How to germinate an avocado, how to grow a tree from a seed

For any gardener who is passionate about his work, nothing is impossible. Almost any tropical plant can be grown from a seed: pomegranate, lemon, tangerine, date palm, persimmon.

During care, you need to follow simple rules and choose the right place for your new pet.

After reading the article, you will learn how to germinate avocados using different methods in an apartment, right on the windowsill, their features, care recommendations, pruning rules and recommendations that will help you get your own grown fruits.

Content:

1. About avocados
2. How to sprout an avocado
3. Care instructions
4. Trimming
5. How to get the fruits

About avocados

Fans of exotic indoor plants often grow them from the seeds of purchased fruits. This is how lemons can appear on the windowsill, mandarin, date palm. But not many people know that you can grow your own avocado tree from a seed at home.

In nature, this plant is found in the Caribbean islands and Mexico. There the tree reaches a height of 20 meters. In indoor conditions, your pet's height will not reach more than 3 meters. And no one will give you a guarantee that the tree will delight you with its fruits.

But even without a harvest, it will decorate the room and do an excellent job of purifying the air. To grow a house you need to make every effort, it will take from 3 to 6 years.

How to sprout an avocado

How to grow an avocado on your windowsill? There are several methods of germination.

First way

Buy ripe fruit that is free from rot and damage. If the fruit is not ripe, wrap it in paper and leave to ripen. Remove the seed from a ripe fruit and plant it safely. Spring is best suited for this, when all plant processes are activated. Simply stick the seed into the soil and water regularly. The sprout will appear within three months.

Second way

To speed up the germination process, it is necessary to free the seed from the hard shell. Do this carefully to avoid damaging the seed and the surrounding brown film, as this can provoke putrefactive processes, which will negatively affect germination.

The seed was taken out, washed with warm water and we can start planting:

• Place expanded clay or small stones on the bottom of the pot.
• Prepare soil mixture from sand, earth and humus taken in equal proportions. The soil should be quite loose.
• Fill the container with the mixture, leaving one or two centimeters to the top.
• Place the seed in the substrate, to a depth of 2-2.5 cm, the blunt end should be directed downwards. Water well.

Now all that remains is to provide regular watering and wait for the sprout to appear. And it will hatch under such conditions within a month.

You can try to germinate in another way.

Third way

On the sides of the bone, exactly in the middle, make holes on 4 sides, two to three millimeters deep, and insert toothpicks that will serve as supports.

Take a glass or jar and place a bone in it, with its blunt end facing down, pour enough water into the container so that a third of the bone is in it. Toothpicks will prevent the bone from sinking.The water level in the glass should remain constant.

The germinated seed is planted in priming, the length of the roots must be at least 3 cm. This usually takes about 60 days.

When planting, you don’t need to pick off the seed, but plant it by sprinkling it halfway.

After a short period of time, reddish shoots of a young avocado will appear.

Care instructions

In the event that the stem begins to stretch without forming side shoots, the top needs to be pinch.

As soon as the height of the stem becomes higher than 15 cm, it is necessary to transplant it into another container, higher, with a diameter 5 cm larger. Next, as experts recommend, replant the plant annually in the spring.

For good growth of avocados indoors, you must follow several recommendations:

• Watering should be sufficient, at least 2 times a week. In winter, watering is reduced, but the soil is not allowed to dry out.
• When overwatered, the leaves turn yellow and fall off.
• The container with avocado must be placed on the sunny side. After all, it grows in hot climates. Plants need sunlight to grow and develop. But the tree must be shaded from direct sunlight to prevent burns on the leaves.
• In winter, the tree requires additional lighting with fluorescent or phyto lamps. They should work for about 4 hours, at a distance of up to 40 centimeters from the plant.
• Dry air has a negative effect on avocados. You need to constantly spray the tree with water.
• You can place water nearby in an open container, and also place the plant away from hot radiators, stoves, and electric heaters.
• To improve growing conditions, avocados are planted among similar large-leaved plants.

Avocados do not like high temperatures.He is comfortable at 16-20 degrees, and in winter at 10-12. Your pet may shed its leaves when winter comes; do not rush to throw away the tree. In the spring it will come to life again.

Avocados need regular feeding. In winter - once, in summer - a couple of times a month.
For fertilizing, you need to use fertilizers intended for indoor plants.

Trimming

Without pruning, the tree will not be attractive. It is necessary to constantly form the crown. For this purpose, spring pruning is carried out. In the first year of growth, the main stem is cut above the 7-8th leaf plate, the lateral ones above the 5-6th. In subsequent years, pruning helps maintain the desired height.

You can plant several avocado seeds in one pot at once, and after they germinate and grow, the stems of the plants can be woven, but not very tightly, leaving room for the stems to grow and thicken. The result will be a very original plant.

How to get the fruits

It is very difficult to achieve fruiting in avocados grown from the seed. The tree must be at least one and a half meters high. You will have to pollinate the flowers manually. Flowers will appear only after three years. They are bisexual. Each flower opens 2 times. On the first day it is for women, the next day it is for men.

It is impossible to distinguish the flowers. They need to be marked. Place marks with a marker on the flowers that bloomed first. The next day, transfer pollen from them to newly opened ones using a cotton swab. The process of growing avocados is complex but interesting.

If you have the opportunity to place your avocado outside, place it in a bright place, away from direct sunlight.

In this case, pollination will be carried out by small insects. And the problem associated with flower pollination will disappear by itself.

Growing avocados is a very exciting process. Especially when the result is real fruits grown at home.

Let's watch a video on how to grow an avocado from a seed: