If you love avocados–guacamole, salads, avocado toast–you probably find yourself throwing away a lot of the large seeds inside each fruit. Instead, why not use them to grow your own cute houseplants. Here’s how:
Supplies:
- Avocado pit, rinsed
- Three toothpicks
- Mason jar, drinking glass, or the bottom half of a plastic bottle
Steps:
1. Poke three toothpicks around the middle of the pit and suspend it, broad side down, in your container.
2. Fill the container with clean water until it covers about the first inch (2.5 centimeters) of the pit’s wide bottom.
3. Place the pit in warm, light spot but not in direct sunlight. Add water to keep the level constant.
4. In two to four weeks, roots and a stem should start to sprout. If there’s no sign of growth after six weeks, start again with a new pit.
5. When the stem is about six inches (15 centimeters), prune it in half. Once its leaves have grown back and roots are starting to crowd the bottom of the container, plant it in a pot with good drainage in high quality potting soil, leaving the top half of the seed above the soil line.
6. Keep your plant in a sunny location and well-watered so the soil is moist but not sopping wet. When the plant gets about a foot tall (30 centimeters), you can prune it back by half to encourage thicker growth.
Continue pruning and transplanting your baby avocado tree to larger pots until it reaches the size and shape you want. If you live in warmer climes–temperatures consistently above 60° F (15.5 C) and low humidity–you can try replanting your potted plant as a tree, and it might bear fruit but only after several years of outdoor growth.
Click here to learn more about growing and caring for plants indoors.
