptions of female-phase flowers, and then observe your tree. (No female flowers, no potential pollination.) The post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/hand-pollinating-avocados/
It can never hurt to add a second avocado tree of a different variety. It may not solve your problem, but it can’t hurt. Plant the second tree as close as possible. If branches touch (eventually anyway), that’s best.
I’ve never used fish emulsion. But as regards the fruiting of your avocado tree, it should have no effect.
Hi Greg, I have a 6-7 foot Reed avocado I planted a year ago in a five gallon container. It’s grown 18″ this year alone. Your chart indicates 98 gal in the month of May. Then under frequency it states 6 time. I assume this means a total of 98 gals for the month and spread it out with six waterings? And I assume hand watering I spread water out around the tree. In this case 48 circle around the tree. My trees are heavily mulched with a 5″ think layer of half composted leaves. Last year I had tons of the little white feeder roots entending into the mulch. I’m not seeing a lot of that this year. Although the tree does look very healthy.
Hi Ron,
Using the chart for your Reed, you’d apply 98 gallons over the whole month of May, and you’d water every six days. So to get the amount of gallons to apply at each time you water, you first divide the 31 days of May by six, which gives you about five. This means you are going to water five times total during the month of May. Now divide the gallons (98) by five. This gives you about 20 so you’ll apply 20 gallons each time you water.
Water every six days, and give 20 gallons each time.
Sorry the chart isn’t easier to use (requiring no calculations). Maybe I’ll try to redesign it to improve it.
But the fact is that any watering chart, including this one, is inherently inaccurate anyway. It’s just to be used as a reference, as a jumping off point to get your watering started, and then you’ll want to check in with the tree and soil to see if it needs to be adjusted, especially according to the weather.
This cool and showery May, I have not been watering my avocado trees as much as the chart suggests, for example.
But it sounds like your Reed tree is thriving. You might find that the roots will flush and once again extend into the mulch when the weather warms.
My Reed which is 7-8′ tall and two years old, and growing nicely this year is showing cupped taco leaves over the past few days. I live in Mission Viejo, soil is clay however I’ve improved it with ammendments and set up a surrounding area also improved and covered with mulch. This Reed is only 2 years old had lemon size avocados on it this year. I have the same symptoms on a much smaller and younger Fuerte. These symptons just started a day or two ago. I also test the sold with an moisture meter and they seam to be OK on moisture. I can tell if it’s over or under watered?
I can send photos.
Hi Ron,
Cupping avocado leaves are nothing to worry about. They don’t indicate anything about the level of moisture in the soil below except that it’s acceptable. When an avocado tree is water stressed its leaves will dull and wilt; they’ll never be stiff and cupped. (This is unlike citrus, incidentally.)
Hi Greg,
Going through some of your old post again, Can the schedule you posted above for avocado tree be used for citrus tree?
-James
Hi James,
If I were applying that avocado watering schedule to citrus, I would reduce it a bit in terms of gallons — maybe 15 percent less. And I would water a bit less often. That’s how I’ve found my citrus trees to like their watering compared to my avocados, in general. But just remember that every individual tree is different so always be prepared to adjust according to what the soil moisture and canopy tells you.
I have a 2-3 yr old avocado tree grown from seed. It was about 6 feet tall, but I cut a foot off the top as it was hitting my pergola roof. It has sparse branches…Only 2main branches and none on the bottom 3 feet of tree. I moved closer to sun but still under pergola. It gets east sun in morning but no noon or west sun. I live inCorpus Christi, texas so I have been watering about a gallon every day as it it in the mid to upper 90s here in the summer. Am I doing it right? Could I send u a pic of it?
Hi Holly,
It sounds like your tree is doing okay. Sometimes sparse branching is due to low sunlight. If you want, you might put the tree in more sun, but don’t give it much more at one time here in summer. Just scoot it out from under the pergola a little bit more. This isn’t necessary, just an option.
Hi Greg,
If you were to start a Hass avocado farm to produce the maximum number of avocados would you start by getting 5-7 feet long trees and plant them or would you crossbreed them with fuerte avocados to produce more fruit?
Thanks!
Hi Brian,
So are you wondering if Hass trees will produce more if there are Fuerte trees near them? If so, I’d say yes.
From every study I’ve ever seen, every avocado variety produces more in the presence of another avocado variety. I’ve also observed this to appear true in my own yard and elsewhere.
Here’s a study involving the effect of Fuerte on Hass production specifically: https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2475.pdf
Hi Greg,
We bought our house in Anaheim around 5 years and it came with a big avocado tree. A few years ago ithat yielded 200 avocados (we harvest in March/April)but last year it dropped most of its fruit during the heat wave and it has started dropping fruit this week as it has gotten hotter. We can only water 3 days a week for 8 minutes. From what I am reading I should add mulch. Does compost work as well? Any help would be appreciated. Also, how can we keep squirrels from eatingredients more than their share? 🙂
Hi Jay,
It is normal for avocado trees to continue to drop some small young fruit until about August. Keeping the tree well-watered is your best defense against the tree dropping more than it needs to, however. Watering for a total of 24 minutes each week isn’t much water unless you’re giving it a lot per minute. But maybe the tree is getting a lot of water from other plants’ irrigation nearby? That’s what old trees often do.
Mulch is probably good for your tree, and compost is a great form of mulch. I sometimes put compost on the surface of the soil around my young avocado trees.
See if you can get any ideas for managing squirrels from my recent post, “Dealing with squirrels in a food garden.”
Hi Greg,
What kind of avocado is the one at the top of this page? Mine look like that and I wanted to know what kind of avocado tree I have. Some say it’s a Fuerte and others say it’s a Zutano. The avocados on my tree are already the size of baseballs. They are huge, so I’m wondering when I can pick them or if I need to leave them on the tree until the specific harvest season for that avocado. I don’t want to leave them on too long because they’ll fall off the tree, like some have been doing.
Thanks!
