Under the Avocado Tree

Lu is a very hands on learner.  We've always loved doing things with her to help her learn.  This summer her and Daddy experimented to see what would happen if you planted an avocado seed. 

Daddy had some prior knowledge.  He had an avocado tree growing up. When he told Lu that you could plant the pit inside the fruit (is it a fruit or a vegetable even???), and that a tree would grow, she was intrigued.  Of course she was...and then she wanted to plant every little seed that she came across.  EV-ER-Y seed!  Thus began the windowsill of seeds...

But the windowsill of seeds is for another post. 

This post is about how we started our avocado tree. 

Daddy did what every educated Daddy does.  He googled how to start an avocado tree.  ha ha!  This is what he learned. 

The first thing you need to do is get the pit to sprout.  You can't just bury it in the dirt like you would with a bean seed.  You have to follow some complex steps...

You need to poke it with sticks.  We used toothpicks.  You need to use the toothpicks, or other form of poking device, to hold the pit so that half is in water and half is not.  In this position the pit will sprout roots into the water and a shoot out the top.

  

Once you have a good shoot and root system established it's time to plant in a pot of dirt.

 

We used regular old potting soil.  Nothing special.  Poke a hole in the dirt to gently set the root in.  Again you want to only bury half of the pit.  The other half will remain exposed from the dirt. 

 

Once the seed has been planted.  Water regularly.  Place in sunny location and watch it grow. 

 

 

We've had to transplant the tree into a larger pot.  You want to make sure that the tree has enough space so that the roots do not become root bound and stunt growth.  

 

We've notice new growth since the transplant.

Our tree as of January 2015.  The seed was started in June of 2014.  We are not sure if it will produce any fruit in our home in Canada, but it is a rather lovely looking houseplant, even if it doesn't.