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Growing an Avocado Tree, Indoors. Part 4
Jul 21, 2023
Part 4 of an avocado that was started from Seed in December 2015. It has struggled throughout the years, but I have finally managed to get it the growing conditions that it loves and it is now growing really well. This tree will never be a bonsai, but it is still fun to grow and develop. 🔴You can see the full progression of this tree on my website: ⭕️ https://www.backgardenbonsai.com/avocado-tree-progression-2015-now/ 🔴My Care Guide: ⭕️ https://www.backgardenbonsai.com/avocado-care-guide/ 🔴 Youtube Playlist For This Tree ⭕️ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35C7OqeOezJaSTrpkbotsqqRHJPnjXhj ........ Please Subscribe For More Videos - Every Sunday ......... 🔴For More Guides and Bonsai Information: : ⭕️www.backgardenbonsai.com/ Thanks, Ian
View Video Transcript
0:00
Stay back my avocado
0:05
That's been growing pretty wild last year, which is why it's pretty much touching the light
0:09
I had left it alone all winter, but now it's getting near the spring, I'm going to prune it back
0:14
And you've seen the rest of the trees on this tree, you know it seems like being cut back hard, which is exactly what I'm doing here
0:25
That branch actually needed more force than I thought. It probably also would have helped that my pruners were sharpened
0:30
Anyway, you can see here what was left and what I removed
0:36
It was actually quite a lot. I don't really have a plan for this tree
0:40
I'm just letting it grow and pruning it back. I don't think it will ever be a bonsai
0:44
But I guess from now I'm just keeping it generally small. I would have maybe let it grow out, but not whilst living in the grow tent because, as you
0:51
can see before, it reaches the light pretty quickly. So if I just keep letting it grow wild, it would be a bit of a disaster
0:58
I'm just pruning back that lower branch. I actually nearly killed this tree a few years ago
1:02
when it dived right back to the base. Luckily two shoots grew, but as you can see, one of them is tiny
1:07
and the other one is now the main trunk. I then cleaned up the cut I made before
1:13
and, of course, the blunt cutters caused even more trouble. I didn't quite cut all the way through
1:18
They just sort of pulled it, which actually caused some bark to tear off and come away
1:22
and really made the whole thing worse than if I just left it alone. If I zoom in here you can see the mess I made
1:31
The lesson for everyone here is, of course, sharpen your tools. It's ugly, but so is the rest of the tree, so it's not the end of the world
1:44
In March, it doesn't look like much is happening, but there is actually buds popping all over the place
1:54
This tree always seems to respond really well to pruning. Now bringing in closer, you can see some of the new shoots
2:05
They in a few different places which is exactly what you want although this tree does distribute its energy very weirdly It sends shoots out everywhere and then some of them seem to do well and others don
2:18
If you take you back down the base, you can see exactly how it did that a few years ago, with the two trunks
2:23
One is tiny and the other seem to get all the energy and grow bigger. Both these trunks are the same age, but you can sort of see now why this tree isn't really good tree to work with
2:33
Anyway, since it's nearly spring and because it's shooting out, I think it's a good time to the same age
2:37
repotted. I've been putting this off for a while so it's going to be a disaster at this
2:41
point I think. It's going to be very full. I just did the usual thing of trying to
2:46
rake away some of the topsoil and loosen things up. You can see here it's going to be a lot of roots. The top like two centimeters is just
3:07
Tho. Foo. I tried to give it a few pulls here but it's jammed in the pot
3:32
I'm actually pulling on it pretty hard and it's really clinging on
3:37
I got there in the end and I managed to get it out
3:43
You see down the bottom where my hand is there's a black section
3:48
So that part looks dead. But the rest of it looks very healthy and very compact
3:54
So I think this tree will take a while to rake out. At a very long time I was left with this
4:05
It's a bit of a mess, but I've been a mess. bit of a mess but I've seen worse so I'm fairly happy with it for an avocado it's pretty
4:12
great now I'll have to do is trim it back but avocado is not the biggest fan of
4:18
root work so I need to behave but also you do know what I like so I just gonna give it a good trim
4:50
After a while I was left of this. So not too radical but fierce enough for an avocado
5:06
Then it is pot up on the same pot. It's not ideal but it fits the current spacing so it'll have to do
5:20
In April that top section doesn't look too happy, but I'm not too surprised after what I did to the roots
5:30
But I'm not worried about it in the slightest. I'll bring you in closer in a second where you can see the shoots in this area are looking great
5:37
There's nothing to worry about. Avocados are also evergreen so sometimes the older release will fall off
5:43
I'm sure a lack of roots probably paid a part in this, but it's fine. I'll bounce back in no time
5:50
It may kind of looks the same apart from the fact that all the sad leaves have gone
6:03
so if anything it just looks a bit bare now but like you said it's nothing to worry about because by June those shoots have all opened
6:16
and I absolutely love fresh avocado leaves. It always just have this nice red colour
6:21
So as you can see, it's about the repot. I'm not sure if you were thinking it was doomed
6:25
but this young avocado is tougher than you think. It still looks weird, but at least it likes growing
6:35
Not really much going on July it just seems happy enough In August you notice the leaves are yellow around the edge
6:52
I'm not sure exactly, but I'm probably overwatering it. I'm probably adding as much water as it was before
7:02
but of course the root mass is like a quarter of what it was so it probably doesn't need as much water as I'm giving it but I'm sure it'll be fine
7:09
in September you can see it's pushed out some new leaves this tree probably has smaller leaves than a tree growing in the wild
7:15
but they're still pretty big but that's just the way it goes with these but it will pretty much stop going for the year
7:52
And now you can see there's no change in November so it's definitely chilling out now
7:57
I have turned to grow light levels right down so that's to be expected. I could just let it grow up
8:02
went there but I'm happy to let it relax a little. It's done well this year
8:06
The main thing is that it recovered from the repot which it really needed. I'm not really worried about the progress of it
8:11
since it's just sort of a tree that stays kind of small rather than an actual bonsai
8:17
But for now, I'm happy with it. Here it is now. I'll have to start thinking about prune again
8:28
soon as spring approaches. Thanks for watching. See you next time
#Home Improvement