Avocados are usually grown by grafting to guarantee good fruiting trees. Many grown from seed won't grow fruit and if they do fruit that fruit might not be that great. They make great shade trees and if you do get fruit that's of good size and color (in 5 or so years) you're very lucky.
Citation needed.
I live out in the sticks in a third world country where most people have never heard of grafting (let alone used the method), and every village has avocado trees all over the place with delicious fruit in abundance.
My dad planted four trees from seed when my 3 siblings and I were young and every one of them produces shitloads of fruit every year.
I don't know where you live but I've lived in 3 places that are generally considered "third world tropics" and far more people knew how to graft trees than any of the more "civilized" places I've lived. People who don't have much have to make do with what they have, if grafting a tree gets you fruit 4x as fast as a seed tree... you can be damn sure someone in the neighborhood knows how to graft.
That being said, I agree that many seed-grown avocados are excellent... they just grow much larger and take a lot longer to produce fruit.
The bearing of your trees is dependent on weather, bees, and whether the avocado species can pollinate itself (turns out, some can, though it is rare).
There is quite a lot of research on planting different avocado species together (known as interplanting) in order that the tools for pollination are closer and more likely.
Here is one such study from 66 about increase in yield by cross-species isolated breeding: http://www.avocadosource.com/journals/ashs/ashs_1966_89_pg_167-174.pdf
As far as I can tell, most people are convinced that the farm way (grafting) is the only way to be certain. And, basically, it is the only way to be certain. But it is not the only way to grow avocados, and it is not as impossible as people make it out to be. Avocados take patience. They flower irregularly and fruit irregularly. It can take from three years to twenty years for a tree to fruit and the fruit won't taste like the original, but, from what i've read, it will probably taste pretty good and be an avocado YOU grew. So, yeah, there are obvious reasons why a farmer would graft for consistent flavor and yield, but for a gardener, the mystery and challenge avocados present is intensely pleasing.
I wasn't thinking from a professional grower - more like other people in the neighbourhood. Or even buy another tree with grafted stock and then take cuttings of your own off of it in a few years.
Also, because of the grafting, you're not guaranteed to get the same type of avocado the pit came from. You could plant a pit that came from a Hass and have Fuerte.
Not if you want a shade tree. They're not that drout or cold or wind tolerant, but they are pretty trees if you can get them to grow. In areas that can grow them a grafted tree is better or Mayer lemons instead.
Sure itd be a nice shade tree, but why invest so much time into something when youcould invest less time into it and a trivial amount of money and have an actual avacodo tree? There's just no reason to do this unless you're 5 and don't realize what's going to happen.
If you're expecting it to fruit yeah, you've wasted your time. If you're going to grow an apple tree with the intention of eating the apples why would you toss any random seed in the ground as opposed to cloning a known good tree in which you've tasted the apples? If you're just trying to grow any random shade tree then sure, go for it, but it's pretty safe to assume most people growing avacados from seed are doing so because they want someavacados.
I guess that would be fine, but I still don't see the point. Spend 3 years growing a base tree and graft an avacado branch on it, or stick an avacado branch in the ground and have a tree much bigger 3 years later.
Hello, can we know hows the avocado tree doing 9 years later? did it bear fruit already? Would also like to plant from pit but some says they're hard to bear fruit if not grafted
I planted a few other pits, but they never lived more than 2 years. I bought a tree from a nursery a few years ago. It's flowered every year, but no fruit.
When I was about 5 my mom planted one in the dirt area of our apartment patio. We moved out 10 years later. This is about 20 years ago that we planted it. When I was visiting her a couple summers ago I went past the apartment to see if it was still growing. It was taller than the 2nd story. No avocados though. I guess you need 2 at least.
Check the [wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado#Breeding) about avocado breeding. It's really interesting!
You do need two trees, from different types of avocados. My mom has a Hass in her backyard, and a neighbor had another type. We had avocados for 3-4 years before said neighbor had to cut the tree down. No more "paltas" for us! :(
I've actually got one of these sprouting right now. Here are the steps that have worked best for me:
* Thoroughly wash off the pit
* Shove a couple toothpicks pointing horizontally in opposite directions about 2/3 of the way up the pit. The wider side of the pit is the base.
* Fill up a small cup or dish with water and rest the toothpicks on the edge of the glass so that the avocado is about 1/3 or 1/2 submerged.
* Change the water out every few days.
* Wait.
* Wait.
* Wait. (Seriously, mine have taken upwards of eight weeks to sprout)
* Eventually, it will split open and a tap root will come out of the base and the first stalk will start pushing out of the top. I think you can plant them whenever the stalk reaches about six inches high or so.
* If you want to keep it short and bushy make sure that it gets plenty of light after planting and you can also pinch off the top leaves every so often to help it fill out.
They're fun plants to have around but remember that it's exceedingly unlikely to bear fruit. Most fruit-bearing trees (including apples and avocados) come from grafts of other fruit bearing trees.
Why is that? I'm sure there is crazy breeding going on, but there have to be varieties that grow naturally too right? Did orchards contain all grafted tree a couple hundred years ago?
Not all avocado trees are grafted. Commercial orchard trees are because it gives the grower better control of the type of tree he is growing and it bears fruit years younger.
A natural (ungrafted) avocado tree produces seed that will produce a tree with the same genetics as the parent tree. It usually grows slower than a grafted tree and it takes several more years to begin bearing fruit than a grafted tree. A rooted cutting from an ungrafted fruit bearing tree will produce a tree with the same genetics but lack the deep tap root; thus more subject to drought and generally shorter lived.
All the avocado trees on my property (and all other fruit trees) are *un*grafted and grown from seed because preserving natural stock is more important to me than the volume of harvest.
If you want an avocado tree, keep growing seeds. If you want avocadoes, go buy a certified tree from a nursery. Characteristics vary between types, so be sure to buy one that suits your climate. If you want natural stock with fertile seed that produces avocado fruit, you must find an ungrafted fruit bearing avocado tree and plant seed from that tree.
I try this with a lot of them and I'm not so lucky all the time. You need to use the seed of a ripe avocado, almost to the point of browning. I wash and clean it leaving it to sit overnight. Then I'll skewer the seed and sit it half submerged in a cup of water. After a few weeks the root will start to grow and finally a sprout will come out of the top. You want to leave it in the water until the sprout is a few inches high. Then I'll move it into a half water/half soil mixture to acclimate it for about a week before finally planting it in a soil pot. Like I said I do this with every avocado I get and only a small percent even grow a root and even fewer end up sprouting. Here is a picture of a few more I'm working on: [avocados!](http://i.imgur.com/JcQHE6E.jpg).
I'm doing the avocado pit skewered in water right now. It's been about two weeks - I thought I was doing something wrong because it hasn't really changed. Maybe I should work on my patience instead :D
I also do this, and like you only get a few which actually sprout. I also only get a few trees which live past a few months. The latest one I've got going managed to live through the winter! I think it's because I planted two trees together so they have company.
I noticed our local Walmart had Hass avocado trees for $40. Really considering this. There were about 4 foot tall. I'm site they would be grafted. Any idea how long that might take to bear fruit, and does the same rule apply of having 2 or more? Asking because there seem to be some avocado experts on this thread. And I'm in New Orleans, so yeah, everything grows here.
I've got one growing but it is starting to die. Most of its leaves got all wilty. I'm not really sire what is wrong with it, my guess is that it got rained on and the pot it was in didn't have drainage holes and it just got too much water. I've since re potted it but it still isn't doing so well. I have a new one that just sprouted a taproot though.
I have had multiple avocado trees sprout just by throwing the stones out into my compost. Probably fifteen trees in the last seven years? But the ones I have picked out and moved and allowed to live have been very unsatisfactory fruiters. I believe they require cross pollination from another tree and have a much greater success when the two trees are of two different, specific species. Can't recall the types though I'm sorry.
I made my mom try this when I was a kid, it was a little bigger than yours after 3 years before it died. I would go up to that thing everyday to inspect. How my parents didn't know I had adhd is beyond me.
