How to Grow an Avocado Seed

In this blog post, I will share with you my experience on how to grow an avocado seed. There are many different methods that you can use, but some of them make the cultivating process more complicated than it needs to be. My recommendation is to keep it simple. Remember that the avocado fruit grows naturally in the forest and does not go through all of these different processes that some of us might do at home.

Before I started sowing the avocado seed, I tried to gather some information from the internet and searched on TikTok to get inspiration and a better understanding of how to grow an indoor avocado tree. It is truly amazing that you can grow your own tree from an avocado pit and see it grow before your own eyes. It makes for a beautiful indoor plant!

How to Start: What I Did and Did Not Do

First things first, you will need to buy an avocado fruit from the store. I would recommend buying the big avocados, the ones with the big seeds. By doing so, you can see the split more easily and, in my opinion, it is more beautiful to look at the bigger pits of an avocado instead of the little pits. Some of the videos on TikTok that I watched talked about removing the thin brown skin before you sow it. I did not do that because I want to cultivate in a simple way and try to imitate the natural process as it grows in nature.

I experimented with two different ways of sowing a pit of an avocado. One pit was cultivated in soil and the other pit was placed halfway in a glass of water, with the top of the seed above the water. The second method was new to me, and I wanted to try it for myself. I thought it would be interesting to see if it would work and to watch the root system grow. I thought it would be amazing to see the plant grow while the roots would get bigger and bigger in the water. This method looks kind of funny and amazing at the same time.

I did not use damp paper towels to wrap the seeds for a few days, as some might do. I decided to skip the extra unnecessary work and just cultivated the seed. I wrote the date on the pot and the glass jar so I could easily document the process and know how long it would take for the seed to split.

I planted my avocado seeds on February 23rd. Later, on April 1st (five and a half weeks later), I noticed that the pit was starting to split. Furthermore, on April 8th (6 and a half weeks later), I could see the split getting bigger in the soil, yet nothing had happened with the pit that was in the water (more about the cultivating process below).

If you want to cultivate your own avocado tree, here is what you will need to start:

• An avocado pit from an avocado fruit 
• Soil that is loose and has a good potting mix. You can use soil bought from the store. 
• A flower pot with drainage holes. I used a plastic can with no holes (I just made sure I did not water it too much, though I recommend using a pot with drainage holes). 
• Water it regularly so the soil remains moist. 
• Time and a lot of patience!

Here is how you cultivate the avocado pit:

• Clean the avocado pit and put it halfway in the soil, with the slightly pointier end up. You can also experiment with the toothpick method, where you put three toothpicks on three different places on the side of the avocado pit and sink the bottom of the pit in water, halfway. The toothpicks need to rest on the edge of the glass jar for the top half of the seed to be free from water. If you use this method, I recommend using a clear glass jar to see the root growth with your own eyes. It is amazing to see the actual avocado roots! 
• Give the avocado seed enough water and water it regularly. 
• Place the cultivated seed in a room temperature place.

The Process of Cultivating an Avocado Seed

The time between sowing an avocado seed and the time for the seed to split is long! For me, it took about five weeks. It might vary from seed to seed, but I started to see the split after five and a half weeks. This was the avocado pit that was planted in soil. The other seed that was planted in water did not change at all during this time. It is fun to experience this because you have been waiting for so long for something to happen. Finally, you see a split, and it seems to come from the bottom of the seed.

When you grow tropical plants like an avocado plant, you get eager and want to see results right away, especially for children. The waiting time can be hard for them. Therefore, when the seed finally splits in half, it becomes a delightful experience and fun for the whole family. Now you know that the seed had the right conditions in order to grow.

As soon as the seed has split, the plant will grow very fast. In this process, it will need lots of bright light. I would recommend placing the indoor plant on a sunny windowsill or another sunny spot to get (almost) direct sunlight. Because it grows so fast, it makes the plant fun for children. You will be able to see growth in just one day. In my case, I could even see growth in only a couple of hours.

It is fun to cultivate your own avocado tree because it makes beautiful sets of leaves and looks beautiful on the sunny windowsill. Having your own avocado plant will make a beautiful houseplant! After seven weeks, I could see the plant starting to come through the split. And then only one and a half weeks later, it had grown to about 4 inches. This is what I mean by fast growth! Only a couple of days later, you can see that the leaves started to spread and grow too.

I am sorry to tell you that I did not take many more pictures of my precious avocado plant because we went traveling and I had to hand the plant over to a relative. When I asked for a picture of the plant, the relative informed me that the plant had died. Maybe it got too hot in the sun house or got too much water. My guess is that it got too much water because if you remember, I did not have a pot with drainage holes for the excess water to drain out. Naturally grown avocado trees grow in warm temperatures and I guess they have good drainage, which is why they need well-drained soil.

Learning From Mistakes

I hope that you have learned something from my blog, or at least from my mistakes. I would like to try cultivating from a seed of an avocado again someday, but I need to plan ahead so I can stay home for a longer time to take care of it. The avocado plant needs our attention and care.

I would also like to try again to cultivate an avocado seed in water. My experience is that this method is very time-consuming. Even though it did not show any roots this time, maybe I could try first putting it in a plastic bag or in damp paper towel. Also, my guess is that I should have changed the water during this process. I did not change it once, and I could see that the seed started to become moldy.

I would also make sure that I plant the seed in soil in a pot with a drainage hole. If I do that I could ask friends or relatives to water my plants without worrying that they would water it too much. That being said, I would encourage you to just start and not be afraid of making mistakes. It is enjoyable to cultivate and see how things grow and develop. It is also a good learning environment for the kids. They love to see plants grow from seeds and experience the growth process.

The Best Time for Cultivating an Avocado Seed

I am not an expert, but I have been cultivating avocado during the winter, and with good light, it grew very well inside. Therefore, my guess is that it does not have to be the start of summer in order to grow an avocado plant. Since you are growing your plant inside your house, you can grow whenever you want. You only need to give the plant warmth, light, and feed it with nutrient soil and water.