An easy and free way to get a gardening question answered is by calling or sending an email to your local Master Gardeners. I’ve spent many hours as a Master Gardener volunteer in San Diego County answering phone calls and emails from the public at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, where there is a library of hundreds of gardening books to refer to, U.C. publications on everything from walnut production to strawberry diseases to tree staking. When I have a break between calls and emails, I peruse this treasure of resources, or I chat with the other Master Gardeners working the “helpline” that day.
Who are the Master Gardeners?
It’s a good thing that Master Gardener volunteers rarely work alone. Our title misleads. None of us has mastered gardening on the whole.
We are a group of volunteers who are passionate about gardening and are trained by the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) with the mission of extending to the public the home horticulture and pest management research of the UCCE.
But what’s the UCCE? That’s a joint effort of three groups: the University of California, the United States Department of Agriculture, and a particular county — in my case, the County of San Diego. All three of these entities contribute resources to the UCCE.
Prospective Master Gardeners are taken through about six months of classes, workshops, and field trips conducted by professors of soil science, farm advisors for avocados, landscape architects, nurserymen, professional grafters, irrigation specialists, citrus researchers, weed scientists, and more. Seven years ago, I went through this training, and afterward passed a test, and have been volunteering with the group ever since.
(See a bit more about the Master Gardener program’s history and education activities here.)
We each have areas of specialization
I learned a ton during my training as well as in the subsequent continuing education that all Master Gardeners are required to complete each year. Nevertheless, I’ll always be able to better address questions about when to harvest mandarins than when to prune roses.
No problem. As I said, Master Gardeners rarely work alone, have a lot of University of California resources at hand, and know which other Master Gardeners are rose experts.
In the San Diego County program alone, I know Master Gardeners who are thoroughly knowledgeable about orchids, ornamental trees, succulents, worm composting, bananas, butterfly plants, tomatoes, raising quails, staghorn ferns, just to name a few. And a couple years ago, I attended a conference for Master Gardeners statewide where I met volunteers in other counties from all over California who are similarly expert in every niche of gardening imaginable: propagating native plants, growing tropical fruit trees, harvesting and using rainwater in the garden, etc.
Contact the Master Gardeners in your county
Master Gardeners by definition love to share what they know about plants and the environment in which plants grow, and they have the resources at hand to help you figure out whatever is puzzling you in your garden today.
Below are links to the webpages for Master Gardener helplines (phone numbers and email addresses) in counties of Southern California. Give them a call or send an email with photos. They are ready to help.
San Diego County Master Gardeners helpline
Orange County Master Gardeners helpline
Los Angeles County Master Gardeners helpline
Riverside County (and desert areas) Master Gardeners helpline
San Bernardino County Master Gardeners helpline
Ventura County Master Gardeners helpline
Santa Barbara County Master Gardeners helpline
(Outside of Southern California, you can find the helpline information for your local Master Gardeners by doing a web search, such as “Sacramento Master Gardeners helpline.”)
You might also like to read my posts:
Best books for food gardeners in Southern California
Davis Garden Show, best radio podcast for Southern California gardening
Do you have any advice on how to move an avocado tree? We made the mistake of planting a Reed next to a palm tree. We are convinced the palm is taking all of its water and entangling the roots of the avocado because it hasn’t grown much and the leaves are small and minimal production in 3 years. We have a new spot for it in an area with great drainage and good soil. How do we do this? Would you mind directing me to a tutorial or emailing me directly? Thanks!!
Hi Erin,
This can be done. I’ve done it many times, to my embarrassment. The best time to do it is in winter or early spring. If you want to do it now, it would be best to lightly shade the tree for its first few weeks in its new spot, maybe even for the rest of this summer.
The main factor determining success is how many roots you can excavate intact. The more the better. This is especially hard with avocados because their roots are brittle so take your time and be gentle. Dig widely, but you probably don’t need to dig deeper than two feet.
I would also do the transplant in the evening so the tree can at least have the night to settle in. Water lavishly as soon as it’s planted.
Greg,
My daughter gave me a 5 foot avocado tree for Christmas last year. Planted it on the hillside in our backyard. Had a bad bout of leaf burn about mid year (nearly all the leaves had some burn on them, the northern side more than southern side and the bottom more than the top. I had applied some avocado fertilizer some weeks prior so I first attributed it to that. (I suspected lack of watering when I was out of town in mid July, but family members claimed otherwise.) I read about high chlorite? content of our tap water creating high pH in soil. Anyway, I added some gypsum to the soil and doubled down on watering and over the last 4 weeks the tree has replaced nearly all the burned leaves with new growth. The top of the tree is about ten inches higher than it was in January. I’ve been monitoring the soil daily and if it is dry or the leaves look droopy, I water (slow drip, tree spikes, til saturated.) I am curious about a few things:
1) Is it bad to water the leaves to coll them down on 90 degree plus days? Will this exacerbate leaf burn?
