How to grow and care for pitted avocados at home
Avocados have a pleasant taste and are rich in vitamins, vegetable fats and minerals. They say that exotic fruit: rejuvenates cells, improves memory, restores efficiency. Medicines are prepared from the fruits, and the oil is used in cosmetics, perfumes and colognes. Gardeners have learned to cultivate both lemons and tangerines on the balcony or windowsill, collect a good harvest of citrus fruits, but few people know how to grow an avocado from a seed at home and do not dare to try.
Content
- 1 Botanical description
- 2 Differences between home and garden avocado
- 3 Which bone is suitable for germination
- 4 Optimal timing for the procedure
- 5 Conditions for good tree growth
- 6 Ways and stages of sprouting avocado seed
- 7 Why the avocado seed won't sprout
- 8 Further care
- 9 Do I need to vaccinate
- 10 Will avocado bloom and bear fruit?
Botanical description
The culture from the Lavrov family came to Europe from Mexico. The height of the trees on which the fruits ripen in the shape of a pear, ball or ellipse reaches 20 meters. The evergreen plant has oval long leaves, small nondescript flowers are located in their axils. Avocados can be about 5 cm in size, but large fruits are more common, and some specimens weigh more than 1.5 kg.
The ripe fruit has an almost black skin, but it is often sold on the shelves. unripe avocados... In the tender yellow-green pulp of the fruit, there is a lot of fat, there is practically no sugar, in the middle there is one single, but large bone. It is dried and used to treat many diseases.
Only the pulp is eaten, the consistency is similar to oil, the taste does not resemble a fruit, but a vegetable with a barely noticeable hint of nut.
Neither the peel nor the bone of the fruit can be eaten, the persin present in their composition releases toxins, which is fraught with allergies and indigestion.
Differences between home and garden avocado
Under natural conditions, the “alligator pear” tree, which is valued for its unusual fruits, reaches 20 m in height. In mid-latitudes, the avocado only survives in the greenhouse and in the house. The leaves of the plant, as in the natural environment, usually do not fall off, and when they fall off, young new ones appear. The height of an avocado in indoor conditions rarely reaches 2.5 meters, and if it bears fruit, then the berries are much smaller than they ripen in the tropics.
With the correct formation of the crown, the tree looks beautiful, it is grown at home for decorative purposes. Avocado loves warmth, does not tolerate frost, and when asked whether it can be planted in the yard, experts say no.
Which bone is suitable for germination
Cuttings are not used for propagation of a tropical culture, since they do not take root well, and they are not sold anywhere. Fresh avocado fruit can be purchased without any problem. The peel of the ripe fruit is almost black and tough. A bone from it almost always sprouts, but this will take not a week, but months, and sometimes six months. In order to pull the seed out of the pulp, special efforts are not required.
Optimal timing for the procedure
In order for the seed to sprout faster and the tree to develop well, you need to know when to plant it better. Despite the fact that the temperature in the apartment is always approximately the same, the plants are most active in the spring. It is during this period that all the seeds are sown, it is best suited for planting avocado seeds.
Conditions for good tree growth
To decorate a room with a tropical culture, to accelerate its development, you need to find a place in the house where the tree will feel good. Growing a tropical culture isn't all that difficult if you take care of it properly.
Watering
Avocados naturally grow in hot, humid climates. It is necessary to irrigate the soil in a pot or tub regularly, especially often in the summer. The tree is watered a day or 2 later, after the topsoil dries. The plant does not tolerate stagnant water.
Air humidity
To create conditions close to the tropics, a pot of avocado is placed in a tray with wet expanded clay. Spraying daily with warm water also provides the high moisture needed for the exotic crop to grow and develop.
Location and lighting
It is better to put a pot with a tree on the windowsill. To prevent the bright summer sun from burning the delicate leaves, at first the seedling needs to be shaded a little. Avocados love light, so phytolamps are additionally installed in autumn or early spring. The ideal place for an exotic guest is a window that faces west or south.
Temperature regime
An evergreen tree loves heat, does not tolerate cold, and sheds leaves already at 12 degrees. It is not advised to take a pot with a plant outside even in a warm period, since it is afraid of drafts. In summer, avocados feel comfortable indoors, but in winter the temperature should be kept at 20 ° C.
