Growing Avocado Plants From Seed

I love avocados and I love growing things, and this was a fairly cheap and very easy project to satisfy both of those things.
There are two ways to start out your seeds:
1. Perched over a cup of water (like the photo demonstrates)
2. In dirt (which grows faster than the water method)

You'll need:
Avocado seeds
Toothpicks and jars for the water method
Dirt, gravel, and pots (or the ground)

Step 1 The Seed - Water Planting

This particular seed had sprouted inside of the avocado before I had even eaten it. Be careful to not cut any deep gouges when removing the seed. Clean it very well so there are no more bits of avocado flesh left on them (like there happens to be in this photo).

If you are using the toothpick method, stick three toothpicks in the side of the seed about halfway down. You want half of the avocado to be under water. Set it on the rim of a glass or jar and fill it up. The "bottom" is the fat end. Easy enough, right? Refill the water as it evaporates and keep the avocados in a bright window or outside. They will begin to sprout anywhere from a few days to several months. One avocado seed took three months to get going, but I've never had a seed not sprout eventually. When roots begin to fill the glass, transplant the whole deal carefully in a pot.

Comments

[thos555]

I'm not sure if this would work with Avocados, but it might be a neat experiment to try. My friend grows hops for home brewing beer and these have the same "problem" of not yielding anything for a few years. He was able to trick the plants into flowering by putting them in the refridgerator two different times for about two weeks long each time while they were still infants. This fooled the plant into thinking it had experienced two winters and he got a decent yield in his first year.

[bajablue]

I've heard of forcing blooms this way, but a double-whammy is brilliant!

[ngreen1]

My dad actually does that with various plants. The last one I remember was the Christmas Cactus. He didn't get the bloom he wanted so he put it in the fridge for about 3 days, then set it outside. In about 4-5 days, little buds began to appear!

[AlissaSueK]

I'm definitely going to try this out, thanks!

[Sam the Wizer]

Interesting concept. I don't think if it would work with avocados since they're native to tropical climates and really don't like the cold. Perhaps alternating between full light and 60 - 70% light every 2 weeks or months would achieve the same thing. I'll have to try that with my plants.

[Foxtrot70]

That's interesting! I have often wondered how one might go about speeding the maturation cycle of some plants. Have you sampled your friend's product? How is the taste with the locally grown hops vs commercially produced hops beer?

[sunevesor]

how do you prune the top?

[Alberta Leong]

I tried germinating 2 avocado seeds a few months back.. failed. :( Guess i'll need to try my luck again.

[romaine]

It is really nice to encounter this here. I have a avocado tree (grown from seed) that's about 13 years old and has moved house with us 4 times now.
The tub it is getting now is the biggest ever, I hardly can lift it by myself.
The tree is about 2,5 meters high and has a perimeter at breast height of some 30 cm.
Thanks for the instructable.

[Fanny Fink]

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw your tips on the home page of instructables because I have been just given an avacado seed from my mother. It is a good surprise. (Absolute serendipity actually!) But we already planted it under the ground in a pot. (Fat side is at the bottom. But the top of the seed is also under the ground a bit.) shall I take it from there and put in a water filled jar?
thanx in advance

[kine michelle]

 To water my avocado plant, I simply take a plastic bottle, fill it with water and stick it with the opening down in the soil. That way the plants gets water and you don't have to think about watering it all the time. Just fill the bottle when emty. Works great for me, my plant has just past 1 meter:)

[NaturalCrafter]

Thanks so much for this tip. I want to try growing one again.

[jessithepoo]

That's a good idea

[NaturalCrafter]

This is something that has been tricky for me. With several failures. The avacado usually rots via the water method. One time I found one that had some rootlets and a bud inside a ripe avacado, and I tried saving that but it also began to turn brown the very next day. Others tell me how easy to grow, so I know I must be doing something wrong, but learned sometimes you can't give up.

[Totysheep]

Uhm, Avocados turn into huge tree's. I don't think you'll be able to get fruit unless you bought a dwarf tree or something from a grower. But it's always nice to have a tree around the house I guess.

[Mekasia]

I have started several avocado pits with the "zip-loc" method. Clean the pit, fold it in a paper towel, lightly dampen the towel, place it in a zip-loc bag, seal it, and place it in a window sill. Check it every few days, and orient it properly when the sprout appears. Usually in less than 2 weeks you have a 3+ inch plant that is ready for potting. I generally have plants over 3 feet tall in about 6 months like this.

[joeymmeezz]

 kool thanks

[purpleman]

 I grew one about two and a half feet tall in a year.  I recently read though that you must graft to get any fruit, and even then it takes seven years to bear any fruit.  Either way I think they look cool.

[Vulcanator]

my avocados are refrigerated, will they still sprout or do i have to purchase un-refrigerated avacados?









 

[rockstar7600]

*8 inches!

