Growing an avocado stone
My earliest avocado related memory is my Dad trying to grow one of the stones. It lay covered in compost on the kitchen windowsill until we noticed a horrible smell wafting around. The stone had gone rotten. Needless to say, we never did get any avocados. I'd forgotten all about it until recently when I decided to try growing one myself.
Don't let my story above put you off, growing an avocado stone is simpler than you think. Place three toothpicks into the stone (pointy end up) and soak the bottom half in water. Then wait. And wait… and wait. If you are someone who likes quick results, growing avocado stones is probably not the hobby for you.
I came across a few different methods of preparing the stone. Thankfully we both like chomping through avocados so I had plenty of stones to use. Front left to right in the photo above:
- Washed clean and suspended in water
- Wiped clean but not washed clean (started to grow white mould)
- Soaked and peeled the outer layer off
- Washed clean and removed the outer layer on the bottom third
- Washed clean and suspended in water
One month later, the stone I peeled at the bottom cracked and opened up! I'm still waiting for roots to form but it looks promising so far.
The stone below has been growing for three months and is the first one I washed and suspended in water. A green shoot growing through the split was a welcome sight after two months of waiting.
Here's a closeup of the guts.
After a couple of weeks of slow progress, I decided to plant it out. Some people suggest leaving the stone in water until the first leaves appear, others say to plant it in soil once growth slows (which is what I did). Fingers crossed some leaves appear soon and I don't kill it.
I wasn't going to share any photos until I had a fully grown plant, but that was before I realised how long it would take to get to this point. Just having roots and a stem feels like an achievement. And you know, in another 6 years I may have my first homegrown avocado — that's not a joke, they really do take that long. To be honest I'll be happy with a nice houseplant and anything edible will be a bonus.
Update: my avocado plant one year on.
