Hass Avocado
2001: No fruit.
2002: Tree died, either from the frost or from over watering. Replanted another. Out of all the blossoms on the tree we have only one baby avocado as of June 30. Will the avocado fruit survive? Will the tree survive? Like this time last year the leaves are black around the edges, apparently due to over-watering. This year we have watered much less than last, so hopefully the tree will survive.
2003: By early April the tree has very few leaves left. It has apparently not grown in height, so it is unclear if it will survive. 6/1/03: The last of the old leaves fell last week, and the first new growth just appeared a few days ago. The tree still looks unhealthy, and it hasn't added any height since we planted it. 8/21/03: It looks like we once again over watered this one. Apparently it never needs water more than once every two weeks, even when the weather is very warm. 9/21/03: Pulled out the Hass. The roots were extremely moist, and weren't very well developed. I dug down deeper, then filled the hole with 8 inches of water. A day later the water was still nearly 8 inches deep, so I dug still deeper. I noticed that I was digging out sand, but drainage was still poor, so I finally dug down to a depth of about 3 feet, and found that drainage was satisfactory.
2005: 9/6/05: Planted another Hass in place of the Robertson Navel orange. It seems healthy to start with. 10/6/05: New growth on the tree is very good considering that the root system hasn't developed yet. The soil is quite moist even though I water just once per week.
2006: 2/26/06: Most of the leaves are brown around the tips and edges. If we get much more cold weather I fear the tree will die. I'm tempted to put up a windscreen to protect the tree from strong west winds. 4/29/06: New growth is finally starting in earnest. It will be nice to see all of the old ugly leaves fall off eventually. 5/19/06: The new leaves are well along, and there are even a few blossoms on the tree. I don't expect any fruit as a result of these few blossoms, but perhaps they will assist in the pollination of the Bacon avocado blossoms. 7/4/06: The tree seems healthy, as I'm giving 2.5 gallons of water twice per week. I also sprayed the leaves with CloudCover several weeks ago, and this seems to protect them well from the sun. I give VF-11 on the first and third weekends of every month. 7/19/06: The tree has been well-protected by the CloudCover, but it's finally showing some signs of stress after many 90+ degree days.