someone gave me 2 avacado trees...help, please!!

I have never seen an avacado tree growing down in south texas in zone 9....could anyone tell me what the best chance of keeping them alive is.....example...what side of the house do I plant them on, etc...
thanks agai
gail

I'd plant them on the south side of the house. Do you know what type of avocados they are? This has a bearing on how hardy your avocados will be.
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/avocado.htm

Here's one way to tell especially if the trees were grown from seed
http://ucavo.ucr.edu/avocadowebsite%20folder/avocadowebsite/General/ThreeGroups.html

The trees are probably a Hass since it accounts for 80% of the avocados sold. I found a neat article on the Hass avocado. You might be interested in reading about its history.
http://www.avocado.org/about/mother_tree.php

I think their hardiness is going to be a bit iffy in your area, they're usually listed as hardy to 9a but I'm not sure if that's true or not. I've heard of people up here having trouble with them even in 9b sometimes--they can grow but you need to protect them until they're established. If you can get them to the point where they're pretty big and well-established then they'll probably be fine but you may need to be extra careful with them up until that point.

I should have done my homework first.....I talked to the owner of the place who grows them (he says he is the largest grower of avocado trees in Texas) He is located near Alice, texas...anyway, a friend in Sunday school gave them to me and my job was to find out how to grow them.
The owner said they will take full sun....they love water but they don't like to stand in water. They will get to 40 to 60 feet high....they are grown for south Texas and are evergreen. So, here is the plan. I am going to plant one on the east side of the house and one on the west side. Because i don't have loamy sandy soil, I am using a soil conditioner that I use on Fig trees, etc. Then I need to stake the trees on 3 sides. Then I need to put a piece of pvc pipe in the ground to water them as the water tends to sit on the top of this clay soil.
That for all your help, but I think I am good to go!!!! He told me to call him back if I had any questions....I will plant them 4" deeper than the soil line and only feed them pure Nitrogen he said.
gail

Why 4" deeper? The usual recommendation is to plant no deeper than the soil line. I found an article about planting avocados. It's meant for the orchardist but the same basic principles apply.
http://ceventura.ucdavis.edu/ben/avo_handbook/horticulture/plant_avo.htm

bettydee, i don't know why he said to plant them deeper except they are planted in one gallon containers and are about 4 feet tall already......really outgrowing their one gallon containers....the man who gave me two has his own to plant and he said the man told him the same thing.....to plant much deeper than the soil line......I gotta trust the grower as he has thousands of them growing.....
thanks
gail

I hate to question someone who grows these for a living, but I don't think you can possibly harm the tree by planting it at the normal depth, but you could hurt it by planting it too deep. So I'd err on the side of caution and plant it to the same depth that it is in the container. I'm also not sure about his advice to only give it nitrogen, that is something I have never heard. Ferts made for citrus are often used for avocados too, here's an example Dr. Earth makes an organic fertilizer for fruit trees including citrus & avocado, it's 7-4-2 (click on the thumbnail in the bottom left corner to see the details)
http://drearth.net/products/blended.php
They also only love water if you have good drainage--if you have clay you'll want to be careful.

thanks for everyone's help.....still researching.......

Never bury the root flare on any tree, or so I am told.

can you tell me what the root flare is???? thanks

The root flare is the flared or swollen, portion of the trunk, at the base, which transitions into the roots. If the trunk of the tree, after planting, goes straight into the ground like a telephone pole, then the root flare has been buried. Not good.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=484

http://www.fotitreeservice.com/treeservices/rootcollar.htm

http://www.mortonarb.org/research/rootpdf/AvoidingExcessiveSoilRootSystemTrees.pdf

You get the idea.

thanks