How to grow your own avocado

In our previous articles we have spoken a lot about the health benefits of the avocado fruit. This yummilicious fruit can be obtained easily from the supermarket however chances are high that it contains chemical or may be genetically modified. Cold storage Avocados are also not as beneficial as they should be. In today’s articles, we will be talking about how to grow your own Avocado tree using its seed. Its fun however requires lot of patience and care. Let’s have a look at how to do it.

 

Just take a full grown avocado and cut it into 2 halves congruent to each other. Take out the Fruit and enjoy it with your friends and family and take the seed out that is found in the centre of the fruit. Wash the seed with fresh water and ensure there is no fruit on it. Dry the seed fully after washing it as a wet seed might get slippery and become hard to use.

 

The next thing you require is 3-4 toothpicks. Try to get hard ones. Push the toothpicks inside the seed from four sides in the middle of the seed. After pricking the toothpicks in the seed, place it in a glass beaker full of water in a way that the pointed end of the seed points upward while the round part gets immersed in the water about an inch deep. Keep the glass beaker at a place which is warm and away from direct sunlight. Leave the beaker for about 4-6 weeks and keep monitoring it regularly to check if water needs to be replaced etc. In the mean time, the seed will sprout a stem and some roots. Once the stem grows about 6 inches long, cut it about 3 inches short. The stem will once again start to grow and will grow leaves.

 

Take the seed out of the glass beaker and put in a pot which is 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Add rich fertile soil to the pot and plant the seed in the pot. The root of the seed should be pushed inside the soil about 1-3 inches. The top half of the seed should remain out of the pot.

 

Place the pot at place where it can get frequent sunlight, air and water. The soil of the plant should always remain moist but make sure the pot does not get saturated. Therefore using a pot with proper drainage is recommended. Plenty of sunlight is another thing that your plant will need. Keeping the pot out in your garden is a good idea. Pinch the top leaves of the plant, every time the stem length increases by 6 inches. Doing so encourages the growth of the pant.

 

Start planting in the spring season. If you do not have garden, daily take your plant out so that it can get sunlight and fresh air. Now is the time to test your patience. Generally it takes about 7-15 years for the avocado tree to yield fruits. While some home grown trees do not yield fruits at all, those who do, yield fruit which is quite different to the commercial Avocados sold in the super markets. The avocados grown for the purpose of selling in the market are quite different from the avocados grown at home.

 

Since all the pants do not yield fruits, it is advised to grow more than one plant simultaneously depending upon the space you have. Once the tree grows up it will yield garden along with adding grace to your garden.

 

Source- http://www.lazyrunner.com/black-toenails

Source- http://www.avocado.org.au/howto/grow.aspx

Source- http://www.californiaavocado.com/grow-your-own-tree/