The next time you eat an avocado or use it as an ingredient in cooking, save the seeds. Growing your own avocado tree is so easy and fun. Anyone can do it, good for planting in the garden, indoors, and great for activities at school or at home too!
1. Sowing in Water
1. Take avocado seeds.
Slice the avocado slowly, so as not to injure the seed in the center of the fruit. You can do this by making a 2-inch (1.25 cm) deep slice that moves around the fruit, as if you were trying to slice an avocado longitudinally. After that, turn by hand each half of the fruit in different directions to open it.
1. To avoid wasting the pulp, use it to make a delicious snack called guacamole.
2. Clean the seeds.
Gently wash the avocado seeds to remove all the flesh. Use warm water and your hands, don’t use soap. Be careful not to peel off the light brown seed coat, as this will damage the seeds and possibly prevent them from growing.
3. Put a toothpick on the seed.
Hold the avocado seed with the pointy side up and place four toothpicks in the center. Toothpicks are inserted as deep as approximately 5 mm from the side with the same distance. This is done so that later the seeds can float balanced on the top of the container, but do not go all the way into the container.
4. Fill a glass or small jar with water.
Pour the water into a small, slender container (a glass is recommended) until it is full. The lip of the container should be wide enough to allow the avocado seeds to fit in easily, but not too wide so that a toothpick can hold them floating on the inside of the container.
5. Place the avocado seed (with the toothpick attached) on the rim of the container.
The toothpick should rest on the rim of the container so that the seeds are only halfway submerged in the water. Make sure that the sharp end is facing up and the blunt end is submerged in the water. If it’s upside down, your avocado won’t grow.
6. Wait for the seeds to germinate.
Place the container of avocado seeds in a comfortable, undisturbed location – near a window or a place with enough light for roots to grow and sprout.
7. Change the water every 1-2 days.
Do this to ensure that contaminants (eg moss, bacteria, fermentation, etc.) do not hinder the avocado seeding process. Also make sure that the bottom of the avocado seed is always damp and submerged in water.
8. Wait patiently for the roots to grow.
Over the next 2-3 weeks, the light brown outer layer of the seeds will dry out and begin to wrinkle, and eventually peel. Not long after, the seeds will start to split at the bottom and top. After 3-4 weeks, a taproot will emerge from the underside of the seed.
9. Keep adding water if necessary.
Take care not to hit or injure the taproot. Give the avocado seeds time for the taproot to develop properly. Soon, at the top of the seed will appear leaf buds which immediately open and grow into stems and leaves.
2. Planting an Avocado Tree
1. Choose a location.
Avocado trees really need an ideal climate and growing environment. Often avocado trees have to be planted in a pot and can be moved around to suit changing weather. You can plant an avocado tree outside only if the temperature will never drop below 10 degrees Celsius all year round.
2. Prepare the soil for planting.
Avocado trees can be grown in soils with almost any pH level, as long as they are low in salt and have good drainage. This soil does not need to be fertilized much until the avocado tree is about a year old. Use regular soil for potted plants and add rocks to the bottom of the pot to help drain excess water. After one year, apply a 10-10-10 fertilizer twice a year to help the tree grow.
3. Prepare the pot.
Use a 20-25 cm diameter clay pot filled with soil up to 2 cm from the rim of the pot. A mixture of 50 percent soil and 50 percent coconut husk is best. Level and compact the soil, adding if necessary. Once the soil is ready, make a narrow hole deep enough to hold the avocado seed and its roots.
4. Prepare the seeds.
When the roots are strong enough and the top end of the stem is able to regrow leaves (after at least one pruning), your little avocado tree can be planted in the ground. Remove the germinated seeds from the container of water, and carefully remove each toothpick.
5. Plant avocado seeds.
Carefully plant the avocado seeds, leaving the top half of the seeds above the soil surface. This is to ensure that the newly sprouted stems don’t rot underground. Gently compact the soil around the seeds.
6. Take care that the tree does not run out of water.
Water the tree daily or just enough to keep the soil moist. Avoid over-watering until the soil turns to mud. If the tips of the leaves turn brown, your tree is dehydrated, and if the tips of the leaves turn yellow, your tree is overwatered and should be left to dry for a day or two.
7. Take care of your avocado tree.
Continue to care for your avocado tree regularly, and in a few years you will have an attractive tree that does not require much maintenance. Your family and friends will be impressed to learn that you grew and raised your own tree from an avocado seed, leftover from your guacamole recipe.
3. Planting Directly in Soil
Some farmers argue that sowing avocado seeds in water runs the risk of producing tall, slender trees but not producing fruit. Therefore, it is better to plant avocado seeds directly in the ground without soaking them first.
1. Choose good quality avocados.
Separate the flesh of the fruit from the seeds. The easiest way is to cut it crosswise in a circle.
2. Rotate the seeds to remove them.
Dig with a knife, then turn, and the seeds will come out.
3. Look for the sharp end of the seed.
This is the top end.
4. Choose a planting location.
See the method above for suggestions on where to plant. Clean the grass and plants that are there, to prepare for planting.
1. If possible, plant two trees, as these plants love to have friends.
5. Place the blunt side on the ground.
Step the avocado seeds in, cover with soil, water a little and leave.
6. Follow the planting instructions above.
Fertilize once you see plants emerging above the ground. Do not apply fertilizer early because the root tissue will fail to form properly. In 3 to 4 years, wait for it to bear fruit.
