Two Easy Ways to Start Avocado Trees From Seed
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Yes, you can grow your own avocado tree from seed. The next time you make avocado toast or guacamole, don’t throw that pit in the trash. Start an avocado plant. Anyone can do it. Here’s how!
Did you know that the seed or pit of an avocado can be sprouted? It’s a fun activity! Keep in mind: This method does not produce the fruit (that requires pollination!), but the result is an interesting and attractive houseplant.
Start with a ripe avocado from the store. (Any type will do.) Be sure you don’t cut into the pit with your knife; gently remove it. Eat the delicious, nutritious flesh! Wash the pit with water and allow it to dry for 2 to 3 days.
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Credit: FootstepLog/Shutterstock
Avocado pits (aka seeds) may be started in a glass of water or a loose soil mixture. Either will work, but the soil method provides faster results and is easier to eventually transplant.
Starting Avocado From Seed in Water
- Insert three toothpicks into the side of the seed around the pit’s equator (or middle), equidistant apart and about ½-inch deep. The pointed end of the pit should face up, and the fatter, flatter end down.
- Fill a small glass with room-temperature water to the brim. With the toothpicks resting on the brim, immerse the flat end of the avocado seed in the water, keeping the pointy end out of the water so it remains dry.
- Put the glass in a warm location with indirect sunlight (not direct).
- Change the water in the suspended container regularly. Keep the bottom half of the seed immersed in the water at all times. Your seed should develop roots and sprout in about 8 weeks.
- Your seed will have roots in 4 to 6 weeks! The roots are usually the first to emerge from the seed and will appear from the flat end in a few weeks. Then you’ll see a sprout or stem! Look for signs of a small shoot at the pointed end. Tiny leaves will develop and grow on this shoot.
- Optional: As leaves appear, you may want to gently pinch them off (and discard them) to encourage the avocado plant to grow a stronger stem and well-established root system before it focuses on leaves.
- Once the roots are at least 3 inches long, transfer the avocado seed to an 8-inch terracotta or clay pot with drainage holes. Fill the pot with sandy potting soil (cactus soil can work). Plant the seed in the middle of the pot and ensure the pointed end is facing up! The top of the seed should be level with the soil surface but not cover the stem. Water thoroughly. Place near a bright window.
Credit: NeginMinaee/Shutterstock
Starting Avocado From Seed in Soil
The soil method generally produces faster results. Fill a large container with porous soil, such as a houseplant potting mix or cactus mix (not regular soil!).
- Position the seed in the center of the pot, placing the seed so that the pointed end sticks out about an inch above the soil surface.
- After potting, water thoroughly.
- Put the plant near a sunny window; it should receive bright, indirect light.
- Keep the soil moist at all times until the avocado plant is established!
Photo Credit: Followtheflow/Shutterstock.
How to Care for an Avocado Plant
- Keep the soil slightly moist at all times, but not soaking wet. (Yellow leaves and a soft stem are signs of too much water. If leaves fall off, the soil is too dry.)
- When the plant is about a foot high, cut it back to 6 inches so that new shoots will sprout.
- Keep plants near a bright window.
- Avocado plants should be fertilized every month with a standard houseplant fertilizer.
- Your tree can live outside in the summer. If winter temperatures go below 45°F (7°C), bring it indoors.
Avocado plants grow rapidly. They often must be discarded because they’ve become too large for indoors!
Credit: O. Oleksyuk/Shutterstock
Make an Avocado Shake
So, what are you doing with the avocado fruit? Here’s a great idea. This is a popular treat in Brazil. Let us know if you like it!
Ingredients:
½ avocado, peeled and pitted
1½ cups milk
½ cup ice
3 tablespoons sugar
Put the ingredients into a blender. Process the mixture on high for about 1 minute. Pour it into a glass and enjoy! Makes 1 serving.
Fun Avocado Facts
- Avocados are also called alligator pears! Why? Avocados have rough, green skin like alligators and are shaped like pears. The fruit has such a smooth, creamy texture that they were once eaten only by royalty.
- The avocado tree originated in south-central Mexico between 7000 and 5000 B.C. Archaeologists in Peru discovered avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies from 750 B.C. The tree is an evergreen that can grow 30 to 80 feet tall.