Ways and stages of sprouting avocado seed
To harvest seed, you need to buy a ripe fruit without spots and cracks, which, when pressed, regains its shape. An incision is made in the avocado pulp, through which the seed is pulled out, washed carefully so as not to scratch the shell.
In a closed way into the ground
There are 2 methods for germinating avocado seeds. In the first option, the landing site is first prepared:
- A layer of expanded clay or fine gravel is placed on the bottom of the pot.
- To get a suitable soil, combine the same amount of humus, sand and earth from the garden.
- The mixture is filled into a container, lacking a couple of centimeters to the top.
The bone must be deepened 2.5 mm with the blunt end down. When the seed sprouts, the tree continues to grow in the same pot.
Open way into water
Another method of planting avocados involves placing the seed in a container of liquid.
What water should you put the avocado in, which end
In the middle of the seed, 3 or 4 holes are pierced, in each of which toothpicks are placed, so that the upper part of the seed remains on the surface.The grain is immersed in a glass of cool water - better thawed or passed through a filter, you can use a hydrogel. The liquid is constantly topped up so that the level does not change.
How to plant a sprouted bone
When the sprout reaches 3 cm, it is moved into a pot with holes, deepening 1/3 into the ground, with the root down. Do not bury, break off, or remove an avocado seed.
How many days does it take for a sprout to germinate
With the closed method, when the avocado seed is planted directly in the ground, the pot is placed in a warm, well-lit place and watered abundantly, after a month or even 20 days a pink sprout appears. With open cultivation, it will take at least 2 weeks to form avocado roots, maximum 6.
If you just stick the seed into the ground, the process will drag on for at least 3 months.
Why the avocado seed won't sprout
In order for a guest from the tropics to please with beauty and fruits, you need to constantly take care of him from the moment the seed is planted, but sometimes a month or two passes, and the sprout does not appear.
The reasons
The ripe fruit has a dark and hard skin. If you use a seed from a green fruit for planting, it does not germinate, because it did not have time to ripen. If the seed is placed in dry soil or in soil that does not allow moisture to pass through, the grain will simply dry out and not germinate.
Techniques for stimulating shoot growth
In order for the seedling to develop well, you need to monitor the moisture content of the soil in the pot, it should not dry out. When the avocado is about 15 cm tall, the trunk is cut in half. After such a procedure, the tree grows well, additional shoots are formed. It reacts positively to spraying the leaves, the introduction of mineral components.
Further care
If you take care of the tree correctly, the avocado will thank you with a decorative look and decorate the interior.
Top dressing
When growing a tropical guest in a room or apartment, it is enough to apply ready-made complex fertilizers to the soil once a month or alternating mineral fertilizers with organic matter. In September, feeding is stopped and resumed only in April. How much nutrients an avocado needs depends on its age and size.
Pinching
At home, the tree reaches 15–20 meters in height, a tropical crop grows quickly in a pot, and it often has to be transplanted into a container with a larger diameter. To prevent the tree from stretching, pinch the top, and when the side branches appear, they are covered with leaves, these shoots are also shortened.
Pruning and shaping the crown
To give the avocado a decorative look, to decorate the premises, just a little experience in caring for indoor plants and flowers is enough. In early spring, shoots are cut to form a crown. They can be bent and tied up to branch better, and the tree looks great as a bush.
Irrigation
A tropical plant loves moisture, it needs to be watered often, but not to allow stagnation of water in the pot. Avocado leaves will shine, have a rich color, if the air around the container with an exotic culture is regularly sprayed. In winter, the amount of watering is reduced.
Do I need to vaccinate
Usually at home, avocados are grown for decorative purposes. When planting seeds, the berries may appear when the tree reaches a height of 2 meters. To speed up fruiting, it is grafted with a cuttings, but this tropical culture has a complicated pollination mechanism, it is not a fact that the result will be positive.
Will avocado bloom and bear fruit?
An overseas guest turns into an adult plant at the age of six, when the tree usually pleases with a harvest of fruit and has already prepared for this process. But in a house or in an apartment, avocado rarely blooms, and it is even more difficult to wait for the ovary to form, but some gardeners manage to collect fruits.
