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wile_e_coyote

Avocado finally sprouting, now what?

wile_e_coyote
15 years ago

I have been trying to sprout an avocado pit for months and finally it grew roots and has shoots coming out the top! It was weird in that it seemed to happen overnight. I swear I looked at that thing a week ago and saw nothing and thought about giving up and tossing it out.

I read some info a while back on where to go from there but now I can't find it. I thought it was in this forum but I couldn't find a specific thread on growing avocados from pits so maybe it was just some info in a post or it was elsewhere on GW? Should I just stick it in a pot with some soil or do I need to do anything special? I know it will take a while for it to be a tree and also that it may not produce fruit. It was just an experiment but not that I have life I want to see how long I can keep it alive.

By the way, it was one of those "Slimcados". Any idea if it could actually produce fruit eventually?

Comments (7)

  • Melissa Houser
    15 years ago

    wile, I have no idea about whether it will produce fruit, but I must have read the same thread you did! I have two avocado pits that I'm trying to sprout and they aren't doing much of anything. Your post gives me hope that maybe I'll get something later!

    IIRC, that thread said to plant the seed once it sprouts in a fairly small container and let it grow for at least a year. After that, move it into a larger container and then let it grow until you feel it's ready to be planted outside, if ever. At least, that's what I wrote down in my notebook...I'm quite certain I paraphrased what I read.

    None of my online reading has held out a lot of hope that a grown from seed avocado will produce fruit, but I seem to remember that it does happen sometimes. (Anyone else old enough to remember the comedienne who used to say "It could happen!" ? - Judy Tenuta or something like that)

    Good luck with your avocado growing!

  • atreelady
    15 years ago

    Well I have no answers to your questions, but I did root an avocado seed last fall by putting it in a pot with dirt. It got 2 trunks and is about 2' tall now. Looks nice and healthy. Will it get fruit? I don't know. I didn't pay any attention to how long it took to root but I think it was quite a while. And I had others that never rooted.

  • wile_e_coyote
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks. I think my attempting to sprout the avocado predates my joining this forum but I thought I had read some stuff here and bookmarked it for later use if mine ever sprouted but I can't find a bookmark.

    I had my pit in a glass container with those glass 1/2 marbles and water. I made an indentation in the marbles and set the pit in the indentation so the water just touched the bottom. I tried to get the water level right but I know it dried out sometimes. Recently I tried scoring the bottom of the pit a little and maybe that was what finally got it going?

    I didn't really expect to get fruit, I figured if I wanted a producing avocado tree I'd buy one closer to maturity, I just wanted to see if I could grow one. Hopefully it will survive the next step.

  • baseballfan2
    15 years ago

    To be sure you will get fruit, you will have to graft it. I graft avocados, and I know if you can get someone to graft it, you can have a lot of varieties on the same tree. You can have avocados from May to March.

  • zoozue
    15 years ago

    All of my avocados have born fruit from seed grown plants. The problem is the length of time you must wait can be as long as seven years. I have never grafted nor purchased grafted plants. Many people are unsuccessful rooting from seed, because they do not thoroughly change the water on the seed while they are rooting it.

    Change the water often and generally they sprout quite nicely. My current (3) trees are now four years old. They were the last seeds off my mother tree from south Florida who blew over during hurricane Francis. I have been told the tree did not completely die and re-rooted itself and is still growing.

    My old tree came from seed and started producing in year seven, a very small crop. After that I couldn't give away enough fruit and the squirrels even took many for themselves. That tree was from the parent tree my uncle grew from seed in south Florida some thirty years ago. So seed grown trees will fruit. Remember their love for copper. I not only fertilize but drive copper nails into the ground as well as when their older small copper tacks into the tree itself.

    I will post current pics of my trees when I get them uploaded.

  • zoozue
    15 years ago

    Here are some pictures from new babies to old parent tree obliterated by hurricanes. All grown from seed.

    Old parent tree stump after second hurricane of 2004, Jeanne.

  • bluesky7
    15 years ago

    That's funny! Your experience with starting avocados from seed was similar to mine. I had each of two pits in an 8 inch plastic pot with some regular yard soil in them. I watered now and then and didn't really take special care of them. Nothing happened for a couple months and I was ready to toss them, as you said. I even dug the seeds out of the pots to examine them and found some little roots trying to form. I stuck them back in the soil and kept them watered. Lo and behold, within the next week they were putting out shoots and roots and behaving like they wanted to live. I kept them watered and in partial sun and they started growing much faster. Now they are beautiful green plants about 18 inches tall. I put one in the ground with some good soil and small amount of fertilizer, also anchoring with two stakes. The other one is still in the pot. I'd like to give it to someone who wants it because one of these guys will be enough once it gets large. Keep me posted on how yours is doing. Thanks. Sheri