- The oldest known living avocado tree is on the University of California, Berkeley campus. It was planted in 1879.
- The avocado is a berry! An avocado pit (its seed) makes up 10 to 25 percent of the fruit’s weight. One avocado tree can produce as many as 500 avocados (or 200 pounds of fruit) per year. An average harvest from one tree is about 150 avocados (60 pounds).
- Guacamole may be the first thing that comes to mind, but avocados are used in various ways. For food, avocados are great in salads, sushi, soup, candy, avocado toast—even in ice cream in Brazil! If you’re not sure you like avocados, make sure they feel firm and not mushy. Try eating first in slices or pieces, not as smashed guacamole.
- Avocados aren’t just eaten as food! Avocado oil is used in sunscreens, skin moisturizers, hair conditioners, and makeup.
Now you know more about avocados! Please tell us if you like avocados and how you use them.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I have more of a question. Will the avocado tree that is grown from seed at home produce fruit? And how long does it take for the tree to produce it's first fruit?
Thanks
Anita
Hi Anita,
It is certainly possible for an avocado grown from seed to produce fruit, but it is not a guarantee. For better results and for the plant to be true to what you want, it is more advantageous to purchase a grafted seedling.
Avocados grown from seeds can take up to 13 years to produce fruit. It can happen much sooner, but you should be aware that it will take time for it to get to the stage of producing fruit, if it gets to that point of producing fruit at all.
I like to eat avocados just as they are spoon them out of the skin 😋
I also like guacamole and corn tortilla chips! 😋
It is really neat to eat them right off the tree!
Thanks for sharing with us, and remember, God loves you! ❤️ 🙂
I started my Avocado tree from a seed, it’s an Avocado from Florida, I planted about ten years ago and last year it produced flowers and then they had falling off and no seeds, I thought sure that was a sign it was going to produce and start the fruit, but it was just leaves again, is there anything I can do to help it produce the Avocados, it’s about 30 feet tall.
Hi Patrick,
This sounds like a frustrating result after what looked like a promising sign of an avocado crop. But don’t be discouraged. Avocados grown from seeds can take up to 13 years to produce fruit. It can happen sooner, but it is a crop that requires some patience. With that being said, there are a few factors that can prevent flowers from turning into fruit. One is fertilization and maintaining a regular schedule.
Another has to do with the flowers and their pollination. Avocados have a unique flowering behavior called ‘protogynous dichogamy,’ which means that the tree has both functional male and female organs in each flower. Avocado flowering patterns are divided into two groups: “A” and “B” type flowers. Over a 2-day period, A types open first as a female before closing and then reopening as a male. B type flowers are opposite. One way to help with pollination is to have another avocado tree nearby to increase the amount of pollen available to be transferred to female flowers when they are open.
Avocado trees have the ability to self-pollinate as well, but it can take time for it to happen.
Hope this helps!
In the how to care section, point 2 says “ When the plant is about a foot high, cut it back to 6 inches so that new shoots will sprout.”. Just to confirm, the remaining part will just be a 6” long stem with no leaves? Essentially I’m cutting off all the leaves along with 6” of stem then?
Hi, Bruce-
You will want to leave at least 2 leaves on the plant.
Thanks for clarification.
I have an avocado pit plant that is just roots. Will it ever grow a stem? I started 2 pits, in water, at the same time. Sometimes the only root pit, looks like new roots sprout from them. If this root pit is not going to sprout leaves may I toss it?
Hi SoJourner,
Thanks for your question. It is hard to know if your avocado pit will ever produce a stem. Typically, a stem will begin to emerge soon after the roots appear at the bottom of the pit. Depending on how long the roots have been out, it may or may not produce a stem. You can wait another week or two to see if there is any sign of a stem. If nothing appears, it is not likely that a stem will emerge and you can discard the pit and try again.
If your pit does produce a stem, you will want to pinch off any initial leaves that appear as this will encourage your plant to grow a stronger stem and well-established root system. Eventually you will want to plant your avocado in a pot filled with potting soil (see above for more instructions).