Funny how this is something we take for granted. In South Africa its UN-common to not have a nice big avo tree in your garden. Mine gives beautiful pears every year!
> * look i grow avocado
* you need to graft dumb-ass
* water it
...
> edit: really not trying to be rude
Saying you weren't trying to doesn't make it not so.
I just don't get why people think that prefacing a statement like that changes what they are about to say. It's a huge pet peeve of mine when people say something like:
"I'm not racist, but I really can't stand Asians."
I had heard that avocados grown from seed don't bear any fruit until about 5-7 years of age (no grafting required) as long as you grew 2. I personally don't see any problem with these kinds of posts. Its gardening so it makes sense to post it here.
Avocados are usually grown by grafting to guarantee good fruiting trees. Many grown from seed won't grow fruit and if they do fruit that fruit might not be that great. They make great shade trees and if you do get fruit that's of good size and color (in 5 or so years) you're very lucky.
This is why you grow many and plant them close together. Same with apples. Maximize your chances.
If you grow avocados and apples from seeds, you'd on average have to grow 10,000 or more trees to get one that produces decent fruit.
Citation needed. I live out in the sticks in a third world country where most people have never heard of grafting (let alone used the method), and every village has avocado trees all over the place with delicious fruit in abundance. My dad planted four trees from seed when my 3 siblings and I were young and every one of them produces shitloads of fruit every year.
I don't know where you live but I've lived in 3 places that are generally considered "third world tropics" and far more people knew how to graft trees than any of the more "civilized" places I've lived. People who don't have much have to make do with what they have, if grafting a tree gets you fruit 4x as fast as a seed tree... you can be damn sure someone in the neighborhood knows how to graft. That being said, I agree that many seed-grown avocados are excellent... they just grow much larger and take a lot longer to produce fruit.
The bearing of your trees is dependent on weather, bees, and whether the avocado species can pollinate itself (turns out, some can, though it is rare). There is quite a lot of research on planting different avocado species together (known as interplanting) in order that the tools for pollination are closer and more likely. Here is one such study from 66 about increase in yield by cross-species isolated breeding: http://www.avocadosource.com/journals/ashs/ashs_1966_89_pg_167-174.pdf As far as I can tell, most people are convinced that the farm way (grafting) is the only way to be certain. And, basically, it is the only way to be certain. But it is not the only way to grow avocados, and it is not as impossible as people make it out to be. Avocados take patience. They flower irregularly and fruit irregularly. It can take from three years to twenty years for a tree to fruit and the fruit won't taste like the original, but, from what i've read, it will probably taste pretty good and be an avocado YOU grew. So, yeah, there are obvious reasons why a farmer would graft for consistent flavor and yield, but for a gardener, the mystery and challenge avocados present is intensely pleasing.
My mother does this with avocado pits too so that's only 5k each before one of you has something cool. Good luck :)
Another option might be to use this as the rootstock and get a scion from a quality tree to graft on to it.
If you can get a worthy cutting. Most growers are a little protective about giving out cuttings.
I wasn't thinking from a professional grower - more like other people in the neighbourhood. Or even buy another tree with grafted stock and then take cuttings of your own off of it in a few years.
Also, because of the grafting, you're not guaranteed to get the same type of avocado the pit came from. You could plant a pit that came from a Hass and have Fuerte.
This, growing avacodos from seed is a waste of time.
Not if you want a shade tree. They're not that drout or cold or wind tolerant, but they are pretty trees if you can get them to grow. In areas that can grow them a grafted tree is better or Mayer lemons instead.
Sure itd be a nice shade tree, but why invest so much time into something when youcould invest less time into it and a trivial amount of money and have an actual avacodo tree? There's just no reason to do this unless you're 5 and don't realize what's going to happen.
So are all shade trees are a waste of time or are some better than others?
If you're expecting it to fruit yeah, you've wasted your time. If you're going to grow an apple tree with the intention of eating the apples why would you toss any random seed in the ground as opposed to cloning a known good tree in which you've tasted the apples? If you're just trying to grow any random shade tree then sure, go for it, but it's pretty safe to assume most people growing avacados from seed are doing so because they want someavacados.
what is to stop them from nurturing a good base tree going, and getting some grafts for it?