Hi Justin,
That is a Reed avocado at the top of the page. Unfortunately, size is not a good indicator of whether an avocado is mature and ready to pick. Reeds, for example, are big many months before they will ripen and taste good.
For more on this topic, check out my post, “When to pick avocados.”
Hi Greg, I just found your YARD Posts because I need information about our backyard avocado tree. We bought this old 1948 house that has a giant avo tree. Neighbors tells us that the tree is old, possibly from 1948, because they knew the families that lived here before us and all the neighbors shared their produce. Some grew citrus and everyone shared. This neighborhood was called The Hispanic Village in the 1940’s.
The fruit ripens mostly in January. Based on searching the internet, I think it’s a Zutano, but I’m not sure. It’s a big avo, light green, thin skin and the fruit is really creamy and delicious.
For a giant tree this size, I have no idea how often to water it. Oh I live in Northern CA in between San Francisco and Sacramento. I’m not watering until the rain ends.
I’m not sure if I can post pics in a comment, but I can definitely upload pics of the tree, the fruit, and the leaves if you want to see them to give me some info.
Any advice is much appreciated because I’d like to continue sharing these with my new neighbors.
Hi Stacy,
What a cool tree to have inherited! It’s tough to figure out exactly how often you need to water such an old tree because most likely it has developed a root system that goes way outside the edge of its canopy and has become accustomed to drinking from water sources that you’d never suspect, such as a neighbor’s flower garden or your air conditioner’s condensation drip.
I would first look at whether there is any water being given to other plants within reach of the avocado tree’s roots. The avocado tree’s roots can easily reach out to twice as wide as the canopy diameter. If there are many plants being watered in that area during summer, then I wouldn’t bother giving any water specifically to the avocado tree during summer unless you see the tree’s leaves wilting.
However, if there isn’t much being watered near the tree, then I’d plan to start watering it whenever the rains stop: March or April usually. And I’d judge how often to water it based on the feel of the soil wherever you find tree roots and the appearance of the tree’s leaves. And don’t stress about getting the watering perfect because such an old tree is not going to be harmed by getting a little thirsty here and there.
For more on these, see my posts, “Get your hands dirty: Discover the truth about your irrigation practices,” and “Reading avocado leaves.”
Hi Greg, everything you write is has been very helpful! I have a couple of questions. I have 3 avocado trees I’m getting ready to put in the ground, one fuerte, one reed, and one bacon. I live in fresno. The 3 sites are a little different: site 1 has an afternoon shade, site 2 has sun pretty much all day, site 3 it’s pretty shaded And protected all day, but Fresno has a lot of sun year round. Where would you suggest to put each of three plants? Thanks so much!
Hi Donato,
Thanks! If one of the sites seems warmer in winter, I’d put the Reed there, as Reed is the most cold tender. If one of the sites is warmer during spring, I’d put the Fuerte there, as Fuerte will set more fruit in warmer temperatures during bloom.
Hi Greg, I need help with my Gwen tree.
I bought from it FourWindsGrowers last October, then I planted in ground at end of February since it was warm in Northern California. Recently, I started noticing the older big leaves start getting dried (brownish at the tip and brownish where it’s connected to the branch and the brown color start expanding to the leaves where it’s connected to the branch).
At the meantime, I see new healthy shoots coming out all over.
So why the existing big leaves are turning brown, start drying and fall? I am worried about loosing the tree. I water it every 3 to 4 days. I wish I can send you the picture of my tree.
FYI: The nursery has directed me to you.
Thanks, a lot in advance for your help.
Hi Sam,
Congratulations on your choice of Gwen, first of all. It is such a great variety.
I suspect your tree is fine. This is the time of year when avocado trees shed big, old leaves and grow new ones. Most of my trees right now are doing a lot of dropping of old leaves and starting to grow new ones, including my Gwen. Unfortunately, it’s an unattractive process and it can easily worry someone who hasn’t seen it before.
I’d ask you to take a look at some of the photos on my post about avocado leaves and see if yours appear similar to those that are senescent or those that are burned from thirst or salts, or a combination: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/reading-avocado-leaves/
Hi Greg, I recently planted a baby Lamb Hass tree I purchased from Home Depot. I left some of the roots exposed and I surrounded the tree with mulch about 2 feet away from the base. I made sure I planted it a little higher than ground level like you suggest. It looks to be wilting, is this okay? Also how much should i be watering ? The soil around it looks muddy, overwatering ? Please help I dont want my tree to die. Im so glad I found your website and thanks for all the tips!
Hi Sylvia,
Glad you asked. It’s really important to water a newly planted tree enough, especially during early heat like we’re having. See these two posts for help here:
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-water-a-newly-planted-avocado-tree/
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/reading-avocado-leaves/
Hi Greg, we bought a place 3 years ago in Pasadena with a huge mature tree. The neighbors said they had never seen an avocado on it. I decided it was not getting enough water from the lawn nearby. After water and fertilizer for a couple years, I finally have fruit set. Going forward, I am thinking to water through the summer, like once a week with a soaker hose, maybe 150 gallons a week. What do you think? I know I haven’t given you much to go on….
Hi John,
Glad your old tree has fruitset. It’s so hard to figure out how much water such an old tree needs. In my observations, these trees often don’t need any dedicated water because they are able to get enough from other irrigated plants in their vicinity. This is especially true if there is a well watered lawn nearby. I used to live near such an old Fuerte, actually.
So honestly, you have to go more on observing the tree’s foliage and your hunch based on the tree’s behavior over the past few years. In other words, if you feel like what you’ve been doing lately has been making the tree happy, then keep doing that.
Greg, thank you for providing this service! You probably have heard all the stories, but here is mine. When we first bought this old 1916 house, people said the tree was non bearing. Or they said there not another avocado nearby. (Neither reason made sense to me.) I had an arborist over and brought him to the backyard and told him we get no avocados and could he tell me what was wrong. He said “what’s that there in the ground?” I said “what?” He said, “what’s that avocado doing there on the ground?” It was one beautiful avocado. I asked him “how did that avocado get there?” and he said he bought it at Trader Joe’s and threw it over my fence the night before. I practically believed him. I was so shocked. Anyway, that one avocado tasted amazing. So I watered for 2 years and nothing, but tried again this year and fruit set! Power of faith and persistence. Thank you again, and be safe.
