Those stems look black. My experience is that once that happens on a young plant, it's done for.

It's difficult to put in new trees in the summer.in southern California. Give this one some time to see if it recovers, and if not, confine new planting to the fall.

Should I put gypsum down?

Gypsum can benefit the structure of clay soil. It is a long term improvement, but long term isn't the immediate solution for a baby Avocado tree that got hammered by a heat wave.

Temporary shade like a patio umbrella or a shelter of shade cloth is a good idea for little avocado trees for the first summer, when they are very vulnerable to heat waves. If it dies and you replant in fall, plan on shading the new one next summer. Long term, keep in mind that Avocado trees want to live with a mulch of their own fallen leaves--it helps keep their fiberous and brittle root system cool.

Gypsum helps only if the problem is excessive sodium in the soil.

Only a professional soil test can tell you that.

People do not understand the importance of shading young 5 gallon trees until they grow larger. It is very important!

You guys!! Ahhh!! I'm so thrilled. I went out and saw this today:

Here's another:

That being said, since the leaves are sprouting way down there at the bottom and nowhere else, does that mean the rest of the tree above is dead? Should I prune? Leave it all be and see what happens? I will continue watering as before and keep an eye, but definitely want to do what's best to give this lady a chance.

I ended up buying another Holiday at the nursery as they had a great group in stock and I thought it would salve the wound for this one if it RIP'd. New one will remain on the patio until the danger of heat is well over. The soil in the new one takes a very long time to dry out. I put in cactus potting soil mixed with some native soil and the soil the tree came with, so I would think that would be good enough drainage. Any pointers there are welcome too! Thanks everyone!

Those green shoots are below the graft. They are just root stock and not the Holiday variety.

Nooo! I don't really know what that means, but I'm guessing it means I don't have a Lazarus Holiday tree : (

The graft is where you see a bump on the trunk. Anything below the graft is from rootstock, which is a hardy, disease resistant variety. The part that is Holiday is above the graft.

What you bought is dead. Remove that ASAP And get another named tree of your favorite variety. I tell you the truth- you will waste years on what is possibly a tree that will never bear or taste bad or..not what you want in size and shape.

Take it out,plunk in the nice new tree and in 4 or 5 years you will be picking fruit!

Another thing you can do is let the new sprout(s) grow and after a few years learn how to graft and graft a favorite variety(s) on. Since you're local to me, I can tell you that there are California Rare Fruit Grower meetings each month where you can learn to graft or even find someone to do it for you.

If you don't have room in your yard for two avocado trees, you could dig this one up and put it back into a 5 gallon container. If you do that keep it in a fairly shady cool spot until it's growing well, and keep the sun from hitting the container and baking the roots(wrap something white or reflective around the container).

I have a Fuerte avocado that I planted a month ago. I kept it in it's container for a year so it was a lot stronger and healthier looking than the one I see in your first picture. I planted it in a spot where a tree would shade it from the strong afternoon sun, and when I heard about the first heat wave coming I put shade cloth over it. I also wrapped the trunk with an extra layer of shade cloth (I should have also painted it white but haven't done this yet). And I've been diligent about watering it, almost every day when the weather is real hot. And since I've read that Avocado trees like humidity, I try to spray or mist the leaves every day when it's hot. The other thing I'm going to do it put 4 inches of mulch around it's base (but not touching the trunk) to keep the it's roots as cool as possible. Avocado trees have shallow roots and the mulch can help keep them happy and healthy. So far my avocado is looking pretty good. I don't like to water it every day, but with this heat I've decided to take the risk of root rot...and if the heat lets up I start skipping days to let the soil dry out a bit.

Avocado trees can be difficult to get established. It takes some time for them to develop a wide root system that can supply the plant with enough water to avoid getting dried out in the sun and heat.

It's important to keep the ground moist and consistently watered. Small plants may greatly benefit from partial shading during the Summer. Wind protection also reduces the water stress, since less dry air passing by means less evaporation from the leaves. Large avocados are much less maintenance intensive, but still require occasional deep waterings.

In keeping the ground moist all the time in hot weather, do you have to worry about root rot?

If you replace the tree, wait until fall or next spring. We have more hot weather ahead.