Many of the food we take in the summer have something to do with avocado. Some of us throw away avocado pits every day rather that have them littering the whole place.

Although avocado trees do like a lot of sun and warmth, you can also grow it successfully indoor if you know what you are doing. Growing them indoor will most likely involve a lot of pruning because the avocado tree may not stop growing until it reaches 40 feet if allowed. Fortunately, pruning the tree does not damage it at all. However, it is wise to grow one two or three pits at once, this way you can be sure that at least one will survive to be a thing of beauty that will definitely stand out in your garden.

Below are detailed instructions on how you can root and plant your own avocado tree from the pit.

Materials:

• One Avocado pit
• Four Toothpicks
• One Ceramic dish or glass not bigger than a custard cup.

With a little luck, this should give you one avocado tree sapling after a while.

Removing the Avocado pit

Let’s break down how to remove the pit, step by step

• Cut round the avocado with a sharp knife and open it up gently

• Use the knife to whack the pit, the knife should be a heavy one so it can cut into the pit a little at first trial  
• Bring out the pit by twisting the blade

• Rinse off the avocado flesh on the pit with cold water, it is important that you rinse of the flesh completely to avoid bacterial growth when you have to dip it in water for a few weeks.

Rooting the avocado tree

You should pay attention to make sure that you put the pointy side up when you root your avocado pit. This is so that the leaves and stem can easily sprout from the top while the roots come out from the bottom with ease.

Toothpicks

You should have four toothpicks stuck into the sides at the middle as shown in this picture

Watering the Avocado pit

At this point you can now place the pit on the ceramic dish or glass you have got ready. This fill the glass us with water so that half of it will be submerged in the water.

The toothpicks should form a rim on which the avocado pit is suspended in the water.

You should change the water frequently to keep things fresh and place it beside a window where it can get adequate access to sunlight.

Note that water is very important to the development of your avocado tree at the point, No water No tree!

How long before my avocado tree starts to root?

This might take a little time, in fact, for weeks you may not be able to see any changes in the pit. That’s normal and you would need to exercise patience because nature does not rush. By the end of 3 weeks, you should begin to see a splitting at the top of the pit.

In another couple of weeks, you should see the stem coming out the top and some leaves will begin to grow. Also, the roots should be coming out the bottom at this point. Give it some more weeks and the leaves gets more and more. In all, we are talking about a process that takes up to 3 months on the average.

When to plant Avocado Seedling

At seven to eight inches in height, you should prune the few leaves at the top of your tree. This will help it grow new leaves and help it branch out. Then you can make a bottom hole(s) on a pot of about 10 inches tall. The hole would serve as drainage and the pot should be with saucer. Then you can fill it with potting soil, about an inch from the top.

Dig a hole that is deep enough to cover only half of the pit, then drop the avocado sapling in it, with the root-side down. Then cover half of the pit with soil, exposing the other half but secure it firmly and make sure it stands upright.

Then it is time to add water to the soil, just a little to get it settled. That’s all! You have successfully planted your own avocado pit. Just place it where it gets enough sunlight like a window and water it frequently as it grows.

How to care for your Avocado Tree!

1. Avocado trees thrive best in places where they have access to adequate sunlight. If the tree does not get enough sun, it will have a lot more stem than leaves. Therefore, as often as you can, try and keep them outdoor where they can get some sunlight. But bring them back indoor whenever the temperature drops lower than 45 degrees F.
2. Keep the soil moist but do not add enough water to make it muddy because that is not very good for your plant. A sure sign that your avocado is getting too much water is when the leaves start to turn yellow. If this happens, then you might need to stop watering it for some days to dry out the soil.
3. Don’t forget to nip off the top leaves when your tree is about seven to eight inches tall before you pot it. This encourages the leaves to grow and branch out.
4. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the avocado tree will bear fruit. Getting it to bear fruit seems to involve grafting a piece of a tree that bears fruit into your seedling but I don’t think I am qualified to go into all that technical stuff.

So now you know how to grow your own tree! You could make this a joint project with the young ones; it promises to be a lot of fun!

Source: Diet of Life