Grow Your Own Avocado Tree
I've always wanted an avocado tree! But since I live in a region that doesn't have warm winters, they can't survive outside all year round. So, I've decided why not try to grow my own from pits I've saved from all the avocados my family eats. Not sure if they'll work, but hey never hurts to try it. I know they take a long time to grow and fruit so it may be a year or more before I actually get to taste one of my own but it should be fun and eventually when you do get to reap the benefits of your avocado tree, you'll know where your food came from, it won't cost you much-just a little TLC and start-up supplies. Plus if you have little kids like me, it'll be a fun activity for them to watch and enjoy as well. So, this is my first experience as well with growing my own avocado tree but I have grown other vegetables and plants from seeds I've saved, so this will be new and exciting for me too!
So here's what you'll need to do...
Buy one or two organic avocado them in half and eat the fruit and then save your pits. Rinse them off and dry them with a paper towel. Poke three toothpicks into the top upper half of the pit and then get a small jar or container and fill it with water. Submerge your avocado pit 1 inch into the jar so that the toothpicks balance the pit half in the water and half out. Put them somewhere where they'll get indirect sunlight and then wait. Within a couple of weeks you should see a crack in the pit and a white root grown down into the jar. Keep an eye on your water level so that it doesn't go with out water. You may have to transplant your pit to a bigger jar as the root grows. After a while a shoot will appear at the top of the pit and will begin to grow. Once the shoot gets to be an inch or two high you can transplant your pit into a pot of organic soil or compost. Just remember avocado trees needs warm controlled temperatures, so your plant won't do well outside in the mid-atlantic region until middle of May and probably needs to come back inside by October-depending how the weather continues through out the year. I'm excited! Come back and check out to see how my tree is growing throughout the year. I know it's not the best picture-but this is what your starting jars should look like. Have fun!