I just found the site today when I was searching for information about how to grow avocados. I work at a produce market with a reputation for having strange produce, not that avocados are strange, but I thought I'd bring some seeds home today and try my hand at growing a few. As you can see below, I brought a lot home, but we were throwing them all out so why not? I'm letting the majority of them dry out and them I'll be planting them in soil, but I've taken 3 of them and suspended them in water. I'm not sure about the water level though so right now I have one with a half inch of the seed submerged, one barely touching the water, and one half an inch above the surface of the water. I think tomorrow when I go into work I'll take home half of a dragon fruit which we put out on display everyday. Does anyone have any seed prep or planting tips? All I've heard is that its a cacti fruit.
im not sure but i do beleive the pits have to be the other way .. and the water about half way up the pit .. you have the right idea about the toothpicks .. hopefully someone else will jump in here and help .. good luck with it ... Marn
Hi - you must be at Pete's! What a great source of seeds! The pits are the right way up, but you can just as easily put them in soil as water if it matters. They may take 6+ wks to germinate. Marn's right though, that a bit more water would be better (and keep you from worrying on a day you might forget to top up). Avos are fun to grow, but because of the season (indoors or not), you may or may not be successful - write back when something sprouts.
I just tossed mine into a one gallon pot with some starter mix. The seeds laid on their sides half buried and they all started within a couple of weeks. A friend says his start growing in his compost pile. Cheers, LPN.
lol. ive never done avocadoes but seen it so much .. but i just couldnt remember what way they went .. :) Marn
I just when down to the greenhouse/coldframe and took this pic. The smallest of three avocados is about 4 feet tall and 2 years old. I believe these are Haas avocados. I'm certain these would be bigger and healthier if I'd move 'em into larger pots. The 2 gallon pots just aren't cutting it anymore. I'd like to try one outside but it's sure to perish in my zone 8 climate. Maybe I'll get a year or two like, last when our coldest (one only) night dropped to -3.9 celcius (25F). Either way, they're big trees and can't remain where they are. Cheers, LPN.
I do work at Pete's haha, I was working today, digging out some dragon fruit seeds. Thanks for all the replies, I've been looking for an active forum like this for awhile! I'll submerge more of the seeds shortly, but I think with the rest of them I'll just toss them in a big pot of starter soil if I can find a bucket tomorrow that someone is throwing out (I love working at Pete's haha). If anyone wants some exotic fruit seeds or a few possibly viable cuttings (all the herbs in my garden are from cuttings taken from the compost bucket) I'll see what I can find at work.
You are asking for trouble now :-)! Let me know (PM if you like) what's available - I don't live in town so only get there once in a long while. I recently started some kumquats, and found a few longan at Superstore of all places (never seen them outside of a Viet. store before), but what might you have that would grow into a little tree (besides herbs) with a woody trunk? I'm going to look up the dragonfruit now and see how they grow (they look amazing, but I always forget by the time I get home).
The dragon fruit come from a type of climbing cactus, which I hope to have in less then a month (started my seeds yesterday). Feijoa or pineapple guava grows on a woody stemmed bush I think, as well as starfruit and granadilla. We have fresh black figs right now, and I don't know much about growing figs, but how hard could it be lol?
One of my seeds seems to have started a root, its getting bigger everyday so what else would it be haha? Today has been a decent day in my windowsill garden, dragon fruit seeds have popped, I bought a small coffee plant and the feijoa seed is planted. Maybe I'll find a sprouting ginger root in the box while I'm at work, fat chance though.
Hi again - Avos get LONG taproots, so you'll need a tall something to grow it in for a few mos. til there are enough roots otherwise to allow you to cut the taproot back. Other than that, you seem to be doing fine! Gingers make nice plants (if you can keep your cats from eating them!).
