How to Plant an Avocado Plant

Not only are avocados a delicious and healthy vegetable, they make beautiful houseplants. With a little luck, a successful gardener may even coax an entire tree out of a simple avocado seed. The next time you prepare avocado, instead of discarding the seed, wash it and root it in a glass of water. Within a short time, you will have a seed with viable roots extending from it to plant in potting soil.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Avocado seed
• Toothpicks
• Glass
• Water
• Scissors
• Grow light
• Container (10.5-inch diameter)
• Potting soil

1. Wash the seed with water after removing it from the avocado.

2. Hold the avocado seed so that the pointed end of the seed is facing up. Insert three toothpicks into the sides of the seed, approximately half way between the pointed end and the broad end of the seed. Space the toothpicks apart evenly on the seed.

3. 
    
   Avocado seed

   Fill the glass with water and place the seed on the top of the glass so that the toothpicks hold the seed in the water. Submerge the bottom of the seed 1 inch into the water.

4. Place the glass and seed in a warm location without direct sun. Keep the water level at the same point on the glass.

5. Wait two to six weeks for roots to sprout into the water and a stem to sprout out the top of the seed.

6. Cut the stem when it is 6 inches long back to a length of 3 inches. Wait while the stem grows again and the roots grow thick in the water. Continue to keep the water at the same level.

7. Fill the container with potting soil. Remove the seed from the water when there are several leaves on the stem. Plant the seed in the potting soil so that the top half of the seed is above the soil level.

8. Water the seed lightly, often. Water the seed deeply, occasionally. Try to keep the soil evenly moist. Watch the leaves and if they turn yellow, decrease the amount of water. Place the seed in direct sunlight or under a grow light for several hours each day.

9. Cut the new avocado plant back by half when it is 1 foot high. This will encourage the avocado plant to grow bushy shoots.

Tips & Warnings

• If the avocado leaves turn brown, place the container under the kitchen faucet and run water into the soil for one or two minutes. This will rinse accumulated salt from the soil and restore a proper balance in the soil.

References

• Growing Avocadoes