Ever grown an avacado?

[Zen]

From a pit?
I've got one going now. It's got good roots, the stem is about a foot tall and has sprouts on it. I'll google it , just wondered if anyone had first-hand experience.

[OakLeaf]

They're pretty big trees. I don't think you could get one to fruit indoors.

[tangentgirl]

From a pit?
...the stem is about a foot tall and has sprouts on it.


Holy guacamole! Did you start the pit in water or dirt?

[smilingcat]

just stick them in a pot of dirt and keep it moist. It will sprout.

Avocado trees are really finicky and you do need two trees. You can keep them pretty small about 10-15 feet tall. When my partner had her house, the avocado tree grew to be about 25-30 feet tall. low hanging fruit were eaten by her dawgs.

It does need warm climate year round though...

Too hot, it drops fruit,
too cold, it drops fruit,
Too much water, it drops fruit
too little water, it drops fruit
Too windy, it drops fruit...

And if the trunk gets exposed to strong sun, it will get sun burned.

Oh our dogs loved avocados. They didn't care if it was still really green (unripe). We would find the evidence. The pit. the fruit would be chewed off and licked off. Do have to admit, our dawgs had the bestest coat evar...

Another critter that loved avocados were possums. I have a Haas avocado growing from a pit. The new tree will be planted this summer.

[malkin]

We did this all the time as kids. I thought everyone did.

Stick 3 toothpicks into a pit that hasn't been refrigerated and place it over/in a jar of water. Like a pickle jar or a peanut butter jar. Keep the water about halfway up the pit. It does matter which way the pit points, but I don't remember. My recollection is point up.

Once you get roots, let the water level lower a little bit because the pit will sometimes rot and it can get stinky (unless you like that sort of thing).

They can get tall and leafy. I think though, that if you want big avocados you need to graft a proper variety.

It is as exciting as sprouting a sweet potato!

I grew up in a sticker patch between an orange grove and an avocado grove.
Maybe they were the good old days, but I don't miss the snakes and the occasional wrap of barbed wire around my ankle.

[Zen]

Holy guacamole! Did you start the pit in water or dirt?

Water.

Sounds like no good will come of this :(

[SadieKate]

You can do it as a houseplant. Fruit in the market is from grafted trees, so what you'll be growing is just a beautiful house plant. The leaves are gorgeous.

http://www.avocado.org/about/growing-avocado

[bmccasland]

Water.

Sounds like no good will come of this :(

naah, you can still plant it in a pot, in some nice garden loam. Then move it back to it's nice sunny window, and promise it that spring really will come one day. Move to the porch in the summer. You'll probably have to repot it a time or two. But unfortunately you'll may not actually get a tree out of it. Unless you have a green house space. I know you do...:p

It'll be a fun experiment, and the plant was free for the most part. ;)

[malkin]

My grandmother loved them, and often had several going at once and they could get up to around 4' tall, ok, she had alzheimer's disease, but she was really wonderful.

But to get fruit, you're probably better off sneaking into the grove to steal it.

[smilingcat]

For a commercial growers, you do want a root stock and a scion graft. Scion is chosen to be a prolific producer but the root may not be as strong...

But for home grown avos. the single tree from the pit will be just fine. It will produce IF THERE IS ANOTHER AVOCADO TREE NEARBY. IT'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS WHERE IT NEEDS A COMPANION TREE.

My partners avocado tree was from a pit and it produced just fine. The tree can tolerate some mild freezing but that's about it. winter time high should be well above freezing.

Good luck

[Zen]

Pot, dirt, watering, sunlight...this is just too much work for me :o
This house doesn't have very good sun exposure.
We'll see.

[shootingstar]

Had no idea dogs ate avocados.

[SadieKate]

What won't dogs eat?

[Trekhawk]

We have a beautiful avocado tree in our little orchard. Last year we had a bumper crop we were giving them away to friends and family. Out of all the trees we have in our orchard the avocado would be one of my favourites. Birds don't seem to eat them and no fruit fly problems. Unlike the peach and plum trees we seem to get to eat more of the fruit than the wildlife do.:)

[Zen]

Had no idea dogs ate avocados.

huh?

[OakLeaf]

What won't dogs eat?