I love that story! So glad you’re going to get avocados from your tree this year.
Hi again Greg! I hope you are well. So we got tons of fruitlets but little fruit. So far we have found 4. Tree service was out here today and they identified it as Fuerte. Reading your posts, I gather the US avocado industry started in our town, Altadena, with Fuerte. Anyway, it seems like planting a Hass very nearby would greatly benefit pollination? Otherwise, if water and fertilizer are good, any other suggestions to get this old tree bearing again?
Hi John,
Your tree is acting like a Fuerte too! They can be such wonderful trees and such frustrating trees. (I’ve got a frustrating one, just like you.)
Yes, the Fuerte was first propagated at West India Gardens in Altadena after it was discovered in Atlixco, Mexico. The variety became the most popular for many years. See more in my Fuerte profile: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/the-fuerte-avocado-tree-a-profile/
Planting a Hass nearby would certainly not hurt the pollination of your Fuerte. I would also not expect it to make the Fuerte a great producer. That doesn’t seem to happen, historically. See details in my Fuerte profile mentioned above.
Unfortunately, most likely, your Fuerte is a dud and providing the Hass pollen will only make it produce slightly more. I would love to tell you otherwise, but that’s my honest, best guess.
If that’s the case, then topworking the tree is your only option. That means cutting the tree way back and grafting on new branches from another Fuerte or whatever variety you choose.
I inherited a fruete avocado tree when I bought my house. I think it is about four years old. The last couple years it has been doing great. Right now, however, it seems to be losing a lot of leaves and budding avocados. I’m concerned about the watering. I don’t want to water too much and get root rot, but I also don’t want to water too little. In your article, you mentioned leaves and fruit may fall if you are watering too little. Is this what you think the issue might be? I’m concerned that so many little budding avocados are falling off. My tree is beautiful and I don’t want to kill it. I live in Fullerton, CA area.
Hi Lisa,
If you are watering too little, the first symptoms the tree will show are wilting leaves and then browning on the tips and edges of the leaves. If you don’t see that, then you’re probably watering enough.
Avocado trees are supposed to lose a lot of leaves here in spring as they replace those old leaves with new leaves. And avocado trees often set more fruit than they can handle so they shed lots of small fruit now and over the next couple months.
Only worry about root rot if you’re watering soil that is still soggy. But I highly doubt you’re doing that if your tree is four years old and doing great. Such a tree was probably planted in soil that drains well and so the risk of overwatering is slim.
Greg, you spend a lot of time sharing your wisdom … that’s impressive nowadays!
I live in Santa Paula, which apparently is great avocado country based on all the happy-looking orchards (both old & new) close by.
We recently inherited a house which came with two neglected avocado trees. We know they were planted about 2013, and probably came from a nursery … they’re now roughly 4′ high with a 2′ canopy and as of last fall were quite sad looking with mostly discolored leaves and dry, dead-looking branches sticking out.
We had lots of spring rain this year, and I noticed how they perked up. So I kept watering them as the weather turned warm, and this morning found a baby avocado. So naturally, now I want a drip system, which leads to my question.
We need to keep our water bill down, so the plan is to set the system to come on twice a week for one hour, and by careful choice of drip emitters only (no sprays) keep the area (which has other small trees & plants with bare dirt in between) watered just enough for healthy survival.
Reading all your Q&A’s, I’m thinking for best results I should build up a ring of soil maybe 3′ in diameter and 3″ high under each tree then fill it with mulch. Then put a ring of emitters under the mulch (perhaps 3 of them spaced around the tree, 2 GPH each) so each tree will get 6 gallons for each hour the timer comes on.
My question for you … do you have any idea if a tree suffers permanent damage when it goes neglected (no water except for rain) for years? I have pictures if it would help.
Reliability is important, so I’ll be using the cheapest bit & pieces I can find because the’re usually the simplest and thus most trouble-free, especially with our mineral-laden water.
Hopefully we’ll be able to save these trees, and again I appreciate the inspiration reading your comments. Thank you!
Hi DB,
Your dripper set up sounds fine. Giving the trees 12 gallons each week is probably sufficient for their size, but it can get hot in Santa Paula and I know that the soil there is often sand or loam, so you might want to split the irrigations into more waterings, such as three or four times per week. This might help your trees through summer heat waves. Either that or be prepared to give them additional waterings before and during such events.
Avocado trees that have been neglected and damaged like yours can often recover but it usually takes a long time. I often just remove and replace such trees, but I have babied some and after a few years they do eventually regrow a healthy canopy and, I assume, a healthy root system. It takes a lot of patience though.
You’ll find out how healthy your trees have become when the first heat wave hits. If they’re faking it, they will collapse in the heat and all of their new leaves will shrivel and burn.
I wish you luck!
Hi Greg,
I am so grateful to find your blog. I just put 2 2ft Haas avocado trees in my yard 1 week ago. I live in the San Fernando Valley. Today it is 100 degrees and the leaves are rather droopy. I want to water them but am afraid of over watering. They are in the ground. I would take a photo to send you but I don’t see any way to do that. I was considering turning my hose on lightly and letting it soak around the base of the tree for 20 minutes. So, I am really asking what to do about leaves that droop in a new tree and also how often I should be watering around the trees.
I truly appreciate your input. I am anticipating getting past having a black thumb!!
definitely water. Droopy leaves generally indicate a need for water, at least that’s what I read in this post:
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/reading-avocado-leaves/
Hi Allison,
I agree with Matt. Don’t worry one bit about overwatering your baby tree at this point. It’s almost impossible to overwater a tree such as yours at this time of year. However, it’s very possible to underwater it and damage or stunt it.
