starting an avacodo seed

[Chaesman]

Ok for fun I wanted to try and start an avacodo seed

so here are my questions

1. when I pull the seed from the avacodo do I start it immediatly or do I let it dry for a while then try and start it?

2. What is the best way to start one in water in a seed starting medium and how?

3. Will it start under my starting lights or should it be in my most sunny window?

Ok thats it for now will be intrested in hearing your ideas

Thanks

[cynthia_h]

There's quite a bit of detail about preparing the avocado pit for growing in this thread:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=115683

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Chaesman]

Thanks for the thread

I believe I will try to start on in soil any ways on to the next question

is there a top and a bottom to the pit? Which end gets burried or does it not matter?

Thanks

[froggy]

the 'pointy' end goes up.

that much I know, I have one in water and one in soil, still waiting for them to do something. but I won't be sad if they don't, I really don't have room for them - I just can't seem to get myself to throw them out...

[applestar]

Try to put them in the warmest location you have. I'm growing 3 or four this winter and they are just starting to show some life. I think I got them shortly before Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it's pretty much along the approx. 1~2 month germination (as in root will start to grow, then shoot will start emerge within a couple of weeks or so) timeline that most tree seeds seem to follow.

One is in the pot that had a dug-up basil plant that kicked the bucket and is sitting among the overwintering hot peppers -- the shoot is about 1"~1.5".

Two others are nestled in a same 1 gal pot as one of my last summer's pit-grown avocados in a WNW window -- the worst looking one and least loved, poor thing.... The two pits are sharing the same upturned McCafe clear plastic cup with vent/drain holes covering them (I had one of these over the 1st one I mentioned until the shoot started to grow out) and one is about 1.5" -- probably from the pair of avocados purchased as the 1st one, and the other is just starting to split. The table they are on is right above the forced hot air vent so it's warm there when the heater is running.

4th one is in water. I used a gift basket jam jar (one of those tiny 1.5"H glass jars of honey/jam) to sit this one on, then submerged them both in a larger glass of water. This one was in the inside/no window but frequently used bathroom counter until yesterday. I -- AND THE KIDS -- can see a 1" root growing from the base of the pit. Since the top of the pit has started to crack/split, I've moved it to sit at the base of one of my bigger avocados. It'll have a supplemental light that is not very close (about 1' away) but will provide extra light. I'm going to pot this one up in one of those recycled 2L soda bottle containers about which someone (was that you froggy?) recently posted.

[lorax]

I'll likely be of no help here (since you can't really replicate my conditions), but what I do is just toss them into my garden. I have seedling trees in about 6 months that way.

[applestar]

Oh, boy.

Do you get better results in different seasons? What are the weather conditions like at that time? More rain? Less rain? Hot? Cooler? Volcanic activities?

I think Lorax DOES support the injunction not to bury the pit too deep. I sometimes add soil around the pit AFTER it starts to grow and the roots sort of pushes the pit almost out of the soil.

[lorax]

Actually, I do indeed support the injunction not to bury them too deep. When I say "toss them into the garden" I mean exactly that - I don't bury my pits at all, but allow them to sprout right up on the surface of the soil, then hill them up when the upper shoot makes an appearance.

Results are pretty much even across the wet and dry seasons, but better in periods of low to no ashfall from the volcano. I'm actually thinking of doing an avocado bonsai with the latest sprout, which was from a Pelileo Green avocado. They're beautiful trees - red new foliage and huge big leaves, so I'm intrigued by the thought of really dwarfing them.

[rainbowgardener]

Is there a way to reduce the leaf size or will you end up with a tiny tree with humongous leaves?

[applestar]

After seeing that mango bonsai from this website
https://www.phoenixbonsai.com/BigPicture/LessUsual.html
in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176350#176350]this thread[/url], I've been eyeing my three largest avocado plants with a new eye....

[GardenRN]

It sounds like good responses have already been gotten but if it helps, I got one to grow just by shoving some toothpicks in it and suspending it in a glass of water, the same way you'd start sweet potato shoots. I set it at about 1/2 way submerged. I had roots on about 3 weeks and a shoot about 2 weeks after that. And that was just sitting behind my sink with no direct light or "favorable" conditions. But then I read that you have to have AT LEAST two trees to get fruit and and even then it takes quite a few years blahbity blah. I wasn't looking to do all that and didn't have the space for multiples at the time so I got rid of it.

And that's the way it happened...

[lorax]

Is there a way to reduce the leaf size or will you end up with a tiny tree with humongous leaves?

The methods used to dwarf the tree will naturally reduce the size of the leaves, but if all goes to plan, it will happen in proper proportion. That means I'll have a tiny tree with small leaves that still seem huge in comparison, but which won't be anywhere near full size. I'm actually most curious about the fruit of a bonsai avocado - it might be pretty nifty.

I'll be adding it to my growing collection of really tropical outdoor bonsai projects.