Planting / 2013-2014 / Hass Avocado

One thing I did a more than a few times over the last year, is to try and both save seed, and grow plants from seed. In this case, I saved two pits from Hass avocados bought at a local vegetable store, germinated them, and then planted them out.

Step one, clean the pit. The idea is to hang the bottom half of it into a glass full of water, and then it eventually sprouts. It is hung by pushing three toothpicks into it from different sides, and then sitting those on the edge of the glass. Occasionally the water is replaced, and the pit is washed. It eventually cracks and the starts rooting. You can see the water line.

Here's a picture a month later. It was put back into the water, and eventually a trunk started growing. When it was perhaps 10cm long, the pit was removed and planted out.

And here is that pit, and another, planted out. Shortly after something came along and ate the trunk off both. A rat? A possum? A chicken? Lesson learned: Cover with bird netting next time.