Check out this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-water-a-newly-planted-avocado-tree/
Hi Greg,
Thank you for this insightful post. I was wondering if I can grow a grafted Hass avocado tree in the Lake Tahoe area? There’s snow in the winter and I’m not sure if I could grow the tree (~ 24 inches) there.
Another option that I was considering is trying to grow it indoors. Do you think that is possible?
Hi Henry,
You couldn’t grow any kind of avocado tree outdoors through the winter in the Lake Tahoe area, but you could grow Hass or any other kind in a container that you could bring indoors during winter — and parts of fall and spring (my brother lives down the mountain in Reno and got frost a couple weeks ago in early June that killed some of his vegetables and would’ve damaged a young avocado tree).
Hi,
We planted a 2-3ft tall hass avacado tree a year ago by a gardener. A few months ago, all the leaves turned yellow and eventually fell off. The tree now has no one single leaf on. The bark and branches are green/burgundy color… then I saw some tiny baby leaf sprouts. however, they seemed wilted before even growing out.
The Gardener came over to check it out. He said all is fine. Of course not. The tree is not fine.
Anyone can tell me what’s going on with my tree? I’m in SF Bay Area.
Thank you!
Hi Shirley,
From your description, my guess would be that the tree has been watered too much, and is likely also planted in heavy soil that stays wet for a long time.
At this point, if I were you, I would plant a new tree and plant it properly — being especially aware of the soil’s drainage. Either plant it yourself or supervise your gardener’s planting of it. See this post for things to consider when planting an avocado: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
Hi Greg
you have a great blog! I am in claremont and try to follow your advice on watering and shade. I haven’t got the dynamics of fertilizer yet.
Can you also tell from looking at the tree if it is a Hass or fuerte or bacon or other?
Hi Jay,
Thanks! Claremont is beautiful: so many large oaks and views of the mountains.
I can usually distinguish between Hass, Fuerte, and Bacon. I know the leaves of those varieties well.
Hi Greg,
I love your site and your content is invaluable in the small world
of avocado farming. I have a grove in Fallbrook, Southern California that is mainly organic Hass and Fuerte.
I like the watering table, but I have wells and the water is moderately salty,,so I’m wondering…To avoid salt damage and root rot, I’ve been by okder farmers in the area to water a large amount (200-300 gallons) per watering and wait an extended time to dry, usually 14-20 days to reirrigate. So far the results have been positive and trees look happy, heavy fruit set and not a lot of fruit drop.
What do you consider of this approach and what advice would you have to those of us that are on salty wells, since I know that is not uncommon in our area. I’m also battling some
root rot so I’m wondering how
this would affect that as well.
Many thanks
GR
Hi Greg,
Thanks. Growers using moderately salty well water in San Diego County get good results using various schedules. This might be because watering methods vary, soils vary, rootstocks vary, and of course, the salts in the water vary. (There are lots of other factors, too: how much and what type of mulch is under the trees; what type and how salty is the fertilizer applied, etc.) But it’s probably also because there is no perfect frequency.
Here are some watering schedules that I’ve seen work in groves with moderately salty well water:
Location: Poway. About every five days on micro-sprinklers.
Location: Riverside. Three times per week on drip.
Location: Bonsall. Two times per week on micro-sprinklers.
I also read that in Israel they get good results using salty water by irrigating with drip every single day. The idea is that the salts are kept in solution and so the tree never needs to take up very much, which apparently happens mostly when the soil dries out and the salts in the water have become more concentrated.
It used to be common to water avocados infrequently, like your 14-20 day schedule, but back then the methods used were usually Rainbird type sprinklers or furrow irrigation where a lot of water was put down at one time and the salts were somewhat leached below the trees’ root zones at each irrigation so they never built up (at least, they didn’t if enough water was applied). And those frequencies worked.
But I’m not sure if their water was as salty as ours is today. I’ve been told by a researcher at UC Riverside that the water we’re getting out of the Colorado River today is saltier than it was in decades past, and maybe some of our well water is on a similar trajectory. I don’t know. But if our water is saltier today, then maybe we can’t get away with watering quite as infrequently. Just a thought.
One last thought: Let me know how the trees look in the fall and winter. I’ve noticed that my own trees can look great in July and August only to start showing tip burn in September or October, revealing that my irrigation wasn’t as optimal as I’d thought. The later the tip burn shows up, the better, it seems. When tip burn doesn’t show up until winter, it never seems to get as bad overall as when it shows up early in fall. (This late arrival of tip burn has usually arrived in my own trees when, during summer and early fall, and compared to other years, I’ve watered more in volume and sometimes more in frequency too.)
Hi Greg,
I have a Haas and a Bacon avocado trees both 4-5 years old. Both trees produced fruit for the first time last year. This year each tree has quite a bit more fruit than they had last year. My problem is my Bacon just dropped almost all of the fruit that was on the tree in the past week. It’s only the Bacon, the Hass hasn’t lost anything. It doesn’t appear to be rats or squirrels, my watering routine hasn’t changed and the appearance of the tree looks really good. I live in the Ojai area of Ventura County. Any thoughts? This is really frustrating!
Hi Mitch,
Sorry to hear this. Avocado trees usually have a final round of dropping young fruit in July and August. But it’s usually the later blooming and setting fruit that drops in August — varieties like Reed and Holiday. I’m surprised that your Bacon dropped so much so recently.
Honestly, though, this kind of mysterious dropping has happened to me so many times where I’ve never been able to discern a cause. I know that’s no help, but do know that you’re not alone in this frustrating experience.
Hi Greg. First, as I said in another comment thread, thank you so much for this site. And thank you for your passion for not only growing your own trees but for helping others as well.
