An avocado (Persea Americana) is a huge, brilliant green fruit with leathery, black skin. They are also known as alligator pears or butter fruit. The produce aisle’s favorite fruit is the avocado. They are a required ingredient in guacamole dips. And they appear in a variety of foods, including smoothies, brownies, and even salads and wraps.
If you’re one of the many people who enjoy the taste of avocado, you may wonder if it’s possible to grow your own tree from a seed. The good news is that it is! With patience and proper care, you can successfully grow an avocado tree from a seed in your home. Here’s how you get started:
Prepare the avocado seed
Remove the avocado pit with care. Rinse the seed gently to eliminate any last bits of green flesh. Consider soaking the seed for 10 minutes to loosen the flesh if pieces of fruit stick to it. Avoid scrubbing the dark seed coating too vigorously.
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Insert toothpicks in the seed
Find out which end goes up by looking at the seed. The stem will protrude from this end. From the bottom of the seed, roots emerge. While the bottom is flatter, the top end is significantly more pointed. You can tell the top and bottom from how the seeds are distributed inside the fruit.
The fruit’s top is close to the fruit’s stem end. Place three to four toothpicks along the seed’s outer edges once you’ve resolved the top vs. bottom dilemma. Your seed will be kept in suspension in a glass of water by these toothpicks. Put them in firmly at a slight downward angle.
Submerge the seed’s bottom half with water
Maintaining moisture at the seed’s bottom is key to encouraging an avocado seed to sprout. To do this, place the seed in the cap of a cup or jar with a narrow mouth. To hold the seed in place at the top of the container, use the toothpicks as a scaffold. Water should be added until the bottom half of the seed is submerged. Then, add water as necessary to refill the reservoir because the seed’s bottom has to be moist in order to develop roots.
Wait for the sprout
Put your seed in a warm, well-lit area that is out of direct sunlight. Every week or whenever the water starts to become hazy, change it. The top of the seed dries up, the outer brown layer comes off, and the pit breaks open from top to bottom before the seed begins to sprout.
A tiny root eventually appears at the bottom of the pit. A sprout eventually emerges from the top of the pit after the root has grown for some time. Do not allow the water level to fall once the root has formed. For roots to survive, they must be immersed.
Plant the seedling
Cut the avocado stem back to 3 inches when it reaches a height of 6 to 7 inches. The plant subsequently branches and grows bushy as a result. The root will become thicker as fresh leaves develop. Plant the seed in a 10-inch-wide container with potting soil when the plant is 6 inches tall once again. The top half of the seed should protrude from the dirt; bury the bottom half of the seed.
Take care of the seedling while it’s growing
Put your avocado plant in a sunny window. Cut stems back to 6 inches when they reach a height of 12 inches to encourage branching. Each time a stem grows another 6 inches, repeat this pruning procedure. In order to keep the soil moist, water regularly enough. Avoid letting your avocado dry out to the point where the leaves wilt. Move the plant outside during the summer for better lighting. Then, before the autumn nights become colder than 45 degrees Fahrenheit, bring it inside.
How long does it take to grow avocado?
Growing an avocado tree can take anywhere from three to eight years before it produces fruit, according to the University of California.
The length of time it takes for an avocado tree to mature and produce fruit depends on the type of avocado and the climate. In general, it takes about three to five years for a ‘Bacon’ avocado tree to produce fruit, while it can take up to eight years for a ‘Fuerte‘ avocado tree.
Avocados are tropical fruit, so they need warm weather and plenty of sunlight to grow well. If you live in an area with a cool climate, you can still grow an avocado tree, but it will take longer for the tree to mature and produce fruit.
How often to water avocado plant?
To ensure a healthy avocado plant, water it deeply once or twice a week. Between waterings, let the top inch of the soil dry up. During hot weather, you may need to water your avocado plant daily. If the leaves of your avocado plant start to turn yellow, that’s a sign that it’s not getting enough water.
