Breaking news: you can’t grow avocados from an avocado pit
Have you finally managed to grow a little plant from an avocado pit after a lot of trial and error? Then we have some disappointing news for you. There’s a good chance that not a single avocado will grow on it. And even if you do manage to harvest something, that avocado won’t be edible. How is that possible? This avocado farmer explains.
Tom Siddons of Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm knows exactly how it works. Huge quantities of Hass avocados are grown on his farm in Florida. But Tom also knows this: if you want to grow avocados, you can’t start with the pit of a delicious avocado. Even if a plant grows from it and you manage to grow it into a tree, there’s virtually no chance that it will produce tasty fruit. That’s because avocados are not, as he puts it, true to seed.
On the windowsill
If you eat a delicious, juicy peach, save the pit and put it in the soil. A peach tree can grow from that pit, producing exactly the kind of delicious peaches you started with. Unfortunately, an avocado tree doesn’t work that way. When your tree is about four years old, it could theoretically start flowering, and avocados could grow from those flowers. If that succeeds, don’t count on creamy guacamole or avocado toast: those fruits will most likely be inedible. The avocados that grow from your plant will also have no pit. To get such a perfect avocado, you need to make sure that the right varieties come together when the flowers are pollinated to produce a good flavor. No, that’s not going to happen on your windowsill.
Stick toothpicks in it
Still feel like trying? Wash your avocado pit thoroughly, sand it down a little and stick cocktail toothpicks into it. Then balance the pit on a glass of water, with the toothpicks resting on the rim, so that the pit hangs partly in the water while remaining mostly dry. If all goes well, you’ll get small shoots after about six weeks. Plant the pit in a small pot, leaving part of it above the soil, and care for your little plant as if it were a baby. After years of water, light and love, you might get your first avocados. And was Tim right?
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