2) I have only the one tree. Do I need (at least) two for fruit?
3) The new leaves attracted some voracious grass? leaf? hoppers (basically, locusts). I picked four of them off in a space of two days a week ago and – haven’t seen any since. Do they only like the new growth when it is freshly sprouted and then lose interest?
I have learned a lot from reading your blog – it is exactly the sort of information I’ve been looking for. I’m glad you have taken the time to share your expertise. I am determined to keep my tree alive to see fruit off it – if *I* live long enough!
Hi Alan,
Thanks!
1) No. It’s a great help to cool avocado trees on hot days that way. See more on that in my post, “Protecting avocado trees from heat.”
2) No. But it’s true that having more than one avocado tree close together usually ends up making both more fruitful.
3) Grasshoppers will munch on older avocado leaves too, unfortunately. This becomes no big deal once your tree gets bigger though. That’s the good news.
Thanks for the info Greg. Your blog has been a great help. I purchased a second avocado tree this weekend. It’s a different variety, not sure if that matters. It won’t be delivered for a week and a half but, it’s already got an avocado on it! (We also got a loquat and a tangerine. Hope I can keep them all alive!)
Hi Greg,
THANKS for all the information on avocados. As a novice, there is plenty of good info. I planted a Lamb Haas in my backyard (it’s the first thing I’ve ever planted). I don’t think it’s doing too well and I would like to help it. There are currently black spots on its veins and I have no idea what it is although I tried to used google. I emailed my local Master Gardener in Los Angeles (thanks for the links above!) and have not heard back. I’ve emailed once or twice before and it usually takes a month to get a response. A few things:
1) Do you have an email or a consultation business? I would love to get more insights specific to my tree.
2) Is there a wait list for the Avocado calendar? If so, please please put me on it. It is exactly what I need as a novice gardener.
3) I ordered the regular 2020 Garden Calender before I saw the post it was sold out. Did you order more? I really hope so.
Thank you!
Hi Raberin,
You’re very welcome. Thanks for pointing out that it still said the calendars were sold out on my original post about them. I’ve fixed that. Yes indeed, I did print some more.
The avocado calendar didn’t get finished last year so I’m working on it for 2021. I’ve got a first edition that I’m testing this year so I can refine it before I sell it.
Hi Greg,
Hope you are doing well. I was wondering if you would be able to help me identify what kind of avocado tree i have? The tree is almost 2 stories tall, and i’m located in Northern California.
I appreciate your expertise and time! 🙂
https://imgur.com/a/UfNsPE0
Hi Matt,
It doesn’t look obviously like any variety I know. Maybe if you took a couple more photos of fruit when they’re mature it would help. It’s also possible that it’s a seedling and therefore a new and unique variety. I can certainly rule out a number of named varieties though, if that would help.
Thanks so much for the reply, Greg.
It seems the previous home owner knew to plant it on an elevated mound, so i’m curious if it is a grafted variety since it seems they did their research and took good care of it. The trunk is about 12 inches wide, so would you still be able to tell if it was grafted still?
I’ll post photos of the mature fruit. Do you think around January would be a good time frame to pick a large avocado off the tree?
Thanks, Greg!
Hi Matt,
Sometimes you can still see a graft union on older trees, sometimes not. If it’s detectable, it’s probably between 6 inches and 2 feet off the ground.
The fruit might be mature in January, but it looked like it might take even a couple months longer. Look for the skin to dull. Most avocado varieties become less shiny as they mature. Also, the stem often gets darker in color and even might get some brown spots here and there.
Hi Greg,
I picked a larger sized avocado off the tree, does it give you any clues to what kind of avocado it is? Still waiting to see if it’ll ripen.. Does it look like it’ll ripen or still not mature enough?
https://i.imgur.com/cqgycyo.jpeg
Thanks, Greg!
Matt
Hi Matt,
That still doesn’t look exactly like any variety I know, sorry. Did it ripen well? It looks like it might still be immature. Where approximately are you in Northern California?
Hi Greg,
It took about 3 weeks, but it did ripen! See attached for photos, does it give you any clues? The skin was nice and thick, and the flesh wasn’t stringy at all.
I’m located in San Jose.
https://imgur.com/a/oBPTlOK
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I’m at a loss. The fruit combines characteristics of varieties I know but doesn’t look like any single one. How did it taste? Looks like it’s mature and so should taste about as good as it will.
Hi Greg,
I have a super old fuerte avocado tree in the backyard that has not been maintained for years. it produces only a few avocados but some are shaped like zucchini and there are no seeds in them. I have not eaten or tasted one yet. Is there a way to help maintain it so that it is healthy and can produce more for the years to come? how do I trim it? as its huge and wide.
thank you so much! please provide as much detail as you can, I am new to gardening and have no idea what to do.