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teengardener1888

Starting Persea americana from Seed

teengardener1888
10 years ago

Has anyone had good luck with this. Just made guacamole and have giant seed

Comments (10)

  • pirate_girl
    10 years ago

    If you do a search here (or at C&S, but try here first) on growing Avocado (from seed) you'll find what you seek.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    The idea of you making guacamolé made me smile, as would the thought of anyone making such a yummy treat! How cool is that? This is shameful but I never tasted avocado or guac until I was 16. Now I love them, and don't usually bother to make guac, just eat them right out of the peel with a little salt and hot sauce.

    A friend in OH had one of these that she sprouted from a pit. Over about 20 years, it grew into a pretty, large 6-7 ft. tree by the time I moved down here. I'm sure she'd pruned it periodically to keep it looking so well-shaped and short. Hope that encourages you in a general way!

    It's really weird that you would ask about this right now. I was just outside taking a pic of a sprouted pit I found in the flower bed out front. Whenever I get one of these pits, I toss it outside for whatever critter wants it, seems like something a squirrel would treasure...

    At first I thought it had just happened, but when I got close enough to take the pic, I realized there's a big, woody root in the air first, then it goes down in the ground. This plant shouldn't be hardy here, but we never went below 25 this winter, and it's a sheltered spot very near the porch foundation, so it could have sprouted long before that. I've noticed it recently, but at a glance, thought it was some type of common tree spout. I was going to pull it yesterday, but saw the pit as I was reaching down the stem to grab it at ground level.

    {{gwi:85379}}

    Do you see the root by my finger?

    {{gwi:85380}}

    Wish I knew when this sprouted to tell you more about the conditions that helped it happen. If you feel like trying, you might have good results laying the pit on the ground in a spot that gets a few hours of sun in the morning until about noon.

    I'm dying to pot this up, but we're going on vacation soon, so I'm sure it would be best to leave it here since it might dry out too fast in a pot while we're gone. ...and I have terrible luck potting up seedlings in general. Pull their heads off numerous times and they'll keep growing, but when I pot one pulled up whole, it always dies on me.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    I'm more inclined to try putting these on the surface rather than buried. I dug up an avocado pit yesterday that I'd forgotten about. After finding it, it jogs vague memories of burying it there about a month ago. It looked like it was rotting, don't think it will sprout. I put it back, but just laying on the surface.

    It didn't rain in May here at all except a brief shower on the 2nd or 3rd. The area where I put this last pit gets watered with the hose if something looks wilty, so that may have been too much moisture, or a tap water chemicals issue. If I was trying to sprout these things more purposely, I might research when the fruits are ripe where they grow naturally, and what the weather and soil conditions are like when they would naturally sprout. I think they sprout almost immediately after falling but not totally sure.

    I know there's the toothpick/cup of water method. I've tried that many times, only got a sprout once, but my failure to pay enough attention to most of them could be to blame. The poor sprout didn't survive the low light and soggy soil I would have surely provided at the time, I did that to most plants because I just didn't know any better.

    Have you decided on a plan to try yours?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    The pit I mentioned in my last post has sprouted. It did want out of that pot (and apparently some light, heat, and/or rain.)

    One important thing, I've made sure not to damage the pits with the knife when preparing them to eat. Don't know if that's made a difference or not.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    Here's the other one as of yesterday. Looks happy there, may leave it and excavate the other one as the indoor novelty.

    Anything happening at your end, TG?

    These are Haas, btw, I don't like the big green "Florida avocados."

  • grrr4200
    10 years ago

    i put them flat side down in a pot of dirt. I bury just a bit of it down. Place the pot in a bright location and keep evenly moist. and BAM (for the most part) it sprouts and grows. They love sunlight (well my sunlight WAY up here in upper michigan) and they dont like to get bone dry.

    I've also seen people put tooth picks into them and keep there flat side submerged in water.

  • teengardener1888
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It rotted for some strange reason

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    That kept happening to mine until I stopped cutting the pit with the knife. Keep trying - it's good for you! Sounds like grrr also had success with not burying.

    I put 2 more pits on the ground yesterday. Just laid them there. One was without the fruit. The other one, I realized the skin was pierced as I was about to cut into it, so I just laid that whole, on the ground, kind of smushed down gently to disturb/crack the skin more. Good decision, it was already black inside.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    10 years ago

    It looks like cold didn't kill the little Avocado pictured above (Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 16:29, with camera lens cover.) Just noticed it's still alive. The fatter trunk to the right is crispy, but new growth coming from roots. Dag nabbit, NOW I'm attached!

  • teengardener1888
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I ended up planting it with another plant but it died and when I threw it outside the plant fell apart...I forgot it was there

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