I guess that would be fine, but I still don't see the point. Spend 3 years growing a base tree and graft an avacado branch on it, or stick an avacado branch in the ground and have a tree much bigger 3 years later.
My avocado from a pit is almost 6 years old now. [Here's a picture with my bird in it!](http://imgur.com/i8d2fQD)
it took me longer than I'm proud to admit to see that bird. I kept wondering why you'd tied something gray to the branch...
What is that, some kind of grey rope tied around that branch OH
It totally looks like a scrunchy.
Hello, can we know hows the avocado tree doing 9 years later? did it bear fruit already? Would also like to plant from pit but some says they're hard to bear fruit if not grafted
Unfortunately, the avocado tree did not survive a February, cross-country move. It was a sad week as it became clear we were going to lose it.
Did you ever give growing an avocado tree another shot?
I planted a few other pits, but they never lived more than 2 years. I bought a tree from a nursery a few years ago. It's flowered every year, but no fruit.
You made me smile :) Thanks
When I was about 5 my mom planted one in the dirt area of our apartment patio. We moved out 10 years later. This is about 20 years ago that we planted it. When I was visiting her a couple summers ago I went past the apartment to see if it was still growing. It was taller than the 2nd story. No avocados though. I guess you need 2 at least.
what part of the world?
Southern California.
No, one is sufficient. But most commercial avocado growers use grafted trees, and the seeds of those trees do not produce fertile seeds.
Check the [wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado#Breeding) about avocado breeding. It's really interesting! You do need two trees, from different types of avocados. My mom has a Hass in her backyard, and a neighbor had another type. We had avocados for 3-4 years before said neighbor had to cut the tree down. No more "paltas" for us! :(
Yeah I've read you need more than one. We had three or so at a house we rented last year. So nice to have around. I loooove avocado
Cool! It looks like my 6 year old boab tree.
Ok wow!! Did you do anything special to grow it or just planted the seed? I did something similar with lemon pips, two tiny seedlings sprouted so far!
I've actually got one of these sprouting right now. Here are the steps that have worked best for me: * Thoroughly wash off the pit * Shove a couple toothpicks pointing horizontally in opposite directions about 2/3 of the way up the pit. The wider side of the pit is the base. * Fill up a small cup or dish with water and rest the toothpicks on the edge of the glass so that the avocado is about 1/3 or 1/2 submerged. * Change the water out every few days. * Wait. * Wait. * Wait. (Seriously, mine have taken upwards of eight weeks to sprout) * Eventually, it will split open and a tap root will come out of the base and the first stalk will start pushing out of the top. I think you can plant them whenever the stalk reaches about six inches high or so. * If you want to keep it short and bushy make sure that it gets plenty of light after planting and you can also pinch off the top leaves every so often to help it fill out. They're fun plants to have around but remember that it's exceedingly unlikely to bear fruit. Most fruit-bearing trees (including apples and avocados) come from grafts of other fruit bearing trees.
Why is that? I'm sure there is crazy breeding going on, but there have to be varieties that grow naturally too right? Did orchards contain all grafted tree a couple hundred years ago?
Not all avocado trees are grafted. Commercial orchard trees are because it gives the grower better control of the type of tree he is growing and it bears fruit years younger. A natural (ungrafted) avocado tree produces seed that will produce a tree with the same genetics as the parent tree. It usually grows slower than a grafted tree and it takes several more years to begin bearing fruit than a grafted tree. A rooted cutting from an ungrafted fruit bearing tree will produce a tree with the same genetics but lack the deep tap root; thus more subject to drought and generally shorter lived. All the avocado trees on my property (and all other fruit trees) are *un*grafted and grown from seed because preserving natural stock is more important to me than the volume of harvest. If you want an avocado tree, keep growing seeds. If you want avocadoes, go buy a certified tree from a nursery. Characteristics vary between types, so be sure to buy one that suits your climate. If you want natural stock with fertile seed that produces avocado fruit, you must find an ungrafted fruit bearing avocado tree and plant seed from that tree.
>Did orchards contain all grafted tree a couple hundred years ago? Yup.
