Avocado

[Small pumpkin]

Random question time
Which way up do you plant avocado stone/seed?

Only ask because little sew found one on his morning walk, and brought it home.
Which is odd because there's not many growing around here

Is it worth trying to grow it? It seems to be trying or it has tried and given up.

[Kirk]

Only guesswork but I would plant it such that the "ring" is sat vertical, based on the idea that when it splits the root and shoot bits should work out up and down themselves.

People do propogate them but they are a warm climate tree (Spain?) so I doubt you will start up an avocado orchard on Mull - even with the gulf stream.

If you have a conservatory it should be a good item and a talking point.

Will say not sure how successful it will turn out, conservatory may supply more warmth and shelter but I suspect the short winter hours of daylight and then the extended summer hours could confuse the thing. There is more then just teemperature to consider.

[Jungle Jane]

I put three pins in one so it could rest over a bottle of water with just half of it in the water,a shoot appeared & then I planted it & it didn’t grow anymore,planting it in a pot seemed to kill it?

[veggiechicken]

Snap!! I have 4 on the windowsill at the mo. I'm assuming pointed end up. One of them seems t have tiny shoots forming on its bottom!

[Jungle Jane]

Looking at pictures on the internet I planted mine in a pot too soon,they can stay in water a long time until they resemble a tiny tree. Good luck with them

[Small pumpkin]

Thanks everyone I might try with one ( next time we buy one ) that hasn't spent some amount of time lying on a snow covered frozen verge.

[Mitzi]

Definitely pointed end up and sit it with the base in water (like we used to do with hyacinths.) When it grows, plant it with the stone half in and half out of the soil. I grew one for a year or two once but to be honest it was a very boring plant so I wouldn't recommend.

[flynch]

The larger side should be faced down with the split line pointing up vertically. I had one in a pot indoors for 4 years, did extremely well until I made the mistake for leaving it in the care of my brother while I was away. The seeds take a very long time to germinate

[Chris11]

Love avocadoes, would eat them all the time if they were more affordable or easy to grow. Amazing to see the large trees growing naturally in places like Madeira.

I've had the stones sprouting shoots in the compost bin a couple of times. Have grown them on for a while, and even planted them in the garden and seen them grow for a while. Never seen them survive a winter.

Agree it would be good to try and keep them going in a conservatory or greenhouse and see how big you can get them.

[TrixC]

Avocados are widely grown where I come from. The fruiting varieties are normally grafted. If sprouted from a seed they will grow huge and often will not fruit at all. So maybe worth sprouting for a challenge, just don’t expect anything in the way of fruit. They are frost tender plants.

[Lesley81]

Plant it with the fatter & flatter end downwards. Growing avocado's takes some serious patience. I started three last year, about late June-ish. I don't think I had any signs of life for about 9 or 10 weeks. I was almost ready to give up, when one suddenly split, so I just left them, and made sure that had enough water.

One of them never did split, but the other two did. I now have one which is about 8" tall and still in the original glass with water and the larger one, I translated to pot, and this is about 10" tall now.

Good luck with them!