Celery, in my experience. ;)

[SadieKate]

Celery, in my experience. ;)Nope, last Superb Poodle ate anything cold and crunchy.

Not every dog will eat everything, but everything can and will be eaten by a dog somewhere.*

*Especially labs.

[SadieKate]

That same poodle loved broccoli stems, apples, apricots on the tree, marshmallows, etc., but wouldn't touch a raw tomato. A friend's golden retriever gained weight from stripping her garden of all the tomatoes. That's a lotta tomatoes!

[OakLeaf]

My Chow turned up his nose at everything. But he'd beg for nori. :confused: Go figure.

[SadieKate]

Probably how he kept his tongue purple. :p

[shootingstar]

My Chow turned up his nose at everything. But he'd beg for nori. :confused: Go figure.

Things which one learns on TE forums. :rolleyes:

[Zen]

I onced had a dog who would pick beans off the vine, another (lab)who picked cantaloupe, and another who, when presented with a cherry tomato in her bowl, would oh so daintily pick it out and place it on the floor alongside her dish.

Dogs like their fruits and veggies, in my experience.

[copperlegend]

my cat LOVES avocado! she's always sneaking a lick off the half i inevitably leave on he counter.

she also took a bite out of every cucumber in a bushel from the market last year. little brat.

[malkin]

I had a cat who looked pregnant because of her avocado diet (nice coat though!). She'd hunt avos from the neighbor's tree, bring them home hanging from her her teeth by a sliver of peel. She'd park in a corner and peel the peels off in tiny tiny bits that would dry up and look like some kind of rodent dropping.

She'd eat the yummy part, and then chase the pit all around the house.

Silly Sadie Cat.

[Trekhawk]

I thought the birds were stealing all our grapes until I saw our flat coated retriever in amongst the vines. He was looking carefully through the vines and then found what he was looking for a nice bunch of grapes. He proceeded to down them without looking the slightest bit guilty. He also loves eating fruit from our orchard and so far I have seen him eat plums, apples, peaches, apricots and loquats. My golden retriever will eat apples and loquats but turns his nose up at the rest.:)

[Tuckervill]

My golden retriever mix picks up fresh pecans out of the yard, crunches them open and eats as much of the nut as she can. She taught my other dog that pecans are yummy, but he never cracks them open for himself. She cracks them, gets what she can out and then he comes and cleans up what he can. If I shell them and toss them, they both eat them up like they're cat food treats.

Karen

[Zen]

Trekhawk, keep that dog away from the grapes! Grapes and raisins are toxic for dogs!! (http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/f/grape_raisin.htm)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When I was growing up in Greenwich Village during the Beatnik era (1950's-early 1960's), everyone who was 'hip' had avocado pits growing on their windowsills. They never got very bushy or had fruit, but they could get 4-6 feet high with multiple branches if you had them in a sunny window in a good pot of soil.
It was a part of life then in the village, and to this day I always associate avocado pits with toothpicks in water with beat poets in sandals and wild grown-up parties. :cool:

[lph]

My golden retriever mix picks up fresh pecans out of the yard, crunches them open and eats as much of the nut as she can. She taught my other dog that pecans are yummy, but he never cracks them open for himself. She cracks them, gets what she can out and then he comes and cleans up what he can. If I shell them and toss them, they both eat them up like they're cat food treats.

Karen

Growing up I had a pony who loved citrus fruits. She once raided a shopping bag by biting a hole right into it and chewing up four entire grapefruits, peel and all. :rolleyes:

[Trekhawk]

Trekhawk, keep that dog away from the grapes! Grapes and raisins are toxic for dogs!! (http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/f/grape_raisin.htm)

Thanks for the info. He has not shown any side effects to eating grapes but I will keep him away from them. My sister in-law is a vet so I will ask her about it.

[ClockworkOrange]

My two beagles ate anything and everything, the times I caught them pinching our food off the table.....grrrrrrrrrr! But how I loved them...........now that was 20 years ago. :(

Now Zen, when are we going to see some photos of said avocado plant?

Here we go, an idea for still life once it grows up. :D

http://www.blurtit.com/var/group/images/g/g1/g12/g122/g122785_avocado.jpg

Clock

[Zen]

HA!
I hope that baby doesn't have her daddy's nose:D