Avocados are typically seen as tropical fruit (or, in the case of some misguided souls, a tropical vegetable) so you might be surprised to learn how easy they are to grow. In fact, all you need is the avocado pit. This article explains how to grow avocado from a pit so you can start your own avocado plant.
This is an extremely simple process and one that will excite DIY enthusiasts, permaculture artists, and anyone who likes to reduce food waste and get the most out of their garden and plants.
Learning How to Grow Avocado From a Pit
The first thing you’ll need to know is that the pit of an avocado is actually its seed. It’s a big seed, sure, but it’s a seed nonetheless. So basically, all you’re doing is learning how to germinate this giant seed so that it can sprout.
This is a pretty easy process which we’ll discuss here. All you need is 3 toothpicks.
Steps for Growing an Avocado
- Take the pit out and clean it. Avoid cutting or cracking it. Wash it clean and scrub any leftover bits of avocado off. A short soak in warm water can help.
- Separate up from down. The bottom of the seed is where the roots sprout from. Avocado pits are often slightly more pointed on the top end and a little bit more flat on the bottom.
- Poke with toothpicks. Grab your 3 toothpicks and pierce them into your avocado pit. Make sure they’re an even distance apart, creating a reverse triangle. If you slightly angle them downwards, your avocado pit will be able to absorb more water later on (which is what you want).
- Set your avocado seed up. The easiest way to do this is to fill a cup with water and set the seed, with the toothpicks, atop the rim. The bottom of the avocado should rest in the water.
- Wait for it to sprout. This is the fun part.
- Plant in soil! Once the seed has sprouted roots and gows to be about six inches tall, you can transplant it into soil. If you want, you can also choose to trim the plant to encourage it to grow stronger.
Once your avocado has been planted in soil, you can treat it like a regular house plant. If it’s warm out, you can leave it outside.
Make sure that you keep the soil moist. Yellow leaves can indicate that you’re watering too much, or that you’re watering too little.
It’s important to remember that avocado trees grow slowly. It’ll probably be a few years before you see any fruit! Some people manage to grow their tree for as much as fifteen years before it starts to produce avocados!
Conclusion
Avocado trees are fun and easy to grow, even if they might not produce fruit for quite a while. All you need is an avocado pit, some toothpicks, and some water!
If you’re interested in conserving food waste, fruit gardening, or other DIY projects then this is the perfect opportunity for you. Next time you think about tossing out that avocado pit, think again!
