Planting Young Mexicola Grande Avocado Tree on a Mound | Strategies for Heavy Clay Soil

Have clay soil? Avocado trees tend to have difficulty growing in heavy clay soils due to their unique need for high oxygen levels and susceptibility to root rot. Planting on a mound can significantly help the health and growth of many fruit trees, especially avocado plants, by providing better drainage. Arizona is not the only area in the US with heavy clay. Avocado farms in California face the same issue and practice planting on a mound.

In this detailed video, I explain the issues with clay soil, the benefits of planting higher off the ground, the items I use to build the mound (peat moss, sand / decomposed granite, and volcanic rock) as well as important additives like gypsum and mycorrhiza. I demonstrate planting a young Mexicola Grande avocado plant I recently received from Four Winds Growers in California.

Four Winds Growers
https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/coll...

Amendments

peat - 1/3
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Premier-Prem...

decomposed granite - 1/3
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-0-...

all-purpose sand (an alternative to decomposed granite)
https://www.lowes.com/pd/0-5-cu-ft-40...

Perlite ( type of volcanic rock) - 1/3
https://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Hortic...

Gypsum granules - https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Gypsum...

Mycorrhizal Inoculant - https://www.amazon.com/Xtreme-Gardeni...