Today I learned how to properly sprout avocado pits. Turns out, the reason I've never had success is because I've never planted them correctly. For starters, I originally gravitated towards the popular toothpick and water method. Anyone who thinks stabbing a seed that they intend to grow is a good idea, obviously hasn't though much about what they are really doing. Some seeds do like to be roughed up a bit, generally due to really thick seed coats, but for the most part it is not good practice to damage seeds you intend to grow. When I finally decided to try planting them in dirt, it didn't work out because I planted the seed upside down, the fattest part up.
So why do I want to grow avocados? Considering I'm not a huge fan of them, I really only like them in the guacamole recipe I mentioned earlier, it does seem a little strange. . Realistically speaking, due to their health benefits I wish I liked them more. Perhaps having my own tree to give me fresh, ripe avocados will be what I need to start to love eating the fruit. It's also another gardening adventure for me, which is enough to get me interested. This same reasoning is why I want to grow papaya, a fast growing fruit I'm not really a fan of.
They've got a whole list of health benefits, often touted as a super food. They're chock full of vitamins and minerals including: vitamin K, Folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin B5, Potassium, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin E. One avocado is rumored to have 2 grams of protein and a good amount of healthy fats, making this a really healthy choice for the vegetarian or vegan. Apparently they contain more potassium than bananas, which I didn't know until today. The health benefits include, but are not limited to: lots of fiber, the fat helps you absorb nutrients from food better, loaded with eye protective antibiotics, prevents cancer, helps with arthritis, helps with heart disease and high cholesterol, and can even help you lose weight.
Anyone can grow an avocado tree with a little know how. If you live in a cold climate, keep it to a large pot and move it indoors during the winter. The tree will cap out at a maximum of 7 feet high, and honestly produces a decent amount of fruit even at that size. From my understanding, a small avocado tree should be able to provide for a regular sized family with regular avocado consumption. For the lucky people with the year long growing season like myself, full grown trees can get to be 20-30 feet tall. They're self pollinating trees, meaning you only need one for fruit. With the proper growing conditions, after five years you'll have a tree producing fruit.
Take care when cutting avocados to keep the seed undamaged. The best way to cut an avocado is to split it in half, using the pit as a pivot point. The idea is to not press too hard during this process for best sprouting results. Many like to remove the pit by slamming the edge of the knife into it, which grabs the nut making it easy to pull away from the flesh. This isn't a good idea if you intend on growing it, just use a spoon and scoop it out, pulling off any flesh to add to whatever you're using the avocado for.
Rinse them really well and remove the skin, using your fingers. The best part to start is where the knife hit the pit, as the skin is already severed. It'll come off in many pieces, but it should come off fairly easily.
Get your planting containers ready. I saw lots of different ways of doing this. You can plant many pits into a bigger container, or just one into a smaller. It all depends on what you have on hand.
I put two in one container, and one in the other. One of my four pits from making guacamole was already rotting, so I didn't bother trying to plant it. Put the fat side down, as that's the bottom of the seed. My mistake before was planting this part up, which probably confused the plant and made it so it didn't sprout.
Push the seeds in until they are halfway submerged and water them in. Keep the soil moist, but don't over water or you risk causing them to rot. Just add water when you notice the soil is dry. This process can take up to two months before the seed finally starts to split, sending out a green shoot out of the top a few days later.
It'll be a few months before I'll see anything from these pits. The sources I found online explaining how to do this said that this method, with peeling the seeds and planting them fat side down into soil is the most effective way to get a tree started. Inserting toothpicks and using water doesn't work very well, as you damage the seed before it has a chance to get started growing. As I found, it does matter which end is pointed down, make sure it's the fat end. I'll share more on these pits as things change with them. With any luck, I'll have three avocado trees within the next 3 months! All good things come with lots of time, labor and love.
All photos in the post are original and mine, save for the first one. I didn't have an avocado tree so I found this one on google, sourced from Inhabitat