I’ve recently planted a Hass tree, at this point somewhere between 2.5-3 months ago. I intentionally watered pretty lavishly and it seems to be thriving. After 2 months I changed from dribbling into the original rootball area (with the “good” soil that came with it) to a 90* sprinkler that casts a wider range into my native soil. When I planted my tree it seemed like the first 6-8 inches were pretty loamy but by about 10 inches down it was hard clay. Anyway, I was trying to water it enough during the recent heat wave (I’m in Placentia so it got pretty hot here like much of Southern California) but was also worried about overwatering. It seemed like almost daily I was watering about 30-35 minutes because the leaves looked thirsty (very droopy) and they somewhat recovered after watering, but the surface of the ground still looked damp. I finally took a shovel to the outermost part of the watering area where I didn’t expect to hit any roots and saw that it was moist about 2 inches down and then bone dry. Not what I was expecting. My plan now is to water at least 2 hours, 2 days a week, hoping that some of the water goes deeper. Does this sound like a better plan? Am I risking root rot watering it so long in what is clearly harder soil at a shallower depth than I thought? Thanks!
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for the kind words. I like that you got your hands dirty and checked where the soil was actually moist. Every time I take the time to do that I am somewhat surprised. There is simply no other way to discover the truth about your irrigation practices, and it always pays dividends.
What I’m curious about in your situation is how wet the soil is down at that clay layer. Did you check the drainage in that spot before planting?
Hi Greg I live in Northern California. And I have a fuerte avocado tree at about 8 ft tall . It’s losing its leaves but growing new ones is that a bad sign??
Hi Miguel,
That’s not a bad sign, necessarily. It’s only an indication of poor health if the tree loses all or most of its leaves and then grows new leaves (even that is sometimes not an indicator of poor health if it occurs during a heavy bloom). But if the tree is simultaneously losing some old leaves and growing new leaves, then that is perfectly normal.
Ok ok thanks I was worried for a minute. Thanks for getting back..
Hi Greg! I live in the Bay Area and my Hass (possibly lamb Hass) is about 14-15 years old. This year was our best year and we currently have about 200 Avocados on the tree. Recently I noticed some crystallized sap at a location on the tree where two larger branches bifurcate. I would say the patch is about 3 inches by two inches in size and also 1/2 inch hole punch hole on another branch. I have spoken to an arborist and he said it may indicate internal decay. Just wanted to know your thoughts on it and is there anything I can do to remedy my situation?? Thank you in advance!
Hi Andrew,
Great that your tree is having such a fruitful year. I hope the dried sap is not indicative of anything serious. It usually isn’t, but you’ll probably have to do some poking around to determine that. Check out my post here to help: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/white-powder-on-avocado-branches/
Hi Greg – Another fantastic read. My two Hass trees are in the ground, although they are really in a pile of soil I built up as you suggested (mound method). I have been following your “newly planted” avocado tree watering guidance. However, next week will be the end of week 4. I plan to switch to the chart you include within this article. However, I wonder how “old” my trees are in your diagram. For example, the 15 gallon Hass must be 2-3 years old? The 5 gallon Hass may be 1-2 years old? I will probably go off canopy size which you conveniently include but wanted to check with you. 17 days in between watering seems like an awful lot for these young trees. I will play it by ear though as you mention, particularly given the warm weather / Santa Ana we have been experiencing in San Diego.
As a side note, received your calendar in the mail this week. I plan to give it to my wife for Christmas, she will love it. Thanks for everything!
I’m a week or two behind you Cameron. I planted a Reed on Nov 21. I’m in the 3 gallons every 5 days phase. With no rain in the forecast for the next couple weeks, I planning on keeping the trees watered at this rate. When we get our first inch or more, I’ll stop and then see what the weather does for awhile. If your soil drains decently, I’d guess 3 gallons every 5 days will not hurt, especially if the weather stays warm and sunny.
Hi Matt,
I didn’t see your comment before writing mine below . . . and then I gave essentially the same information! Thanks for the help.
You’re welcome Greg. I enjoy reading folks posts on here, and try to guess your advice when I can. Glad I was in the ball park on this one.
I did notice your calendar chart is different now than the one I copied off one of your other pages. I’ll probably stick with the older one for now, as I’m in Santa Barbara, we’re typically a bit cooler than most of the So Cal locals. I think it will be good to have both.
Hi Cameron,
As you can now see, I’ve replaced that watering table with a new one. A change that I made is removing the “tree age” and only using canopy size because of understandable confusions like yours. Who really knows how old their trees are? And anyway, a tree uses water based on its canopy size and not its age.
I’ve also increased the recommended frequencies a bit. I did this in order to put them a bit more into the average range of what many growers successfully use. The previous chart’s frequencies were toward the infrequent side. Both recommended frequencies would work fine in average weather with trees planted in loamy soil, but I’ve decided that it’s dangerous to recommend a lower frequency because so often in the seasons other than summer the weather is not average. Many people don’t pay close attention to weather conditions and forecasts and are unlikely to respond rapidly enough to the changes in their trees’ water needs related to weather.
You’re right to think that 17 days is a long interval for this time of year, this year, particularly for newly planted trees like yours.
Just for reference, I’ve been watering my trees (some having been planted as recently as October 20) every five days from mid-November until now. Talking to some other growers and farmers, they’ve been watering once or twice a week too. This is an unusually warm, dry, and windy spell for late November and early December. You have to water according to the weather, not according to some chart made by a guy named Greg! (As much as I’ve tried to make that chart accurate and easy to follow!)
I hope your wife loves the calendar. Thanks!
Hi Grey
So happy I found your videos. Great information. I live in the Caribbean where the average daily temperture ranges from 75 -95 degrees F. We do have rain from time to time but our summers are hot sometimes up to 100 -105 degrees. I have 2 Hass, 1 Gwen, 1 Pollock, and 1 Wurtz avocado trees. How often show I water them, how much water should I give them? What is the best organic fertiliser and how often should I fertilise them? Thanks
Pascal
Hi Pascal,
Thanks. One way to figure out your watering schedule is to see how long until a tree wilts, and then next time water before that length of time. As to how much, it’s best to dig a little and check how deeply an amount of water wets the soil. See this post for more on that: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/get-your-hands-dirty-discover-the-truth-about-your-irrigation-practices/
I don’t know that there is a best organic fertilizer. It seems to me that there are many ways to achieve excellent soil fertility. Check out my post on fertilizing avocado trees: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/fertilizing-avocado-trees/
I have a young 7ft tree, I took from a planter box and put into my lawn, it gets hit occassionally by sprinklers from the grass, a few times a week.. the leaves are terribly burned brown. Curious how I should be watering this during the year, or what kind of mulch or fertilizer is needed. After rain it looked healthy, but my West LA water makes the leaves brown
Hi,
I’m a little confused by the chart but I really like the concept and want to understand it. For a 5 foot tree in January, the charts says .8 gallons per day. The watering interval is 14 days. So, do I use .8 gallons x 14 on the 14th day? or just .8 gallons on the 14th day? Thanks!
