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Growing Avocados from Seed

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I am a regular of avocados, love them actually.

English: Very nice avocados (Thai script: อาโว...

So here is the problem –

  • In Melbourne Australia, avocados sell anywhere from $1.5 to $3.5 each.
  • I eat about 60 avocados a year, which costs me between $90 and $210.

So here is the solution –

  • A mature avocado tree can yield 500-700 fruit in a single year!!

Sounds like a good deal, but there is a catch.

It is easy to grow avocados from seed, but they are notoriously slow to fruit. Anywhere from 5 to 12 years seems to be what I’m told, and you can’t be certain what quality of fruit that tree will produce.

So the intention is to grow this one alongside a commercially purchased variety (Avocado Wurtz comes to mind). That way I still get something!

Steps on How to Grow from Seed

  • You have decided that the avocado you just ate was so delicious that it deserves to continue in a new form
  • Prepare some fresh potting mix into a pot (or used coffee cup as per below)
  • Remove any hang on skin from the fat end of the seed, and stick the lower two thirds into the soil, pointy end upwards
  • Soak in well. Adjust soil height if necessary to keep it buried two thirds in
  • Keep moist until the seed splits, which can take a month to happen
  • Peer inside and you might see the seedling poking through!
  • Keep under filtered sun and moderately watered (not soaking)
  • When the plant gets to about a foot tall, the time has come to replant – YAH!!

a seedling growing out of the Avocado seed

A delightful tower of foliage has emerged from the seed. I’ve read that avocado trees are grown indoors simply to admire their beauty, which is hard to deny.

Avocado ready for planting

The underside view is just as good.

tree from Avocado seed

Here is the root ball just out of the coffee cup, looking healthy and well developed.

From here it is into some well prepared soil, along with a handful of vermicast and a light spray of rainwater.

web of Avocado roots

Updates to follow. Avocados here we come??
+Shane Genziuk

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17 thoughts on “Growing Avocados from Seed”

  2. Hi, my name is Eleen. I have recently put an avocado seed in a cup of water and it has started to sprout. A small tap root and I can see a small amount of foliage coming up through the centre. How soon can I plant it in some dirt. I’m worried I might kill it.

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  3. Pingback: 10 Healthy Vegetables And Fruits That You Can Regrow Yourself | GardenTips.Me : Compilation Of Plants, Ideas, Tips, Inspiration

  4. Pingback: The Many Seedlings of Summer | Ground to Ground

    • Hi there! From what people tell me (and some of the comments in this post), certain varieties will do just fine in Melbourne. The important things seem to be keeping them out of the full sun for the first couple of years, and to not keep them too wet. And with that kind of yield it is worth a go or two.

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  8. Yeah – our daughter went through a phase of planting Avocado seeds everytime we ate one. There are so many seedlings scattered around, but will they be any good, and could I be bothered hanging around to find out?

    I’m thinking the grafted trees sound good! Does anyone graft their own?

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      • I think you’re just trying to be funny, and I get your humor. Anyone who has spent any time working with avocados (I have an avocado orchard) knows the best quickest way to get the pit out is with the knife you’ve just used to half the fruit. But if you’re not handy with a knife, by all means, use a spoon.

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  9. Mine grew itself in the compost heap. Now here’s the problem. It is now a definite tree (throwing shade and everything) but the quality of any fruit it sets could be questionable. And the time to fruiting for a tree grown from seed could be 10 years. A better option is probably to buy a grafted tree in a pot.

    Avocado trees are quite big so make sure you have plenty of room. I mean quite big. Nice evergreen tree though. Check with your nursery for the climate where you live to make sure it is warm enough to bear.

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    • Thanks for the advice Lindy, and I am planning on getting another one from the nursery. Not really expecting anything from the home grown avocado, just wanted to give it a go to see what happens. Please let me know what if anything that tree will bear – hopefully not too many years away 🙂

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