Garden Update: Growing Avocados from Avocados

A portrait before I gave him a haircut and cut him down by half.

I think everyone has memories of some sort, of mom sticking toothpicks into an avocado pit and putting it in a cup of water.  But almost no one has memories of it actually turning into a tree--or at least, I don't.

You can google and find lists of various items you can grow by seeds, roots, or stumps.  Celery and green onions are other surefire winners, though I have had neither the luck or patience to get either of those to do much more than sprout a few inches.

Avocados, on the other hand...

If you do a quick google search, you can get tips for how to grow an avocado from a pit.  Several months ago, my mom gave me an avocado from her uncle's friend's yard.  Whatever the variety, it was creamy, not bruised, and so flavorful I didn't even need salt!  Considering we live in California, it's disgraceful to see the quality (or lack thereof) of the avocados in the grocery store.  "Okay, I think this one is ripe" = cut it open when you get home to find a bruised and grey inside.  Eat it anyway and weep.  "Okay, this one is maybe close but still firm" = wait two weeks for it to ripen in a paper bag, finally give up and cut open the rock-hard inedible avocado.  Weep.

Well, I was fed up with spending nearly $2 each on crappy avocados!  My current solution is to use Trader Joe's guacamole, which is not only super-affordable and tasty, but as close as you will get to fresh mashed up avocados.  It's great on salads.

Meanwhile, I watch my avocado pits grow.

I spent around $30 for an avocado tree (more like, BRANCH).  Maybe I needed to buy two, as common wisdom holds that you need two avocados, a male and female (they will change genders based on need).  The four leaves that were on it fell off, and several baby leaves sprouted, which have seemed to die this winter.  Here's hoping they revive themselves come spring.

So, using the tips I found on the good ol' Interwebs, I stuck three toothpicks in the lovely homegrown avocado pit from my mom.  I put it in a small glass jar and waited.  Roots sprouted.  Then more.  Before I knew it, a little baby sprout had also sprouted, and the roots were running out of room in the jar.  I increased the jar's size, as you need to wait for the sprout to reach 12 inches.  A few more weeks, and the "sprout" was not only 12 inches, but had a few very pretty little leaves on it.  Now we chop it in half.

This part hurts, after you painstakingly watched the pit grow.  But, this is necessary to put energy into growing a stronger plant, and to make the base of the avocado nice and robust.  The time it takes for the little six-inch branch to re-grow to 12 inches doesn't take long, especially now that it has all those lovely roots.

Once it gets to 12 inches again, take it out of the water jar (I didn't feel the need to ever feed it in the water jar; I feel it gets most of the nutrients from the pit).  Gently place it in a pot with dirt in it (make a nice pit for the pit and roots).  Gently place the roots in the pot, taking care to leave them in tact.  Make sure the top little point of the pit is exposed (not sure why, it's just something they said online to do).  Water to saturate/moisten the soil and place in a sunny, mild location.

The pit above is the SECOND pit I am growing.  The first one is already outside in a pot with dirt in it.  It is doing great still, growing sets of leaves.  We will see what happens this summer, which is prime growing time for most plants and trees.  The picture I took above was just minutes before I cut him back down to six inches.  And now we wait.

To choose a pit, make sure the avocado you had was tasty and robust (no blemishes, healthy skin) (haha, sounds funny).  To me, that sort of ensures that the seed will be healthy and grow.

Watch this space--hopefully in a year or two, I will have my first batch of homegrown guacamole to share (virtually) with you.