Hi Steve,
The general idea is that you take the interval (14 days) and multiply it by the volume (0.8 gallons) to find how much water you should apply in a single irrigation (14 x 0.8 = 11.2 gallons).
But you can’t follow the table perfectly because your irrigation intervals are going to cross months — nor should you attempt to follow the table perfectly since your tree uses water according to the ever-changing weather, not this table. Particularly here in winter, the intervals will be affected by rainfall.
Hi Greg,
Do avocado leaves on a sapling get mildew? Wondering if you ever encountered it, I can’t figure out if it’s dust on the lower leaves of my plant or mildew. Maybe due to top watering or dew?
Also do you use a moisture meter probe?
Right now the sandy loam looks dry but it rained a lot 3 days ago. I can’t tell if I should water again as there’s a dry spell coming up.
With the probe At what point of dryness should I water ? I’m also planning for summer when days can get long and hot and I need to adjust watering.
I’m in 9b in Sf peninsula area.
Hi Elaine,
I’ve personally never seen mildew on avocado leaves, but in the San Francisco area I suppose different things might happen compared to down south. You should take a photo of the “mildew” and zoom in to see if it is insects or mites.
I don’t use a moisture meter. I have tried in the past but found them unreliable, and less reliable than poking my fingers in and feeling for moisture that way.
Hi Greg, I have been following your posts. I have a 3-5 year old hass avocado tree in my backyard near Dixon lake in Escondido and it’s not looking great. It has black on the new branches and most of the leaves are brown on the edges. Does this indicate too much water? Its planted on a slope, so I guessed it would get decent drainage. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Jeff,
I would guess the watering has been too little, at least at particular times. The black on the branches — especially if on the top of horizontal branches or south-or west-facing sides of branches — might be mild sunburn.
Hi Greg,
I’m really enjoying this resource. I appreciate your dedication.
I just planted (as in TODAY) a Hass from a 24″box (purchased from a farm in Fallbrook) in Mission Viejo. Tree is about 6′-7′ tall. Trunk is about 3″_4″ thick. Canopy is about 4′ wide. It’s on a slope, but I terraced out an area with retaining wall blocks.
1) Will being on a slope help drainage?
2) Can a standard moisture meter be useful in checking water timing?
3) Based on size and maturity, (and assuming I water and feed appropriately) how long before I can expect fruit?
4) It’s on an 8′ stake. How long should it stay staked? It’s a pretty decent size already, but I assume it needs time to establish roots in the ground before I remove it.
Hi Andy,
The slope will help drainage somewhat. My experience with moisture meters has been that they’re less than perfectly reliable. Still, it can be a good tool to use to give you an additional piece of information; I wouldn’t use it alone when assessing soil moisture though. A Hass tree of that size will probably start blooming in the next month, meaning you can be eating your first fruit in one year from today.
The type of tree that you bought usually has a very weak trunk, as it has been tightly tied to a stake its whole life. I would try removing the ties and testing the trunk’s strength at different heights and then retying as necessary and only tying as tightly as necessary. But it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to safely remove the stake within a year. The tree will probably need staking for more than a year, especially if it starts carrying fruit this spring.
Check out these posts:
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
https://gregalder.com/yardposts/training-young-avocado-trees/
Just wanted to follow up. The tree and trunk felt so solid that I experimented with removing the stake (being fully prepared to put it back if needed. But the thing is solid.
With me watching like a hawk, it stood firm in the high winds we had the last couple weeks. So I suppose it’s just a bonus from 1) a thick trunk, and 2) a larger-than-average root ball from a 24″ box.
Should I water in the morning, afternoon or evening? Does it matter?
Hi Rob,
It only matters if you’re using sprinklers because afternoon breezes can blow the droplets away from a tree’s rootzone. Because of this, I water my trees that are on sprinklers in the morning usually, sometimes in the evening. I don’t water at night because I like to be able to “walk the lines” and see whether the irrigation is working properly. Any method of irrigation besides sprinklers can be used any time of day very effectively. All this being said, if I find that the trees need water unexpectedly, then I run the sprinklers immediately, regardless of the time of day.
My two trees don’t fit well into your sizes shown for watering. My fuerte has a 6 ft did and 12′ high. But it also has two side branches, One of these is 9′ out from the tree trunk the other is 8′ out from the tree. It’s planted on a slope which is clay. The tree has a nice thick 6″ mulch that I add to all the time which extends about 6′ from the truck on three sides. .
My other tree a reed is 13′ high, with a five foot diameter. It too has a lateral branch that extends 6′ out from the trunk. Also on a slope and also with a thick mulch.
I hand water with a wand that puts out a pretty decent flow. Last year my fuerte had lots of tiny pollinated fruit but most of them dropped because I wasn’t following your chart correctly. I was applying the gallons shown every so many days and for every day.
How do I interpret your chart for clay and on a slope for these weird shaped avocado trees?
Hi Ron,
My trees don’t fit well into the size columns in my chart either! Not only that but I’ve also found that certain trees can do fine on less than the chart suggests while others need more. This all goes to say that the chart is just an estimate to get us started on a watering regimen and we really have to respond to how the trees react in the end.
When measuring my trees’ canopies I average the diameters of their narrow side and their wide side, and then if the tree is a lot taller than it is wide, I bump up the water a little. Then I respond to how the tree reacts on that regimen.