[rockstar7600]

I miss my californian baby avocado plant! I grew one too!! It took me like 6 months to get it to inches, but it was worth it. I took so much care of it, but since you cannot take plants on the plane, I had to leave it to my brother, god knows how its doing. But I will start the process again, this time with an Argentinian one.

[Hair]

thank you for this! I will try this

[gia]

I split a 0.5 litre (1 pint-ish) water bottle to half, and sticked the side with the neck inside it. That filled with water, and avocado on top of it = I never need to use the toothpicks to disturb the seed with this method. (once they have some root and some growth, proceed to plant).

So far tested on a bunch of avocados, two of which are now 3 feet tall and growing...

[diydept]

5*

[GrooveBass]

My mom has 3 of these plants in Iowa. Very cool. If anyone knows if you can do this with other fruit seeds, like peaches or mangoes, please message me and let me know. thanks :)

[fegundez1]

I am the johnny avocado seed of Florida,i have planted at least 2,000 of these lovelies here in the daytona beach area. the average time from seedling to fruit is 5 years,remember these will get very tall!! over 15 feet ! ! so give it room if you plant it too close to structures someone will cut it down and all is for nothing): these also are excellent shade trees and they will grow pretty fast so if you eat an avo,just find an empty spot and bury the seed point up...next thing you look and there's a tree!!

[d1no]

WOW -all this time I have been believing the hype about the avacado seeds from grocery stores NOT producing fruit!! Are you using the haas avacado? Florida avacado? I live in Oxford Florida (Sumter CR 466 and SR 301)where we get more cold than you do in Daytona, but I can protect a tree, as we do the oranges. What do you think?

[altomic]

avocado. nothing better. toasted cheese and avocado sandwich. yummmmmmmm. thanks for the instructable- clean and simple. i've done the toothpick method and sometimes I think "it's never going to sprout" but I stick with it and they always do. I have 8 pits sitting on the ledge above my sink that I am going to plant in dirt this time.

[qw12er34]

I used to do this as a kid in SoCal. I live in Minnesota now, and with the price of avocados up here I wish I could do this again. But I doubt the tree would survive an MN winter :(

[vonKaos]

I live in Brasilia - Brazil - and near my home there are a lot of avocado trees. So I dont care about grow it. I just go out and catch some of them. And they frutificate all the year. Brasilia has a many fruits trees all around you see. Mangos, Jaca, Jenipapo, Avocado and many others. It´s amazing.

[tjuxed]

<tone type=napoleon> Lucky! </tone>

*goes outside to kick desert in spite*

[Artekus]

Ooh, I have a tip. I tried this once with the water-glass/toothpick method and when I was reading up on it, they said you can put some small chunks of charcoal in the bottom of the glass to keep the water sweet :) Also, I was wondering what sort of soil is best eg sandy, rich etc or did you do fine with potting compost? Do you use a plant feed of some sort?

[AlissaSueK]

I've heard that a sandy, well draining soil is best. Some people suggest mixing peat, perlite, and soil. I just used regular potting soil and some gravel at the bottom. They need to be fertilized every week or so, and they have avocado/fruit tree fertilizers, which makes it easy!

[ndjalva]

I will send a picture of a plant that is 4 months old. No fertilizer, no anything. I have a thought about most methods of plant nurturing....benign neglect! ... my orchids, water plants, herbs, flowers, fruit trees seem to be very happy without my overzealous (sp) actions. Take time and watch them most will show you what they need.

[peterlonz]

Here in Queensland (SE Coast), Australia I have also had a bit of fun planting out Avocado seeds in soil. I have noticed a wide variation in seedling vigour & a propensity of the root to quickly outgrow even quite large 250 mm Diam plastic pots. Naturally juvenile plants grow in the leafy topsoli under the shade of larger mature trees so in theory you should attempt to reproduce these conditions. I think that theses trees do not handle water shortage stress well, nor do they like overly moist soil. And they will not bear fruit if container grown regardless of container size. Earlier bearing, improved root rot resistance & an already hardened young tree is likely to be assured if a grafted plant is bought from a local grower. I know this spoils some of the fun but believe me I have a half dozen babies grown from seed & soon I will have to decide if I wish to plant them within my limited space garden, then tend & watch for 5 years never knowing if my time is wasted.

[cipris]

All avocados in stores are the have They all stem or should I say a CLONE from the same Female plat. Males do not produce Fruit at all. You would be lucky to get a Female but it would not be anything like the ones in the stores for they constantly mutate

[Jack of Most Trades]

I have a tree that i started from seed about 7 years ago. I prune it every few years to keep it compact, and in this climate (40.6 degrees N) they're houseplants most of the year but I set mine outside in the summer. I have found that seeds started in the spring and grow more robustly that ones started in the winter. Winter Avocados tend to grow spindly and small.

[AlissaSueK]

That is interesting. I'm glad I planted all of mine in the spring!

[bware]

A variation on the 'water' method: Use wine corks (3 or 4) and toothpicks to make a raft for the avocado. This way is floats at the right level in the water without you having to remember to top it up.

[AlissaSueK]

Great idea!