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Writer's pictureMatt Suprunowicz

How to Grow an Avocado Tree

Updated: Jul 25, 2023


What you can’t grow outside, grow inside!


 

This Lesson Plan is part the Home, Gardening, and Nutrition modules of SustainEd Farms' virtual programming.

Background: Growing an Avocado Tree

Have you recently made some guacamole and have an avocado pit (or two) that you are about to compost? Well, if your pit is still intact, consider starting your own avocado tree in your home. If you live in a tropical climate and can grow multiple trees for cross-pollination, who knows? -- perhaps you’ll be able to bear fruit eventually! Until then, and for people in drier, cooler climates, the avocado tree will act as a nice house plant to watch grow.


Learning Objectives

Students will be able to...

  • Use an avocado pit to start their own avocado tree

  • Observe roots and shoots growing


Academic Vocabulary

avocado pit /avəˈkädō pit/ noun. - the seed of an avocado


Directions

1. Gather your materials. You will need the following supplies:


1 avocado pit · toothpicks · a mason jar or other jar filled with water


🥑Colorado residents: just know that… your tree is unlikely to bear fruit for a long time, if at all. Avocado trees will not bear fruit for 15 years and need the right moisture and temperature conditions to grow, as well as cross-pollination.


2. Watch the following YouTube video to see a demonstration of how to start an avocado tree. Then, follow along with the remainder of the lesson below.



3. Once you’ve finished an avocado, remove the pit as gently as you can. Removing it with a knife, as you might do when you plan to dispose of the pit, is probably a bad idea. Try to scoop it out with a spoon.


4. Identify the “pointy” and “broad” end of the avocado seed. You will want the broad end of the avocado submerged in water (for a better distribution of weight, and a larger surface touching the water).


Avocado cartoon

5. Using your hands, insert toothpicks into the avocado at the midpoint of the avocado. You do not need to put the toothpicks very far into the seed -- just enough so that it will support the avocado, a few centimeters. Twist the toothpicks in further, but do not “hammer” them in. Use at least 4 toothpicks to help suspend the avocado.


6. With your toothpicks attached, submerge the broad end of the pit into your glass jar with water. About ¼ of the pit should be submerged. Place your seed in a sunny location with indirect sunlight, and check on the water level every few days. Look for shoots and roots in a few weeks!

Avocado seed with toothpicks in a glass full of water

Additional Resources:

Download the PDF version of this lesson plan:




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