At first glance, it may seem that growing an avocado tree from a seed at home is difficult, if not impossible. But this is not the case. Everyone can afford to grow this decorative tree without much effort, and enjoy its fruits in the future. True, you need to know some secrets. We will disclose them to our readers in this post.
Avocado seedling. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Jeffrey Schwartz
Contents:
The first step is to buy an avocado at the store
The avocado tree has wide leaves and flexible stems, which makes it possible to form various decorative compositions from it. Usually, three trees are planted in pots, from which pigtails are formed during the growth process. There is a belief that the presence of an avocado tree in the house harmonizes relationships and creates a romantic atmosphere.
To do this, you need to purchase a ripe avocado from the store. To check it for ripeness, you need to press the fruit with your palms on both sides, and then release it. The ripe fruit will restore its structure, so you can safely buy it. But even if the avocado is not yet fully ripe, then you can also buy it – over time it will ripen.
For the fruit to ripen faster, it can be placed next to apples or bananas, as these fruits emit ethylene gas, which promotes early ripening.
Germinating an avocado seed
The avocado fruit must be peeled, pitted and sown on the same day. Usually the seed germination rate is 100%. There are three ways to plant a bone.
- An unpeeled bone can be planted directly into the ground, leaving a third on top. The blunt end must be in the soil. We leave the bone in this state, it is necessary to water it once a week.
- An unpeeled bone can be pierced in three places with toothpicks 3 mm deep, and then placed in water with a blunt end. The bottom must be in water and the puncture sites must not be submerged.
- The peeled avocado seed must be placed in water, leaving a third on top. A peeled seed germinates faster, and in this case, you can observe how the root system and stem are formed.
Avocado seeds sprouting in water. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com KVDP
Germinating an avocado seed in the ground. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com skyseeker
Seed avocado sprout. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Cayobo
For planting, it is better to choose a large bone, since it has more energy for growth. Soaking water should be used at room temperature (23-25 ​​° C). You can add charcoal or activated charcoal to the water, but this is not necessary, since the stone is unpretentious and will germinate perfectly without these additives.
The seed can sprout in a week, or maybe in two months. It depends on the season. It is best to plant it in the spring, as at this time it will germinate faster.
We plant a bone in the ground
As soon as the sprout grows 3 cm, it can be planted in the ground. The soil must be loose, well-drained so that the bone can breathe. Avocados don’t like stagnant water in their roots, so drainage is a must. You can take a small pot for planting, later, after a year, the plant can be transplanted.
The drainage should be 2 cm high. It is necessary to make a small depression in the soil, plant a bone in it so that a third comes out of the ground, and then pour it with ordinary settled water, preferably with a small amount of salt, preferably filtered.
Next, the pot must be placed in the brightest place in the room, you can fertilize once a month or once every two weeks, any mineral fertilizers are suitable for this. In this case, the plant will grow and develop rapidly.
If the tree is stretched out due to lack of sunlight, then it needs to be pinched. To determine if watering is required for a plant, it is necessary to deepen your finger into the soil by two phalanges. If it is wet, then you do not need to water.
Avocado flowers. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Cayobo
To give the tree a more decorative look, you can sprout several avocado seeds, and then, as they grow, weave a pigtail from the stems. In this case, the pigtail should not be very dense. It is imperative to leave gaps between the segments, because the trunk grows over time. Otherwise, the decorativeness of the plant will be lost. When there is a gap, you can fix the weave due to the flexibility of the stem.
Read also our detailed article Indoor avocado – the intricacies of care.
Starting from the third year of life, yellow-green flowers may appear on the tree. For a tree to begin bearing fruit, it is desirable to have two or more avocado plants. This is necessary for cross-pollination of trees.
It is advisable to take out the plant in the summer to the country and expose it under the crowns of trees in a sunny place. Then the avocado will begin to bear fruit already in the third year.
