I have been trying to grow and avocado tree from its stone for a few months now and I was delighted when a few weeks ago finally the first stone split apart to reveal some basic roots and a small stem. I tried various methods found over the internet and for a while it seemed to work for everyone but me. I had left my stones in water and soil for more than 3 months at that point (they are supposed to germinate in a month or so), with no results and I was about to give up when I decided to try something that might work out and to my delight it did! I was happy to find out I was not the only one with troubles about this so I decided to share my method with tips and tricks on how to grow an avocado tree on the blog today.

Method :

1. To grow and avocado tree we just need an avocado , any size will do but I prefer medium sized ones. Best to use more than 3 or 4 stones.

2. Carefully cut in the middle and remove the stone, then wash under lukewarm water to clean all the avocado bits. 

3. Immediately take a sharp knife and start peeling off the skin. Make a small incision, as you see from the photos the skin is actually quite thin, and peel off. 

4. Prepare a shallow cup and fill it with some soil and water, or just water.

5. Drop the avocado stone in, the pointier edge should be facing upwards. If you used part soil then the stone will easily balance in the soil. If you are only using water then the stone will be tilting a little. Just make sure the cup is shallow so the stone touches the bottom, I used a small Ikea bowl for that. 

6. If you used part soil, pour more water so the stone is always halfway swimming in it. If you only used water then the stone needs to be always be submerged halfway. Every few days when the water turns greenish it is best to change it.

Germination process takes about a month or a little more so be patient, follow my tips and tricks and soon you will have your own avocado tree 🙂

Tips, tricks, important information and when to repot:

1. Put your avocado stones in a warm and moist spot. This is the most important tip.Avocados need warmth, but it is most important during germination period. I left mine near a window in the living room and they refused to show any signs of growth for more than 3 months. Once I moved them into the ever hot bathroom it only took them a couple of weeks to take roots. Probably the laundry room will work just as well. 

2.While all my stones have grown, the ones that I grew from start to finish in the small glass greenhouse have shown twice the growth (and continue growing faster than the rest) looking much more healthy. The dome helps capture the moisture inside as the water naturally evaporates, creating a breathing chamber that helps the germination process. Once the stone was sprouted small roots and the stem reaches the top (about 8 to 10cm), it is safe to re pot it. 

3. Prepare a pot, fill it halfway with soil and remove soil from the center with a tablespoon. Carefully lift the stone by the stem and hold it on the level you wish to repot it. With your other hand use the tablespoon to fill the pot around the stone until it is buried halfway in. Be very careful not to break any of the fragile roots. Once in the pot, water the soil until you can see water coagulating around the stone.Now you only need to wait for the first leaves to grow and remember, at this point it needs a lot of daylight and sun!

I am close to having to prune the top leaves, a week later after I took some of the photos as seen above, the avocado has already quite a big stem and the leaves have grown more than a 2 cm. This is a whole new experimentation chapter though so as soon as I have tested the results I will share again!I hope this is going to be helpful to everyone that has as much trouble as me growing an avocado, but for those that haven’t yet tried to, now is your chance to do so. You only need an avocado 🙂

PS: I peeled the avocado about a week ago for the purpose of taking photos, then left it in the greenhouse as seen above in the warm bathroom. It has already cracked open in the bottom and in a week I am sure I will see a stem! So it only took a week to two to germinate, I think from all the methods, putting it in the greenhouse is the best.

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