how to start an avocado plant from a pit?

Answer 1

Open the avocado and remove the pit from the center. You can eat the fruit of the avocado, it's yummy and is full of nutrients!*

Wash the avocado pit under cool running water, you don't need soap to clean it. With your fingers gently wipe away and remove any of the green fruit that might be on the pit. Rinse it well and then blot it dry with a paper towel.


Carefully push three toothpicks into the thickest width of avocado, you want to push the toothpicks into the pit about a 1/2" deep. (It's okay if you push them in deeper or even a little less) The toothpicks will help suspend the avocado pit in water and keep the top part of the pit in fresh air and the fat base of the pit under the surface of the water. Be careful pushing in the toothpicks, they have pointy edges and could hurt if they poke your hands, it's all right to ask a grown-up to help with this.


Suspend the pit over a glass filled with water....the toothpicks will rest on the rim of the glass and hold the pit in place so it doesn't sink to the bottom. Always check the water level in the glass and see that the water is covering the fat base of the pit by about an inch depth. If the water is below that level you'll need to add some more. Slowly and carefully pour in more water from a small cup to avoid splashing.


Place the glass in a bright windowsill. In about three to six weeks the top of the avocado pit will begin to split and a stem sprout will emerge from the top and roots will begin to grow at the base.


When the stem grows to about five or six inches pinch out the top set of leaves. In another two or three weeks new leaves will sprout and their will be more roots.


It's now time to plant the young avocado tree. Place enriched potting soil in a large flowerpot (maybe 8" to 10" across). Fill the soil to about an inch from the top of the pot. Make a small depression in the center of the soil and place the pit, root-side down into the depression. Don't put it too deep...you want to have the upper half of the pit above the soil line. Add some more soil around the pit to fill in any air holes by the roots and then firm it into the soil by gently pushing the soil around the base of the pit. The tree's stem and leaves should be straight and pointing up (like a flagpole).


Give the soil a drink to water the pit. Water it generously so that the soil is thoroughly moist. Water the soil slowly and gently so that when it's poured in it doesn't gouge out holes in the soil. Keep your tree watered but don't let the soil be so moist that it ever looks like mud.

Answer 2

Plants root better in the dark than in the light. Roots grow down, no matter how the seed is oriented. The avocadoes that you get from that pit won't taste like the one it came from.

If you follow the general theme of the answers that came before me you will be able to get a tree started in very little time.

Answer 3

Everybody says to do the water thing, but I think thats about the hardest way of getting the Avocado to grow! Use well draining soil with lots of perlite. Cut a small sliver off the avocado seed on the top and on the bottom. Cut a little more of the top off then the bottom. Stick the avocado seed in the soil with the "point" facing down. Let the top piece of the seed stick out of the ground "just a little." In a few weeks you will notice the avocado seed will begin to spilt and seperate. Then a small green twig will come from the center. Thats your tree! Water often, use bone meal, and slow release Dynamite fertilzer (use the slow release every 2-3 months - not the 6 months it wants you to)

Answer 4

Get 3 toothpicks and stick them into the pit at even distances. Don't stick the toothpicks in too far.....just enough to hold the pit...rest the toothpicks on the rim of a glass that is filled with water, but don't submerge the pit....just let the bottom of the pit barely touch the water, and when it sprouts, plant it.

Answer 5

I use toothpicks in the sides to hold the pit half way out of a container filled with water. Be sure to keep the container filled with water. The rounded end of the pit will root so the pointed end should be up. They make beautiful house plants.

Answer 6

the old timey way to root avocados was in the water but it is not necessary to go that route, simply clean the seed off, let it dry out for a week then plant in potting soil pointed side up, water well and keep in a sunny spot, you'll see sprout soon
I planted 8 seeds 2 months ago, 7 came up and are about
18 inches tall - makes very pretty plant

Answer 7

Take the pit and stick in three toothpicks about halfway up on the pit to support it over the container with water. The small end goes down and the water goes almost up to the toothpicks. And wait.

Answer 8

place a tooth pick through the pit to allow it to rest in some water after a week or so u will see it start opening and growing roots u may then pot it in soil they grow beautifully. I have 1 that i planted about a month ago,it's about 3 feet now.(do not submerge directly in water)

Answer 9

ok me and my grandmother used to do this when i was little. if i can remember correctly you start out with some water in a cup then you place a toothpick through or on ether side of the avacado and then place it on top of the cup (over the water) and put it in the sun. i havent done it in a long time. but im sure there are other ways too. good luck!

Answer 10

STICK 3 TOOTHPICKS IN THE PIT AND SUSPEND LOWER HALF IN GLASS OF WATER TILL IT ROOTS. THEN TRANSPLANT.