Trees will use the same amount of water in clayey soil as in sandy soil, it’s just that the clay can hold a lot more water so there’s the possibility of watering less often.
Hi. I just bought and planted a 24″ box Fuerte and has. My fuerte looks like it’s dying. We have clay but dug the hole out 4′ by 4′ and replaced with mainly a cactus mix. I am not sure if I am watering too much or too little. The leaves are brittle.
Hi Tasha,
The truest test is to scratch into the soil where you find roots and feel how moist it is there. If it’s dry (if you squeeze a handful of soil and it cracks or crumbles in your hand), then water. If it’s wet (if you squeeze a handful of soil and it keeps its shape and doesn’t crack), then there’s enough moisture.
Greg,
I can’t tell you how happy I am to find your site. A few years ago, I bought a place with a grove of about 30 Haas trees, and have been struggling to learn how to take care of them properly. I feel like I’ve struck gold here. Thank you! Now to what I’m sure will be my first of many sets of questions: I was told recently that I have mites, and should get my trees sprayed. Since then, the trees have been dropping the old, mite-marked leaves, and growing a ton of new, reddish, clean-looking leaves. They also have been flowering quite a bit. Does it still make sense to spray, given (1) all of the young leaves, and (2) the ongoing flowering? If so, do you recommend anything in particular for spraying, e.g., organic options, etc.? Thanks again!
Hi Bob,
Glad you found me too! Check out this recent talk by entomologist David Headrick of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo about mites on avocados (his part is at 28 minutes in): https://youtu.be/BjXDDDpzDRI
Greg the diameter of my fuerte and reed are not consistent. The fuerte is 12 1/2 ft tall and the diameter is only 48″. However two branches reach out one is 7′ out the other is 5′ out. What diameter should i use from your chart. It has been in the ground 4.5 years and last fall we had 13 avocados.
My reed is also 1`2 1/2 feet tall same story 48″ x 54″ did only this tree has a single lateral branch that extends out 7′. Same question what did should i use. It has been in the ground 5.5 years and we had 20 avocados. Three fell off and they ripened within a week or two and they were off the charts wonderful.
I follow all your excellent guidance on mulching.
Last year I was misreading your older chart and consequently I had a lot of fruit set but a significant fruit drop because I know I wasn’t watering a lot.
Hi Ron,
I just use a rough average of two sides to get the canopy diameter. And when the trees are much taller than they are wide, I include the branches that stick farther out than the rest of the canopy. So on your Fuerte, for example, I would average 7 and 5 to call it about 6 feet. That’s just to get a starting point though, remember. From there you have to observe the tree to see if it needs more water (wilting?) and/or observe the soil to see if it needs less water (still wet when you’re planning to make the next irrigation?).
Disregard the email above. I see you responded to an earlier email sent. I didn’t see it until now. Thanks Ron
Hi Greg,
My Reed tree is about 3.5 ft tall. We bought it for almost a year. It had a lot of flowers and recent month all of the leaves turned brown and died out. Nothing left beside the young fruits( avocado). Fortunately, a few young sprouts of leaves came back. Problem: the tiny fruits remained mostly turned into black and dried out. What is wrong?
Is there a way to send a picture to you. San Diego – Amelia!
Hi Amelia,
You can post a link to photos that you upload to another platform/website.
My fuerte is 5 years old and we had 12 avocados last year. My reed is 6 years old and we have 20 avocados that will be ripe over the next few months. In the past I experienced serious baby avocado drop. I’m assuming this was because I misread your watering guide and I was afraid with my clay soil not to over water.
Since winter I’ve been following your guide and my trees have put forth serious growth and both trees are loaded. The reed has maybe 250-300 avocados. And most between 1 3/8″ long down to 1/2″ long. I notice a decent amount of them are falling off now with the warmer weather. Same on the Fuerte but less drop. The Fuerte has about 125 avocados and most are 1″ to 1 1/2″ long.
Is the fruit drop anything I need to be concerned about. Last year same time period my avocado were only half the size of this year.
I’ve also been applying 3/4 of a cup of 16-16-16 avocado fertilizer. July 1st was my last application until late fall. My soil is a mix of clay and silt. And is extremely deficient in nitrogen.
Iron and zinc appears to be OK, leaves look very healthy and full sized.
Always appreciate your knowledge.
Hi Greg. I have planted literally 4 avocado trees in Southern California (Simi Valley) and all 4 have perished. This last one has been in the ground for about 2 years now, and I did shade it and watered more. The poor little tree really isn’t growing or anything, but she’s hanging on to about 15 leaves and flushed a little new growth late in spring this year. I have no idea what I am doing wrong. She gets watered 3 times a week for about 10 minutes by 2 micro sprinklers and a regular sprinkler. I build a little do it yourself shade thing which protects her north and east sides since the winds come whipping down the hills into my yard. We can be very very hot here, but I don’t really know what else to do for her….
Hi Pam,
Let’s make sure you’re watering enough first. Can you estimate how many gallons the tree gets per week?
Hmmmm maybe 7 to 10? She’s only 2 feet tall at best
Sounds like you’re giving the tree enough water. Any idea if the soil it is in drains well? Can you do a drainage test, as described in this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
Hi Greg. I planted 8 x 24″ box avocados this past March/April on a slope with poor, heavy clay soil. The tree holes are about 3’x3’x3′ with very good, well drained “fill” soil and a 3″ drain pipe on the bottom of the pit to drain the excess water. All trees ond rings of drip irrigation tubing. 6 of the lower trees consistently have moist soil for 6-8 days, even now in summer, 2 of the upper slope trees (fuerte & bacon) seem to dry out within a day, with the bacon tree leaves wilting and all the fruit dropping off. I have a 2-3″ layer of shredded wood mulch covering all the trees, but is there something better I can use to keep the soil on the fuerte/bacon from drying so quickly? Even if I hand water those trees, the soil probe reads mostly dry by the end of the day.