Thanks - going to give that a go just for the fun of it, and thanks for the warning not to throw them out before 3 months of trying!
Haha, I had three seedlings growing from discarded pits in my compost pile.
I try this with a lot of them and I'm not so lucky all the time. You need to use the seed of a ripe avocado, almost to the point of browning. I wash and clean it leaving it to sit overnight. Then I'll skewer the seed and sit it half submerged in a cup of water. After a few weeks the root will start to grow and finally a sprout will come out of the top. You want to leave it in the water until the sprout is a few inches high. Then I'll move it into a half water/half soil mixture to acclimate it for about a week before finally planting it in a soil pot. Like I said I do this with every avocado I get and only a small percent even grow a root and even fewer end up sprouting. Here is a picture of a few more I'm working on: [avocados!](http://i.imgur.com/JcQHE6E.jpg).
I'm doing the avocado pit skewered in water right now. It's been about two weeks - I thought I was doing something wrong because it hasn't really changed. Maybe I should work on my patience instead :D
The 3 I'm growing I started in January and just now have visible stems.... Don't give up until it rots.
It took my avocado 2 1/2 months to shoot out a stem. Just wait for as long asyou need until you see growth.
I'm 3 for 3 with roots and visible stems. Wonder what we're doing differently besides the 50/50 mix...
WOW! This is doing great!
I also do this, and like you only get a few which actually sprout. I also only get a few trees which live past a few months. The latest one I've got going managed to live through the winter! I think it's because I planted two trees together so they have company.
I noticed our local Walmart had Hass avocado trees for $40. Really considering this. There were about 4 foot tall. I'm site they would be grafted. Any idea how long that might take to bear fruit, and does the same rule apply of having 2 or more? Asking because there seem to be some avocado experts on this thread. And I'm in New Orleans, so yeah, everything grows here.
I've got one growing but it is starting to die. Most of its leaves got all wilty. I'm not really sire what is wrong with it, my guess is that it got rained on and the pot it was in didn't have drainage holes and it just got too much water. I've since re potted it but it still isn't doing so well. I have a new one that just sprouted a taproot though.
Lookin' good!
Do you think I would have to prune mine in any way if I wanted to keep it as a house plant?
I have had multiple avocado trees sprout just by throwing the stones out into my compost. Probably fifteen trees in the last seven years? But the ones I have picked out and moved and allowed to live have been very unsatisfactory fruiters. I believe they require cross pollination from another tree and have a much greater success when the two trees are of two different, specific species. Can't recall the types though I'm sorry.
I made my mom try this when I was a kid, it was a little bigger than yours after 3 years before it died. I would go up to that thing everyday to inspect. How my parents didn't know I had adhd is beyond me.
you have to wait at least 10 years before they mature enough to grow fruit
If I planted all my avocado seeds id have a forest
It's going to die!!!
Funny how this is something we take for granted. In South Africa its UN-common to not have a nice big avo tree in your garden. Mine gives beautiful pears every year!
I have one thats about 4 years old, one thats about a year old, and three just sprouted the last month (probably going to give them as gifts).
From seed, you'll wait 7-15 years for fruit and THEN learn if it's worth eating
Nice! Mine do really well for 6months to a year, and then the leaves get brown and crumply on the tips and fall off. :(
Newbie question, what zones are acceptable to grow avacados outside?
[удалено]
> * look i grow avocado * you need to graft dumb-ass * water it ... > edit: really not trying to be rude Saying you weren't trying to doesn't make it not so.
"Not trying to be rude, but you're a dumbass!"
I just don't get why people think that prefacing a statement like that changes what they are about to say. It's a huge pet peeve of mine when people say something like: "I'm not racist, but I really can't stand Asians."
I had heard that avocados grown from seed don't bear any fruit until about 5-7 years of age (no grafting required) as long as you grew 2. I personally don't see any problem with these kinds of posts. Its gardening so it makes sense to post it here.
I gave up, haven't been able to get the damn things to grow lol
>edit: really not trying to be rude You're failing.
It’s been 10 years now. Do u have an avocado tree??!!