reusing grow bag from last year and Avocados

[Morty_007]

Hi all,
Newbie here so I hope this is in the right place! Appologies and hopefully it can be moved if not!

I have 2 questions for you:

1. any tips on propagating an avocado seed? I had one propped up in a jar of water for a couple of months but all it did was split. I'd really like to try again.

2. Can I reuse last years grow bags? I had very sucessful crops of tomatos, courgettes, spinach, lettuce, carrots, squash and raddish last year but it seems such a waste to just throw them away/compost them. (they have been lying around for a couple of months due to an extremely busy few months since we finished harvesting ) If I can, what is the best thing to add to them to make them nutritious again? I have dug a couple into the garden but we have a very small area suitable for this sort of disposal. I would be reusing them in huge pots for my carrots, onions, lettuce and whatever else turns out to be suitable.


Thanks ever so much in anticipation of your rplies and also for the motivation I needed to get things sorted to start sowing in the next couple of weeks.

I look forward to being around.

Cheers
Morty
x

[PAULW]

MORTY
I would be more inclined to spread it on the ground as a mulch and not reuse it to grow plants in just incase it has become infected with any disease or unwanted insects like vine weevil from what you had previously grown in them

[rustylady]

You could probably use them for salad stuff, with a dressing of general purpose fertiliser, but they're so cheap to buy that I use them to top dress the borders after one use.

Also, If you've grown tomatoes the compose will be so full of roots you'll have a heck of a job loosening it up

[Snadger]

I would imagine if you mixed a bit of sand with it and bone meal, put it into pots or buckets and sow carrots it would be ok? Carrots aren't gross feeders and the friable compost should suit them! Alice is the "what will grow in pots" expert though!

[Nicky]

Avocado

Hi there Morty.
Re the Avocado I was listening to the radio the other day and they were talking about this. Aparently you dry out the stone then place it pointy bit up half into some compost and keep it damp. It does take ages but it should grow some roots out the base. The stone then eventyally splits to let out a shoot. I've never grown one myself but they said you'd have to keep it indoors in the winter as they're not hardy if you do get it to grow.
I might try one myself next time I have one. Best of luck

Nicky.

[Alison]

OH tried to propogate an avocado earlier in the year - not sure what he did but it was obviously wrong as it evertually went soft and soggy so he threw it out. May try again next time I make guacamole.

Re the grow bags, never used them for anything other than a top dressing or put in the compost heap the following season but they can be good for simple overwinter crops. I have currently got some lettuce plants in a cold greenhouse doing very well in some bags that last year contained peppers - the peppers were grown via ring culture and I simply removed the finished plants with the rings and used the bag compost for lettuce. Do it most years and get a nice early crop, think I'm using Lakeland this year.

[Morty_007]

Alice is the "what will grow in pots" expert though!

I shall look forward to "meeting" Alice then! Most of my stuff is going into pots/growbags this year. Some experimental , some cos I know it will grow . I don't have much choice because of lack of soil space.

But I know i'm jolly well going to have fun trying!
Thanks for all your help so far, keep the ideas coming.

I might well try the carrots in the "used" soil this year.

Morty
x

[Sue]

Morty
Welcome and good gardening
Re the avocado, I followed a tip I found in a book on worm composting. Put the seed in the worm composter, the worms will clean the seed (indeed they seem to love it). You then leave the seed in the compost for a few months and eventually it will split and a root will grow. You then take it out and pot up. I now have one with leaves growing steadily.
Hope you have a worm composter, if not you'll just have to get one and not just for growing avocadoes!
Sue

[Alison]

Re the avocado, I followed a tip I found in a book on worm composting. Put the seed in the worm composter, the worms will clean the seed (indeed they seem to love it). You then leave the seed in the compost for a few months and eventually it will split and a root will grow. You then take it out and pot up. I now have one with leaves growing steadily.
Hope you have a worm composter, if not you'll just have to get one and not just for growing avocadoes!
Sue

Even better - will give the worms a treat next time we have an avocado.

[Alice]

What grows in pots

Hello Morty, now we meet. I'm flattered at Snadgers idea that I'm the expert at what will grow in pots. I'm no expert in anything but have had good success with crops in pots. you can grow anything if the container is big enough and the return justifies the effort. We can talk later about plans for this year. I'll post you some pics when I'm on my other computer.

[Morty_007]

Great advice, thanks Sue I'm sure my hubby will love you for suggesting I need yet another gadget, LMAO!! Thinking of just digging a couple of worms up and popping them in the compost wth the seed...just until the worm composter arrives. Alison, let me know how you get on? and if I ever get that far, i'll do the same.

Hi Alice, look forward to comparing notes. I'm a believer in "anything goes" and am happy to experiment wildly, even when someone tells me it won't work or can't be done, so we should have great fun this summer! Last year I had my carrots in a window box and this year I have put my onion sets in said window box, with fresh compost. Cross fingers!! (err, while I think of it, should they be outside at this time of year? I know it's early but they were sprouting in their baggie so I have them in the conservatory, should I bring them in the house?)

As for the damp/dull corner, we found a Morello cherry tree at the garden centre yesterday which said it would thrive in a non-sunny damp area, so we bought one. (I hope cherry trees can be relied on for their honesty!)

ANyway, thanks for all your replies, I look forward to chatting more at a later date

Morty
x

[Alison]

Morty
Welcome and good gardening
Re the avocado, I followed a tip I found in a book on worm composting. Put the seed in the worm composter, the worms will clean the seed (indeed they seem to love it). You then leave the seed in the compost for a few months and eventually it will split and a root will grow. You then take it out and pot up. I now have one with leaves growing steadily.
Hope you have a worm composter, if not you'll just have to get one and not just for growing avocadoes!
Sue

Was round friend's house at the weekend and they served up some lovely guacamole - me being cheeky like asked them if I could thieve the avocado stone . Anyway, it was rescued from the kitchen bin and is now nestling in the wormery - will update on progress.

[FoxHillGardener]

I've found avocado stones also sprout when they're in the ordinary compost bin. I must try one in the womery, though - much easier to retrieve than out of the dalek!

[Sue]

Hi
My "wormery" avocado is going great guns, now a lovely little plant, really bushy, it's been fine overwintering in the unheated greenhouse too. One of my gardening books says it's very unlikely to get flowers or fruit in our climate, but it's an attractive plant and you never know, in 20 years time...
Sue

[NOG]

2. Can I reuse last years grow bags?
Cheers
Morty
x

Why would you want to, grow bags are £1 each....

Toms and Cucumbers need a lot of feeding.

I add the spent compost to general compost to water it down for my seedlings they say that general compost is too strong for seeds.