Hi Rob,
Can you just split your irrigation time into more frequent events? For example, instead of running the system every four days, run it every two days or even every day. With drip going into well-drained soil, you can irrigate every day (even twice per day) if necessary. Lots of people do this successfully with avocados on drip.
Hi Greg,
Thank your for being such an amazing resource! I purchased a property in Santa Barbara this spring that came with a small grove consisting of several citrus trees (orange, lemon & mandarine) along with two mature avocado trees. The seller lived out of state and clearly had let trees go without water for some time. I’ve been slowing reviving them and your water chart is a great help! The entire grove is fed by well water on one line (DIG 1/2 in. (0.710 O.D.) poly drip irrigation tubing). Per the chart, for a 10 ft diameter, I’m to water the avocado tree @ 6 gallons a day every 6 days, so 36 gallons every 6 days. Where I could use your guidance is on the flow rate at which I should water. I have 1 GPH and 4 GPH drippers and 18 GPH micro sprinklers. The trees are planted at on a slope so drainage is adequate. Should I water the avocado trees for one hour with with four 4 GPH drippers + one 18 GPH sprinkler to achieve 34 gallons in that hour? OR water with two hours with the 18 GPH sprinkler to achieve 36 gallons in those two hours? Or water for two hours with four 4 GPH drippers to achieve 32 gallons in those two hours? OR water three hours with with three 4 GHP drippers to achieve 36 gallons in those three hours? From your “How I water my avocado trees” video, I see you use a shut-off valve to control the water flow and recommend sprinklers/sprayers over drippers. How do you determine the GPH with the shut-off valve? What PSI are your lines at? Most DIG sprinklers/drippers recommend 25 PSI.
Since the citrus trees are on the same line and will be watered simultaneously with the avocado trees, I want to set up the watering regiment for those trees appropriately. Do you know of a chart or resource that could help me determine how much water the citrus trees need?
Thank you again for you invaluable insight!
Hi Greg – this chart is super helpful. Do you have any advice on how to program this into an irrigation controller? I have the Hunter Hydrawise app and have my one avocado tree on one valve. It looks like there is an option to run the zone time based, smart (ET), or virtual solar sync. Which one of those would you do? Unfortunately I don’t see a way to plug in the information you put in the chart directly into the app.
Hi Jeff,
I’d try to run it on ET. If you can program a percentage of ET, just choose 100 percent even though you may be able to get away with less if your water quality is very good.
I’m not sure I’m reading your watering chart correctly. Please confirm a 10′ tree in May would receive a total of 9 gallons of water every six days?
And of course the water should be spread over the root zone.
My trees are planted in clay, they have 6″ layer of decomposed compost on the entire root area, and I live in zone 10 Mission Viejo CA
Hi Greg we have a mature avocado (20 plus feet and many years old) tree in sacramento region in our yard. I think it has been under watered and is drying out. Leaves are yellow-brown and lots are falling. Can they recover if we water more? If so is a couple week trial enough with more watering or how much of a one time would you recommend before resuming a regular schedule? Thanks
Hi Greg- First off thanks for your amazing content! I love your posts. Do you have anything like this chart for citrus, stone fruit and figs in San Diego?
Hi Nicole,
Not exactly, but I do have this: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-much-to-water-a-fruit-tree-in-southern-california-roughly/
I’ll try to get a chart posted for citrus and others this spring.
Hi Greg, so many thanks for your good work on this site. It is such an awesome resource.
So, its the first half of February 2023. We received record rainfall over 3 weeks in late December and early January. Since then, not much. Here in Santa Barbara, 0.2″ or so in my yard the past two weekends, the only rains since around January 16. And nothing in sight over the next 10 days.
I’m starting to wonder when it’s time to water the avos? It seems like the ground under them is moist enough for now, and mine are all heavily mulched, with lots of sourgrass around for ground cover as well. Its supposed to warm up for a few days, then cool off again. I’m thinking of holding off to see if the potential for rain about a week from now materializes or not. If none, then perhaps its time to water. But first I’ll try your test: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/get-your-hands-dirty-discover-the-truth-about-your-irrigation-practices/
Hi Greg, here we are in late May and May gray has been in full force. And if I believe my surf / weather predicting person, no let up in sight for a few more weeks. I live <5 miles from the coast in Santa Barbara, but we do tend to get burn offs at my house earlier than a lot of places around town. But not this month. Not sure if you make it up much past Carpenteria when you are in the area, but I live on the mountain side of the 101 very close to Hwy 154 (San Marcos pass). Between us and the ocean are some small hills, some as high as 500', but mostly less.
I'm looking for general guidance on how to scale back watering until the sun appears again. I am thinking of taking the guideline for the month (I tend to use the other chart you published which gives gallons/month, not per day), determining the water per session, but spacing out the sessions by an extra day or two.
Thoughts?
Greg,
Have you ever dealt with scabs on Opal (Lila tree). I lived in Central Florida and tried copper fungicide a few times but they still persist. I don’t want those scabs to spread to my Wurtz, Joey and Choquette located about 10 to 15 ft from it. The tree was planted in March of last year so about 1 1/2 years ago. First fruit bearing was this year and avocados had scabs which prevented ripening. Should I remove it?
Thanks,
Myrianne
What about growing avocado trees in Lake Elsinore giving the rocky soil and water ?
Dear Greg, I live in Claremont, CA, and have several little avocado trees growing on my small patio in the apartment complex where I live from the seeds I planted there. If I lived on a lot of land, it would be different because I love nature and growing stuff. But since I don’t, I’d like to donate them to people who have the room and know how to care for them. Also, I want to help feed our world, too. Would you like them, and/or can you connect me with people who want them and know how to deal with transplanting my little avocado trees? My patio isn’t big enough for even one, much less the dozen that are growing. I wish I had room for them and knew how to care for them, too, if I did have the room. Reading your “THE YARD POSTS” educated me so much and also informed me how much more I need to know if I was able to keep them. I would greatly appreciate any help. Thank you so much. –Kathryn Mora