A picture would be nice......that would assist in making the response more meaningful.

Harry

Maybe I'm not too bright, but explain how the roots wouldn't have just grown into the surrounding soil. Unless the soil was very unaccommodating like hard clay or limestone? Or had the tree been in the pot too long and become rootbound?

My russell did the same thing. They grow slow as a snail for the first few years.

Jeff

Ok here is the pic. Not the best quality since it was early am and lighting wasn't the best (sorry).
I have fertilized it with Alaska fish/osmocote/some other HD for avocado and citrus but not regular schedule just every 2-3-4 months one kind at a time.
The reasoning behind the hole theory is the soil in south Fl (not sure)
Anyway thanks for your replies and hopefully is what Jeff said and not a slow death!

In some parts of S FL there is less than a few inches of soil before it hits rock. In the Homestead/Redlands area where Pine Island is, they have to use a rock auger to drill into the rock in order to plant a tree so that is probably what the person was referring to as your hole being to small. In the rest of S FL with some sort of soil other than rock the size of the hole shouldn't really matter.

Your tree looks fine. Leave it alone. Since it is young, maybe you should try fertilizing it more frequently on a schedule to get more growth.

Good advice from Murahilin......my vote is leave it alone. Sometimes avocados just stall in growth before taking off. The tree looks very healthy. A little more time and you'll have a large tree.

Harry

That's a very healthy looking russell. It's putting out new growth and looking exactly the way it should.

Jeff

Thanks for the feedback. Leave alone it is!
I'll fertilize better and update on Russy in the next year or two :)
Thanks!