How to Grow an Avocado Tree Indoors

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Things You'll Need

  • Avocado pit

  • 3 toothpicks

  • 16-oz glass jar

  • Water

  • Planters of different sizes

  • All-purpose houseplant fertilizer

Grow an indoor avocado tree from a pit.

On the Centers for Disease Control website, the story goes that a Mayan princess ate the first avocado and that the fruit had magical powers. Perhaps the legend has something to do with the avocado's high nutritional value: ½ cup of avocado has no cholesterol and 5 gm of fiber. It also provides folate, vitamins B6, C and E, and magnesium. Besides all that, avocados have 60 percent more potassium per ounce than bananas, and its monounsaturated fat is good for your health. Container-grown avocado trees make great indoor ornamental plants.

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Step 1

Save the pit from an avocado. Insert three toothpicks into the pit, evenly spaced out and half way down.

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Step 2

Fill a 16-ounce glass jar with water.

Step 3

Put the wider, flatter end of the avocado pit in the water, with the pointy side pointing up. The toothpicks rest on the jar's rim, immersing half of the the pit in the water.

Step 4

Move the jar to a sunny window sill or another well-lit area. Check the water level twice a day. Refill the jar with water to prevent the pit's bottom from drying out.

Step 5

Plant the seed in a pot with potting mix when the main stem of the avocado appears through the non-submerged pointed end of the pit.

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Step 6

Keep the soil of your avocado plant always moist, but not soggy. Dried out roots will cause the leaves to dry up and fall, and overly wet ones cause them to curl and the stem to become soft.

Step 7

Fertilize your indoor avocado plant every three months with an all-purpose houseplant fertilizer.

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Step 8

Put your planter in a location where the growing avocado will receive six to eight hours of indirect sunlight every day.

Step 9

Transplant your avocado tree to progressively larger containers as it develops. Otherwise, the roots will grown in compacted circles around the inside of the pot and the tree will become root-bound. This condition weakens the tree.

Tip

Avocado trees started from pits may never produce fruit or may produce inedible fruit. For a fruit-producing avocado tree, buy a nursery plant or graft your own.

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