Grow Your Own Avocado Tree

Every avocado you eat can be turned into a tree. Growing your own is a fun project, if you're patient!

Emma
20 November 2014

How often do you throw away the avocado pit without giving it a second thought? It’s rubbish, right? Wrong! That pit can easily grow into your very own Avocado tree.

To grow one tree you will need:

• 1 x Avocado Pit
• 4 x toothpicks
• 1 x glass jar
• Some water
• 1 x pot
• Soil

To start off, take the avocado pit and give it a good wash, making sure there is no green flesh left on it. Otherwise it will just rot and start to smell.

Dry the pit off and push the four toothpicks into the pit, evenly spaced, about a third of the way up from the rounded bottom.

 

Fill your jar to the top with water and then place the pit on top, with the round bottom down.

Now we play the waiting game, when the water looks a little dirty it’s time to change it.

 

 

Once you get roots forming (usually around 2-6 weeks) then it’s time to plant the pit into a pot with soil. Plant root down with about half the pit sticking out above the soil. Place the newly planted Avocado tree in direct sunlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To take care of your tree, you will need to water it lightly but frequently and every time the stem grows 6 inches pinch back the newest leaves to encourage fuller growth.

It is possible to keep the tree indoors long term, they make great house plants, but once you have had your tree a couple of years you can start to think about replanting it outside. They like to live in full sun and will grow in most climates ranging from tropical to cool, as long as there is no frost. They also don’t do too well in strong winds.

 

If you are after your own fruit crop then this is definitely a long term investment as Avocado trees take around 5-10 years to produce fruit and some may never produce fruit! However they are nice to look at in the mean time with their big, broad leaves.

 

Happy Growing!

 

N.B. This article has been written for Australian gardens. If you're reading this from around the world, we do hope you've found it a useful stepping stone for your own further research.

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