How To Grow An Avocado Plant From Seed

Whether you like to consume them in salads, smoothies, omelettes, guacamole, or sandwiches, avocados can make any dish tastier. But, regardless of the way you want to consume this healthy fruit, the next time you finish eating your avocado, do not throw the seed away. Instead, use it to grow your own avocado plant.

Growing an avocado plant from seed (pit) does not require a lot of effort and care. Plus, it is a wonderfully educational and fun project for children to try.

All you need to grow an avocado from a pit is:

• An avocado pit
• 3 toothpicks
• 1 glass
• A pot
• Potting soil

So, now, let’s see how you can turn an avocado seed into a unique and gorgeous plant. (1)

8 Steps To Grow An Avocado Plant From Seed

Step 1: Remove And Clean The Seed

Take a ripe avocado. You can have a go with a small or big avocado. Cut the avocado open and carefully remove the seed without damaging it. When you get the seed out, it can be a little bit slimy, so wash it or wipe it off all the avocado fruit with a kitchen towel. But, make sure you don’t peel the brown skin off as that is the cover of the seed.

Step 2: Locate Both Ends Of The Pit

Locating the top end and the bottom end of the avocado pit is important. Some seeds are sphere-shaped and others are a little bit oblong. However, all avocado seeds have a pointy end or a ‘top,’ from where the sprout is going to grow, and a flat end or a ‘bottom,’ which the roots are going to come from.

Step 3: Pierce The Seed With Toothpicks

Grab three toothpicks and insert them into the sides on the flat end of the seed. You don’t need to insert them too deeply, just enough so that they are not going to fall out when you place the seed in water. Also, try to insert them in an angle in order to balance the pit more easily on the glass.

Then, take a drinking glass and put the pierced seed in it. Fill the glass with water so it comes about halfway up the bottom end of the seed.

Step 4: Put The Glass Somewhere With Bright Light

Put your glass in a spot where it’s going to receive bright indirect light. Change the water every three days so as to hinder the growth of fungus, bacteria, and mould as well as keep bugs at bay.

Step 5: Wait For The Avocado Pit To Split Open

When the seed begins to split open – that’s the first sign of life. The seed can take a month to two to sprout. And here’s the process that you can expect to happen:

• The upper part of the seed will become dry and form a crack.
• The crack will spread across the bottom of the seed and through this crack, a taproot is going to come out.
• The taproot is going to get bigger and bigger, and eventually, a sprout will begin to appear from the top of the avocado seed.
• Just make sure that the taproot doesn’t dry out by forgetting to submerge it in water since if this happens, your plant is going to die.

Step 6: Once The Plant Is Around 15 cm Tall, Put It In Soil

When the stem reaches this size, cut it back to approximately 8 cm as this will prompt new growth. When the stem gets 15 cm long again, remove the toothpicks from the seed and put it in regular potting soil which is high in humus in a pot that is 25 cm in diameter.

Make sure you don’t bury the seed all the way. You can dig a little dent and gently put the pit in there without twisting it or pushing it down forcefully. (If the root of your avocado pit is bigger, then dig a deeper hole). Ensure the top half of the pit is not covered with soil.

Then carefully push the soil around the seed and water it so that the soil settles. By using water to make the soil settle around the roots, instead of patting it down, you’ll avoid causing any damage to the roots.

Step 7: Water The Avocado Plant

Water your avocado plant frequently and deeply so as to keep the soil moist. And if yellow leaves start appearing, this is a sign that you’ve over-watered the plant. If this is the case, allow it to dry for a couple of days.

Step 8: Pinch Top Leaves Off To Encourage The Plant To Branch Out

When the leaves grow, you can notice a tip with new leaves growing on top of them. So, to prevent your avocado plant from growing really tall, pinch this tip-off. The plant is going to find a way to branch out into a few new branches. This step will help you keep your avocado plant small and bushy. (2)

Wintering

Avocados grow well in warm temperatures. But, if the temperature gets cooler than 24°C, you should bring your avocado plant indoors before the temperature goes down in the autumn and winter.

How To Get Rid Of Bugs

If your avocado tree tends to collect aphids, to get rid of them, just spray your plant with a hose. You can do this in the shower or outside.

When you’ve washed all of the pests off your avocado plant, mix water with one teaspoon of neem oil and a really small amount of dish soap, and spray the plant with the mixture. This will help keep the annoying insects at bay.

Will Your Avocado Tree Bear Fruit?

Well, you’ll need to be extremely patient because it takes some avocado trees 3-4 years to bear fruit and it takes others 15 years or more. And some never bear fruit.

Nevertheless, when your avocado tree begins to bear fruit, do not expect that this fruit will be like the original avocado whose seed you planted. (3)

Conclusion

• Growing an avocado plant from seed at home is an easy process and it doesn’t require a lot of effort.
• You can grow an avocado plant from a pit by following these steps:
• Remove and clean the avocado seed
• Locate both ends of the seed
• Insert three toothpicks in the seed, place it in a glass, and fill the glass with water
• Put the glass in a spot where it’ll be exposed to bright light
• Wait for the avocado seed to split open
• Put the pit in the soil
• Water the avocado pit
• Pinch top leaves off to prevent your avocado plant from growing tall
• Avocados grow in warmer temperatures.
• You can protect your avocado plant from insects by spraying it with a mixture of water, one teaspoon of neem oil, and dish soap.
• It takes years for avocado trees to bear fruit. (4)