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In areas with prevailing winds almost daily, windbreaks will help to increase bee activity and therefore increase fruit set. They will also help to reduce fruit drop during the strong "east winds" which often occur during the fall months.
There has been quite a bit of discussion and research done on the mulching of citrus and avocado trees. Mulching is the practice of applying to the soil surface any material such as paper, plastic, rocks, chipped yardwaste, etc. that will affect the soil beneficially.
Mulch is the word used to describe a layer of material, such as straw, grass clippings, leavers or paper, which has been spread over the garden soil. Mulch is most often used to reduce weed growth and to keep the soil moist.
There has been considerable talk lately of recycling yard prunings and clippings as mulches and composts. Another source of recyclable materials is the ash from the fireplace or barbecue. At one time wood ashes were a chief source of potassium and much used in farming and horticulture.
Since Greek and Roman times, the appearance of a plant has been used to help identify plant health. The plant speaks through distress signals. The message may be that there is simply too little or too much water.
So you took your leaf analysis in mid- August or are having it done now in October, and you are now planning your fertility program for the year ahead. The sampled leaves were the most recently expanded, and matured, healthy, terminal leaves from the spring flush and from non-fruiting branches.
By this time of year avocado growers should have finished taking their annual leaf samples for a tissue analysis. The leaves would have been from fully-expanded, terminal spring flush, on branches without fruit. The sampling should have occurred mid-August to mid-October.
