Like many people, I’m an avocado addict. Last year I started experimenting, saving some of the avocado stones and attempting to grow beautiful plants. I had MANY failed attempts, mouldy stones and stones that did absolutely nothing but by magic I finally got some joy! Now with a bumper crop, of three, I thought I’d share my best tips of how to grow an avocado plant.

There are many techniques out there, some peel the avocado stone, some keep them submerged in water, directly into soil etc etc. Each have their own merrits but do what ever suits you best. Anyway, this is what works for me.

WHAT YOU NEED TO GROW AN AVOCADO PLANT

• a ripe avocado
• 3 x cocktail sticks/toothpicks
• a small glass jar
• knife
• water
• and if you have one, then a table top greenhouse is great. If not then just use your sunniest, warmest window cill.

 

Cut the avocado, trying not to cut into the stone too much. It can handle a little rough and tumble but not too much.

Clean the stone then poke the cocktail sticks into the middle of the stone, at a slight angle.

Make sure that the pointy bit of the stone is at the top. The bottom of the stone should have a tiny thread-like root.

This should now be able to rest on top of the glass jar, dipping in slightly.

Fill the jar with water so that half of the stone is submerged.

Place the stone and jar in a mini greenhouse or on your warmest, sunniest window cill. It’s important that these stones get hot, my failed attempts were in cooler conditions. Warmth and sun is the key.

Keep topping up with water and eventually the stones will crack. This is a good sign!

A root will form and eventually a shoot with mini leaves. I must say, this takes A LONG TIME, I’m talking months. But once the crack and root stage happens then it does grow quickly.

When they get to a stage where the shoot is growing well and has a few leaves, then pot it up in soil and place back in the window. The soil needs to be quite wet, keep it moist and it will grow fast but don’t worry if it dries out, my plant have been quite resilient. Some of my avocado stones grew more than one shoot, they look pretty cool.

 

My avocado plant loves the greenhouse so much that it’s now too big for it! All three are ready to be potted into larger pots. A perfect excuse to grow more things in my Skagerak greenhouse and use my lovely Edge and HAY plant pot with saucer .

HAY plant pot with saucer   |   Edge pot, designed by Stilleben for Skagerak

There you go, it’s not complicated to grow an avocado plant. You need time, patience, water, warmth and sun. Give it a go and let me know how you get on!

Happy growing

H