Are you also having trouble growing an avocado plant from an avocado seed? ‘What am I doing wrong?’ Saskia put out a call on Instagram, received hundreds of tips from plant parents and decided to germinate ten seeds in different ways. Which method works best to grow an avocado plant?
Avocado plant growing
Do avocado parents know something I don't? Last year, after so many failed attempts, I was completely fed up and decided to seek help. I put out a call on Instagram: ‘What is the best method to grow an avocado plant from a kernel?’ and got hundreds of responses. But the tips varied so much that there was only one thing to do: eat more avocados for a while, collect even more kernels for an ultimate avocado test. Will it work now? And the key question: who is right? Spoiler: there is an approach that makes it work so very well!
Avocado cultivation
While avocados certainly suit a more sustainable diet, it is not the most sustainable fruit vegetable. It is said to be a huge water guzzler. In addition, avocados are associated with poor working conditions and deforestation, and are often transported by plane to Europe which causes hefty greenhouse gas emissions. While it matters a lot which farmer grows your avocado, the sustainable tip is to eat it in moderation. No matter how delicious it is. Want to know more about this? We wrote an extensive article on avocados: what's wrong with them and how to enjoy them more sustainably. Read it here!
From kernel to avocado plant, but how?
Although I know that an avocado plant from my own cultivation will never grow an avocado, I still wanted to add an avocado plant to my plant collection. One from my own cultivation, of course! Tell me: such a long stem looks tremendously cosy doesn't it? When I couldn't get it right, I asked for help from my followers. But to the question ‘how should I grow an avocado plant?’, I got a variety of answers. Some swear by the method where you wrap the avocado seed in a damp cloth, while others use skewers to put the seed with its butt in the water.
In total, I collected 10 avocado seeds and was able to test both methods extensively. Of course, this is not yet a scientific study, because N=10. But I did discover something striking. Spoiler: with one method, I had much more success. But which one? Cliffhanger...
Avocado plant growing
Opinions on growing the avocado plant are divided on Instagram. About half Dips the butt of the pit using a skewer in the water. To do this, they poke two skewers into the wick and hang the wick with the bibs in a (jam) jar of water. The other half does things very differently. They pack the wick in a damp kitchen paper. They put these in a sealable plastic bag and this bag they put in a plastic box with a lid. As you can imagine, this will fester nicely and this way the avocado seed would germinate sooner. Are you still following me? I'll show you with a few photos! With both approaches, they say: make sure you have fresh water every week!
Growing avocado plants from a kernel: I tested two methods.
Step-by-step plan to grow avocado plant from a seed
Wanting to test both methods, I put five avocado seeds on sticks and packed five seeds. A few did not believe in either theory and planted the kernel immediately with the bibs in the earth. ‘Because that's how it goes in nature too.’ Since I received this tip later, I did not test this approach.
There was one thing that avocado lovers did agree on: you have to strip the pit of its skin before you can start. How do you do that? Soak the pit in water for at least 48 hours. After that, you can easily pick off the brown skin.
I then placed all the avocados (wrapped and on sticks) near the window, so that the kernels caught a nice amount of (in)direct sun. In total, I gave it about 20 weeks of love before coming to the conclusion that it had (or had not) succeeded. Some avocado seeds took root after only five weeks.
‘Kernels from organic avocados are more likely to become a plant’
Several followers said that the pit of an organic avocado would work better than a regular avocado. So I bought both avocados and divided the organic kernels fairly: three on sticks and two were packed.
Caring for an avocado seed
- Team skewer: Check every day whether the bibs of the seed are still sufficiently covered in water and add a little lukewarm water if necessary. In addition, give the plant clean (lukewarm) water every week.
- Team paper: Every week, check whether the tissue is still moist and, if necessary, dampen it. Change the paper from time to time.
Growing avocado plant: what is the outcome?
It may have been down to my not-so-green fingers, because I know the success stories too, but my experience with the avocado seeds on a stick is not so positive. In fact, all five avocado seeds on a stick failed to hatch. You read it right: zero success. The avocado seeds in the moist paper did much better. Of these, four hatched. The three seeds that germinated fastest, and then grew faster too, were non-organic. Sorry guys... not the most sustainable message. Only one organic kernel germinated and became a plant, but it grew significantly slower than its siblings.
Avocado seed germinates and becomes an avocado plant.
Next stage: repotting avocado plant?
I did end up watering the germinated seeds with skewers. On the advice of my plant experts on Instagram, I only stopped the process with the cloth when the roots were about three centimetres long. That was the time to pull out the skewers for these seeds too and put the seeds with roots on water. Then the process described earlier starts all over again: water (extra) every day to keep those bibs wet and change water every week. You do this until the leaves turn yellow, because that is the sign that the plant needs more nutrition and you can put the kernel in the soil.
My step-by-step plan to grow avocado plants
- Preferably buy an avocado from Europe for sustainability reasons, store it well to avoid waste, eat it on time and enjoy it.
- Put the kernel in water for at least 48 hours so that you can then pick off the brown skin.
- Wrap the wick with damp kitchen or toilet paper.
- Put it in a plastic sealable bag.
- Put the bag in a plastic sealable container.
- Put it in a warm place, such as on the windowsill where sunshine comes.
- Moisten the paper every week and occasionally replace the paper.
- Within a few weeks to months, the kernel will germinate.
- When the carrot is about three centimetres, place the kernel with skewers in a jar with water in the sun.
- Give the avocado plant some (lukewarm) water every few days.
- Change the water every week.
- If the leaves turn yellow: put the avocado plant in a pot with (organic) soil without peat. Find out why peat-free potting soil is important here!
More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Want to know more about how things are created? Then check out all about cotton.
- Also interesting: how environmentally friendly is bamboo as a fabric?.
- How green are you in the garden? Do you already buy toxic-free flower bulbs?
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
