How to Sprout Roots from an Avocado Seed
Avocados are delicious when eaten alone. Also avocados are essential when making guacamole.
Every avocado contains a seed that has the potential of growing into a whole new avocado tree. Each avocado tree will eventually produce many more avocados.
Here is a drawing of an avocado seed sprouting in water.
Here are some whole avocados that contain seeds.
Gently take the large seed out of an avocado.
Dry the seed for a week or two.
Plant the seed or sprout it using the "water-method" described below.
There are many different varieties of Avocados.
Here are some different types of Live Avocado Trees.
These Avocado Tree varieties from left to right are : Stuart, Hass, Reed, Bacon and Fuerte.
How to Sprout Roots from an Avocado Seed
Items that you'll need include :
* Ripe Avocados
* Toothpicks
* Water
* Glass Cups
Here you can see that the avocado seed is sitting in the water.
The pointy/smaller-end of the avocado seed is pointing-up (outside of the water),
and the larger/rounder-end is pointing down (submerged in water).
Step 1
Go to a super market in the produce section and find some avocados.
Buy at least 4 avocados that appear to be from the same batch of avocados.
Step 2
Bring the avocados home and stick 2 into the crisper in your fridge. Leave the other 2 avocados out sitting on the kitchen counter, in a fruit dish.
Over the course of the next couple of days you should use the avocados as they become ripe.
You can tell that the avocados are ripe when they are darker and soft.
Step 3
When you are cutting the avocado open take special care not to break or cut the seed.
Be careful and don't cut yourself. Take a sharp steak knife and cut a single slice around the skin of the avocado. Don't cut into the meat, you just want to separate the skin in half using one cut around the middle of the avocado.
Step 4
Hold the avocado with both hands and gently twist the two halves in different directions.
Step 5
Carefully eat the meat away from the seed with your teeth. Take care not to break into the avocado seed. The seed will be slippery.
Step 6
Polish the avocado seed with a paper towel to clean off any excess meat. Be gentle with the avocado seed.
If you crack or barely break a seed you can still try to sprout it.
Step 7
Let the seed dry out in a dark and dry place for 7 - 14 days.
If desired you can try to sprout some avocado seeds without drying them out to see what happens. They may sprout.
Step 8
Poke 4 toothpicks in the avocado seed. Carefully poke one toothpick in each side of the seed until it looks like the seed in the picture.
Some people prefer to use only two toothpicks. Determine what is best for you based on your first avocado seed sprouting experience.
Step 9
Place the avocado seed in a glass cup. Do this by propping the seed up using the toothpicks.
Make sure that the correct side of the seed is facing up. The smaller part of the avocado seed should be facing up. The rounder, larger side of the seed should be facing down and constantly submerged under water.
The roots will force out either way but they usually always poke straight out of the wider part of the seed.
Step 10
Fill the cup up with water until the avocado seed is submerged half way under water. Placing the toothpicks in a certain spot on the seed will either make the seed sit higher or lower in the cup.
Half of the avocado seed needs to remain submerged under water at all times. Once roots sprout from the seed, the roots must never dry out. Avocado roots must be submerged under water at all times until planted in soil.
Step 11
Place the cup near a sunny, south facing window. Roots will sprout out of the seed even if the window has a screen over it.
Check on the seed daily. Keep it near the window until the roots begin to pop out.
Step 12
Refill any water that is lost due to evaporation on a regular basis.
Step 13
Change out the water in the avocado seed cup before it turns yellow, cloudy or discolored.
Keep the water in the cup clean long after roots have sprouted out of the avocado seed.
Step 14
Don't give up as it takes a long time for a avocado seed to germinate.
Continue to care for the avocado seed as you have been even after the roots are popping out of the bottom. Watch the seed closely. Check daily for any signs of stress.
The roots will continue to grow larger and eventually leaves will sprout up out of the avocado seed.
Step 15
Move your avocado seedling into a flower pot with loose, damp potting soil after the avocado sprout has a few sets of strong, healthy leaves.
Step 16
Water the young avocado plant when dry and keep the soil damp.
Keep the avocado plant indoors until any chance of frost has past.
Keep the young avocado plant in the same sunny window until the plant is strong enough to be planted outside.
Once you plant the avocado seed in the dirt it will start to grow taller eventually turning into a tall tree that produces edible avocado fruits.
Here are a few more live avocado trees.
From left to right : Little Cado Dwarf, Hass and Fuerte and Pinkerton varieties of Avocado trees.
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