If you love tropical greenery, you can simply plant an avocado pit and grow your own avocado tree. But what if nothing grows? We explain to you what this could be due to.
In our vegetable baskets, avocado (Persea americana) is almost always found between tomatoes and cucumbers. While the flesh of this exotic fruit adds flavor to our dishes, we can grow small avocado trees from their large seeds, which will then give a tropical ambiance to the windowsill. The avocado pit can be planted or rooted in water – both popular methods, but which can also lead to some failures.
It certainly takes a lot of patience before the seed starts to germinate – it could take a few weeks or a few months. Additionally, not all seeds give rise to shoots and roots. But by avoiding the following mistakes when planting avocado, you can increase your chances.
Mistake 1: placing the avocado pit upside down in the jar or planting it in the ground
Have you placed your avocado pit directly in a flower pot with soil or on a glass of water using toothpicks, and nothing happens? In this case, you need to check if the good side of the seed is facing up. This in fact has an upper side, from which the shoot will later arise, and a lower side, from which the roots will grow – it does not work in reverse. Therefore, the upper part must always protrude above the earth or water. If the seed is oval in shape, it is easy to recognize the top and bottom: the pointed side should point up and the obtuse side down. If the core is rather oval or even round, we can also easily recognize the lower surface by the fact that it has a sort of navel or bump.
Additionally, make sure that the underside protrudes about a third into the water or is surrounded by substrate and place the avocado for germination preferably in a light, warm place.
Mistake 2: Not checking the water level regularly and not adding more
Humidity plays an important role when growing a new avocado from a pit. As with almost all seeds, drought prevents them from swelling and germinating. It is therefore necessary to monitor the water level and regularly fill the container so that the core is always in contact with the water. The ideal is to completely change the water every two or three days. As soon as you can enjoy growth with leaves and a few sturdy roots, plant your mini avocado tree carefully in a flower pot with potting soil for container plants. Only the roots should be below the substrate.
Even if you grow the avocado in the ground from the start, you must ensure that the humidity is sufficient – no germs will grow in a dried out substrate. Lightly water the soil after planting the avocado pit and keep it moist by sprinkling it regularly with water. However, it is necessary to avoid stagnation of water in the pot and therefore the formation of mold.
Mistake 3: Poking the pit too deeply with a toothpick
If you prefer the glass of water method, you must ensure that the avocado stones are not drowned. To ensure that the seeds hang only a third of the way into the water, we often use toothpicks which we plant all around the nucleus as support: approximately three toothpicks at the height of the center of the seed. seed. But if you pierce the toothpicks too deeply, you can eventually damage the pit so that it can no longer germinate. In addition, such “wounds” always carry the risk that germs will penetrate or the seed will begin to rot in that place. So do not insert the toothpicks more than five millimeters into the avocado pit. You can also place it in a special vase or container with a narrower opening, so that sticks are not needed.