7. Harvest the fruit when the avocado looks big and full.
An avocado will not ripen the tree. Pick and put in a sack to cook. The fruit is ready to be consumed once it becomes soft.
Tips
1. Although ancient thought assumed that the chances of success to get an avocado tree that could bear fruit were only one in 1,000 attempts to grow it from seed, or that even a successful experiment would have to wait 7 years before producing the first fruit, which is not necessarily edible, the reality is that actually shows the opposite. One avocado variety that grows quickly from seed and produces good fruit is the black-skinned avocado from Sabinas-Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The skin is smooth, very thin, and can be eaten with the flesh. The skin of the fruit contains high nutritional value.
2. Sabinas-Hidalgo is located about 129 km south of the twin cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, which are opposite each other on the banks of the Rio Grande River. For years, Texans have crossed into Mexico to buy cheap Sabinas avocados (still relatively cheap today). On returning to Texas, the fruit was inspected, chopped and the seeds removed. However some seeds were managed to be smuggled into Laredo and planted, so today many Sabinas avocado trees are growing and bearing fruit in Laredo, Texas, where the soil happens to be suitable. These trees are best planted to the east of the building as the sun in Laredo can damage them, especially in late summer. Sabinas avocados are easy to breed. The seeds are very fertile, and the flesh is soft, and more fibrous than the standard Haas variety found in most vegetable stores in Texas. The leaves are wide and large. It grows fast and vigorous and appears to be immune to disease and pests.
3. Sabinas avocados also exhibit a degree of delicacy of their own when slightly heated. Because it produces its own oil (which is 100% cholesterol-free), it can be sliced and the slices heated on a cast-iron grill without the addition of oil or butter. Let it take a while to get hot. Tomato slices can be heated on the same grill. After a few minutes, place the tomatoes on top of the avocado, then cover with the bottom of the burger bun and flip over with a spatula. Allow a few minutes for the bread to heat up. Remove and top with whatever you’d like (lettuce, salsa, onions, etc.), then cover with the top of the burger bun (preheated on the same grill), and you’ll be in for a surprise. There is a richer and more pronounced taste from a heated avocado, compared to one that is not. Avocados are full of iron, protein and other nutrients, making them one of nature’s perfect foods. Although high in fat, it contains no cholesterol.
4. Be patient. Just when you thought it was impossible for it to grow, it suddenly looked like a stick stuck in the ground. Do not pull! That’s your seed growing! Sometimes it will grow 15 to 20 cm before the leaves begin to appear.
5. Avocado with seeds should not be imported into the United States from some areas, caused by agricultural pests including several types of avocado seed beetle (Conotrachelus aguacate, Conotrachelus perseae, Heilipus lauri, Zygopinae spp.) and Stenoma catenifer, Avocado Seed Moth. As the name implies, the larvae of these insects develop inside the avocado seed. For more information, contact the Directorate of Horticultural Protection or the nearest Agricultural Quarantine Center. Here is the main USDA APHIS website http://www.aphis.usda.gov/
6. It is still questionable whether it takes two trees to fertilize each other. This is not really an important issue. In some varieties, the avocado tree has both male and female flowers, and can self-fertilize. You can also transplant a tree that is actively bearing fruit onto another tree that you have planted yourself (grafting is a process that should be described separately).
7. In winter or in cooler areas, it is advisable to transplant a small avocado tree to the ground in a medium-sized flowerpot rather than transplanting it directly into the ground. Place the tree in a sunny window and keep the soil moist but not over-watering.
Warning
1. Avocado trees that are planted will grow very tall, unlike the transplanted trees. The branches of an avocado tree are very fragile and cannot support weight, so don’t hang anything, such as a sleeping bag, on the branch. That would break him.
2. Until the tree can grow well in the pot, do not move it to the ground yet. A strong root network and loose soil are ideal conditions required for direct planting into the soil.
3. Insufficient light and inadequate water supply can also produce weak trunks and branches, ultimately causing the tree to fall under its own weight.
4. Cold weather (below 10ºC) can also cause shock to your avocado plant. Keep away from cold drafts, cold drafty doors, and cold windows. If your plant is grown in a pot, keep it indoors until it gets warmer. For young avocado trees planted in the ground or in pots, protect them by covering them with a thick sheath or plastic during cold weather, at least until the weather warms up. Avocado trees that have grown large can withstand cold and near-freezing temperatures. If in doubt, it is better to cover your tree from the cold.
5. The trunk and branches are long and thin, making the tree’s resistance weak. Forgetting to prune can cause stems and branches to become long and thin. Pruning makes the tree trunk thicken and grow stronger.
6. Too often or too much pruning can stunt the tree or stop leaf growth. After the first pruning, trim only the tip of each branch and stem. For branches, pruning makes the branches thicker and the leaves thicker and stronger.
7. Not changing or adding water when needed for avocado seeds that are sprouting means allowing the presence of contaminants in the water and roots. Moss, root rot, mold, and fermenting water can poison the plant immediately. Keep the water fresh and always in the right amount.
8. It may be difficult to expect an avocado tree grown from the seeds of an avocado sold in stores to produce fruit. Even though store-bought avocados are not genetically engineered, certain conditions are necessary for them to bear fruit, so don’t expect them.
9. Allowing the bottom of the avocado seed to dry will disrupt the seeding process, or even fail completely.