Friday, April 24, 2009

Fun Green Science Friday:
How to grow an avocado plant

I'm growing an avocado tree! I learned this trick from my mom when I was a kid. Basically, next time you eat an avocado, save the pit, stick 3 toothpicks in it, and rest it on top of a cup of water as described here. Put it on the kitchen windowsill. If your avocado pit is killer like mine, pretty soon you will have crazy roots and a plant like the one shown at left. (Change the water every couple of days. If you don't see anything after a week, start over with a fresh pit! Not all 'cados are created equal.)

Here's a pic of the gnarly roots from mine. You can see how the seed is now split in two after a few weeks of growth:

And doesn't my avocado tree look cool in this engraved pot I found lying around the garden?
Bottom line, this is a fun and easy nature activity that both kids and adults can enjoy. Happy planting!

4 comments:

therapydoc said...

Great pics. They like water, make sure you don't let 'em dry out.

Also, to start one, find a nice BIG avacado. The bigger pit will sprout much faster. The little ones never even try.

Dave L said...

This post reminds me of your report of what you did over Passover vacation in Kindergarten. While the rest of us talked about our family and the holiday, your report went something like this: “I am growing a pumpkin…”

Samurai Scientist said...

@therapydoc, good tips!

@Dave L,
your [kindergarten] report went something like this: “I am growing a pumpkin…”Very good, the first sentence of this post was meant as an allusion to that. As the sprig is curved, the tree is bent, or something like that.

chimpella said...

Oh, I am totally going to try this :) How long will it take until they are edible? They are so expensive here and you never know if you have a good one or not until it is too late.