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| ~45 days, size of a thumb. |
Our drip irrigation system has been running for about 2 weeks. I run it manually every other day for 30-40 minutes, on the same schedule as our raised garden bed because the drip lines are connected. Today, however, I installed 3-outlet hose timer from Orbit and ran a second 1/2" supply line to the avocado tree so that it can be on a schedule separate from the garden. During summer months, we will water the tree every day for 60 minutes, and every other day 25 minutes for the garden. That schedule will be cut back in the fall and winter to give the tree less water in the cooler months without affecting the water needs of the garden.
The system has three 1 GPH drip emitters arrayed in a circle around the tree, with two more spurring out from that circle. Of the lines that connect each emitter in the circle, half are 1/4" "soaker hose" lines that drip water along their entire length. The others are regular 1/4" irrigation lines. I added the soaker lines today because I was concerned that the tree wasn't getting quite enough water.
Hi Neal.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted to come across your blog as i too planted a Holiday & am finding only sketchy info about its special needs. I've learned alot from your blog already; many thanks. Don't forget to update it with the latest news. :<)
I am in Ventura, CA., zone 9. I planted my Holiday 18 mo. ago, a 15 gal. size. It was 5' tall & 1.5' wide. It was not as filled out as yours, & similar to yours, it had brown tipped leaves. The tree didn't do very well the first year: dropped most of the leaves, flowered but no fruit. This summer it went on a growth spurt and is now 9' tall with lots of big new branches & tons of leaves. Some of the new branches are very different from the older, short, weeping style branches. One of the new branches is growing about 3' from the ground at an almost 90 degree angle & it is 5' long! The branch is 1" in diameter where it comes off the trunk, and the trunk is only 1.5" in diameter at that point. The branch seems way too heavy for the tree to support, especially if it ever grows some of its huge fruits. Is it OK to prune now, as most of the info I read advised not to prune in late summer. Also, how far back should I prune it?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
Hi Chanterelle,
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear from someone else growing a Holiday :). It sounds like your tree is much happier this year! Did it happen to set any fruit this year? I'd love to see any pictures you have of the tree so we can compare notes.
I'm honestly not sure about the pruning question. I'm definitely not an expert on avocados or gardening, I'm just a good Internet researcher :). From what I understand, pruning will cause the tree to put out a lot of "vegetative growth" (leaves and stems), maybe more growth than it would have without the pruning. (I'm not sure on the last part.) That doesn't sound like a bad thing at first... more growth, stronger tree, right? But I guess all that extra growth leaves the tree with fewer reserves for "reproductive growth" (flowers and fruit) in the spring. So I think it's the case that pruning in summer means less flowering and fruit in the following spring because of the extra energy spent on vegetative growth. That is probably an oversimplification but it's all I've been able to find so far.
Apparently commercial orchards even use chemicals to slow down vegetative growth in their avocado trees, so the trees use more of their energy on flowering and sustaining fruit. The trees end up smaller but give higher yields for the space. Crazy.
I'm assuming that pruning is done in winter or spring so that the tree doesn't expend as much energy growing out replacement stems and leaves right away, leaving more energy for the flowers and fruit.
Also, apparently the new growth that follows a summer pruning is more susceptible to frost damage in winter. I don't know how often you get frosts in Ventura, but down here in LA county we almost never get temps that low.
Anyways, most sources recommend not pruning your avocado at all except to remove dead wood. So maybe all will be well without your intervention :).
Here is a link you might find useful: http://www.avocadosource.com/CAS_Yearbooks/CAS_46_1962/CAS_1962_PG_42-43.pdf . A quote: "Pruning in early spring gives a greater stimulus to vegetative growth than pruning during mid-summer, while pruning in late summer or fall will cause regrowth which may not
harden off and is more susceptible to frost injury." Good luck!