What can I do to help my avocado plant bloom?

Question

I planted an avocado pit from the grocery store--the plant is now about five feet tall and about four years old. It has shown buds along the stem, but these have not developed at all. It lives in a Midwest climate, outside in the summer and inside in the winter. It continues to grow vertically while the flower buds remain dormant. What can I do to trigger growth in the buds?

Answer 1

Give it time, and since it's pot-grown, makes sure you feed it now and then. Try giving it a general fertilizer for a blooming plants. Nitrogen-high fertilizer will most likely produce lush leaf growth, but not flowers.

And yes, you can't get avacados without a tree of the opposite sex, but it should still flower. Flowers appear in January to March, before the new seasonal growth period.

Answer 2

Avacados have to be 7-9 years old to bear. Bad news is you need male AND female trees.