Has anyone ever managed to actually grow an avocado plant from a store bought avocado,

[applegrove]

whose seed you half submerge in water for a few months? I think it must have been an urban myth. I tried many times but never got any offshoots.

[Lisa0825]

1. I know people who have grown one, but they will not produce fruit.

In order to get fruit, you have to either get a graft from a fruit-producing tree or buy one that has been grafted.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Not true with all Avocado varieties

[Lisa0825]

5. Everything I have read is that ungrafted trees rarely produce fruit.

I spent hours each week for several weeks googling, because I wanted to grow one. Everything I read said about the same thing as this article: http://www.willsavocados.com/index.php/grow-avocado-tree

I finally bought a couple of grafted trees, but the grafts failed on both of them, so I gave up.

[Brother Buzz]

7. My Pops planted one before the second world war in So Cal

It was producing fine avocados through the sixties, the last time I saw the tree. He got another one to produce in SF Bay area, it was a scion the So Cal tree.

Perhaps commercial variates of avocados (hybrids) produce barren fruit.

[Major Nikon]

11. My grandparents managed to grow one that produced fruit

One of the biggest reasons why you graft fruit trees in the first place is so you can use mature rootstock on a new plant. Without grafting it may take many years and perhaps a decade or more before the tree develops a significant amount of fruit. Grafting can also make the tree less susceptable to dying in less than ideal climate conditions and/or less susceptable to disease.

So the problem with trying to grow an ungrafted plant is it may take many years to produce much fruit and the tree might die before that happens. I'm sure certain varieties are more and less problematic to growing ungrafted. The vast majority of avacados today are Hass. Years ago it was easier to find other varieties.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. It is most definitely do-able.

BUT, you need to use a seed that has already started to grow inside the avocado.

I've done it many times.



I think I have a picture around here somewhere...I'll look for it.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Plant? Try trees twenty-five feet tall

bearing trees, too, if the frost doesn't tag them.

[nolabear]

6. Yes, done it often.

But they get leggy and need to be severly cut back, and that doesn't always go well. My biggest success was braiding three and making them into one still-leggy tree. It did eventually go south on me though. I love the things and tyr again now and again but honestly they always look like science projects.

I knew someone in New Orleans who had quite a nice one in her back yard though. I can't recall if it bore fruit or not. I assume they have to be fertilized somehow.

[Kali]

8. oh yeah

but it works much better if you just half bury the seed with some of the peel loose around it in good potting soil. The toothpick and jar of water thing never goes well for me either. I just imagined what it might be like "in nature" for the seeds - dropped under the tree with a lot of leaf litter and split open from the fall off its branch so the flesh would mostly disappear from things eating it but the peel would stay there mostly around the pit.

[applegrove]

9. That sounds like a plan.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. We had a tree behind our garage when I was growing up.

Dad had planted an avocado pit. The tree had about an 8 inch diameter trunk, and was about 12 feet high, I think it never got old enough to bear fruit. Sure had nice glossy leaves, though.

[HopeHoops]

12. Several times. They don't do well in captivity. At about 1' tall they all died.

It was just for fun anyway.

[GoCubsGo]

13. Yes.

It has been several years since I have been able to do it again. But, I really haven't tried all that hard in the few times in the attempts I have made since then.

[jakeXT]

14. No, but I have a book on growing exotic fruits from seeds

Last edited Mon Apr 16, 2012, 04:01 PM - Edit history (2)

it says:


- take out the seed
(1) submerge it for 48 hours in warm water, keep it in a warm place
(2) peel off the brown layer, sometimes one can see a gap forming, a sign for the upcoming germination.
- put three toothpicks into the seed from all sides above the middle, so that they adhere (up is where the pointed end is)
(3) put the seed into a filled water glass, so that the bottom part of the seed is always submerged.
Keep the glass with the seed in a dark place where the temperature stays above 70°F

It takes 10 days to 6 weeks before the first roots appear, once the sprout appears put it where the light of day can reach it. Not into direct sun light and use foil to shade the whole glass.
Once the roots fill the glass, you'll have to transplant it into potting soil.

You'll get a plant, but from reading the article on avocado I doubt fruits will emerge.



My family planted a walnut outside and it took 18 years to bear fruits.

[AnneD]

15. I have grown trees from seeds numerous times (tntc)...

I have a 2 ft beauty in the kitchen now ready for transplanting.

One in 4-5 will sprout. I put the seed fat side down and use 3-4 toothpick to hold it up. I got lazy on this one and just put some water in the bottom of the class. Keep the water clean and don't let the seed or root dry out.

I live in a sub tropical zone and we have hard water, so they do well here. Maybe I have a new job-selling avocado trees. I have a whole bunch of pits if someone wants any. We eat a lot of avocados.

[freshwest]

16. People do, but they make problematic houseplants. I don't think the submersion is essential since...

I've had avocados that were still good to eat, putting out a root inside the skin and ready to go. If I'd planted them I'd have one now.

But they would grow too tall and nipping the terminal bud to defeat that would be rather gruesome, IMHO.

Some people also grow pineapple plants from tops, and ginger from roots in the stores, etc. Unless you have a greenhouse or live in a tropical climate, it's not very practical.

[ceile]

17. Yep.

Sprouted in the water and was put into a large planter. It was transplanted at about 2 feet into the yard (1996) and is now probably 15 ft. It has only produced one avocado in all those years and that was this past summer. It's a very attractive tree. Beautiful leaves.

[LiberalEsto]

18. Yes, several times

But this was back in the 1970s.
I haven't been able to get one to sprout for years. I wonder whether they irradiate them or something.

[Denninmi]

21. Chilling Injury ... common in tropical produce.

They keep them in the cooler between 33 and 40. It damages the embryo, which is the most sensitive part of the seed.

That is why it's really, really hard to get a good regular mango. They're picked too green and then refrigerated. So, they never really ripen. The smaller Mexican mangoes are better, they seem to be riper when picked and shipped.

[Denninmi]

19. Mine turned 37 in March.

March 25th, 1975, was its "birthday" as a matter of fact. I was 10 years old at the time. We had a major ice storm 2 days before, and my oldest sister, her husband, her two young daughters, and their pets were staying at my house because a large elm crashed through their room and destroyed their front porch and dining room. All of the schools were closed. The second day, the roads had melted, and having bored kids, they took us to the library, which was open. I got a book about growing plants from kitchen scraps/trimmings/pits, etc., Then, we went to the grocery store and my mother bought me an avocado. It sprouted, and I still have it. I let it get about 8 feet tall, and have to trim it every other year or so. Of course, it has never bloomed, and I doubt it ever will.

[femmocrat]

20. I have one right now that is about 3 feet tall. I started it several years ago.

I don't start them with toothpicks, though. I just used a small sherry glass (or a shot glass) that the bottom just fits in, without falling all the way in.

The toothpicks get soft from the water and eventually collapse. My success rate is very low, though!

[Art_from_Ark]

22. I've had numerous avocado seeds sprout

just by burying them in the yard. However, the winter frosts always kill them if they are left outside.

[RedCloud]

23. Please hurry! I got a fridge that needs repainting.

[libodem]

24. My dad

Had a green thumb for house plants and germinated lots of seeds into plants including lemons and grapefruit. They do get all tall and leggy though.