Avocado Pits

I love avocados. 

When I was pregnant with our daughter Kaylyn, I ate avocados by the barrel.  No, seriously...I probably ate at least 1-2 avocados every day for the last month or so of my pregnancy.  I CRAAAAVED them.  I had to have them.  I could eat them alone.  I could eat them in salads.  I could eat them in tacos, burritos.  Guacamole and chips. And little did I realize at the time but avocados are really good to eat while pregnant.  They are rich with Folate which helps promote healthy cell and tissue development.

With Super Bowl this past weekend of course there was homemade Guacamole on our menu.  So so good.

I saved the pits and will be attempting to use them as a starter to an avocado tree.  Yes, I am going to attempt to start the pit to replant.

I remember my grandma always had avocado pits in glasses in her kitchen windowsill sprouting.   I was fascinated by them....but I never remember them being replanted.  Not sure what she ever did with them but they were always there. Even now as an adult when I have gone to visit my grandma (which isn't often enough; she lives in Arizona) she had them.

I figure this will be an easy project for the kids to help with and be able to watch as the roots system sprout in 2-6 weeks.  Hopefully they will be just as facinated.  From there we will transplant into a container so we can move it inside and outside the house as the weather allows.


Thank you to California Avocado Commission for the following simple steps to growing your own tree.

Growing an Avocado Houseplant

Don't throw out that seed! You can grow a beautiful houseplant or even your own tree following these simple steps.

1. Wash the seed. Using three toothpick, suspend it broad end down over a water-filled glass to cover about an inch of the seed.
2. Put it in a warm place out of direct sunlight and replenish water as needed. You should see roots and stem sprout in about two to six weeks.
3. When the stem is six to seven inches long, cut it back to about three inches.
4. When the roots are thick and the stem has leafed out again, plant it in a rich humus soil in a 10-1/2" diameter pot, leaving the seed half exposed.
5. Give it frequent, light waterings with an occasional deep soak. Generally, the soil should be moist but not saturated. Yellowing leaves are a sign of over-watering; let the plant dry out for a few days.
6. The more sunlight, the better.
7. If leaves turn brown and fry at the tips, too much salt has accumulated in the soil. Let water run freely into the pot and drain for several minutes.
8. When the stem is 12 inches high, cut it back to 6 inches to encourage the growth of new shoots.
9. While it is true that you can grow a tree from an avocado seed, keep in mind that a tree grown from seed will be very different from its parent variety and may take 7-15 years to begin producing fruit. Fruit from a tree grown from seed tends to have different flavor characteristics than their parent variety. Known varieties such as Hass avocados are grafted to preserve their varietal characteristics rather than grown from a seed.





Did you know that an avocado is considered a fruit not a vegetable?  I didn't either.

I am linking up this post with Stacy at Not Just A Housewife.