Love Guacamole? Grow Your Own Avocado From Scraps
If you’re addicted to Mexican food or love a lazy Sunday brunch with avocado on toast then don’t throw away your avocado stone, grow it instead!
Growing an avocado plant from food scraps is one of the most fun and beautiful ways to transform your waste.
Here’s your essential guide to growing your own avocado plant in a few simple steps.
Step 1: Carefully cut away the stone from the avocado making sure not to cut or mark it.
Step 2: Give the stone a good wash to clean it of all the avocado flesh.
Step 3: With the pointy side of the stone at the top, take 3 toothpicks and pierce the sides evenly around the circumference of the avocado stone. Think of these toothpicks as your avocado scaffolding, which will allow you to rest the bottom half of the avocado in water.
Step 4: Place the bottom half of the avocado in a glass of water so you can watch those lovely roots grow.
Step 5: Keep changing the water at least once a week to prevent mould, bacteria and fungus growth, which can doom your little avocado sprout.
Step 6: It will take 6-8 weeks before anything happens so don’t give up too soon. This is what will happen in that time:
The top of the avocado stone will dry out and form a crack and the outer brown skin will begin to shed.
The crack will grow all the way to the bottom of the avocado stone and a tiny root will begin to emerge.
Eventually, a small sprout will peek through the top of the avocado pit.
When your amazing avocado plant reaches 6 inches, cut it back 3 inches to encourage new growth. Then every time it grows another 6inches, pinch the top 2 leaves. This encourages sidewards growth for more leaf production, making your avocado plant nice and bushy!
Step 7: When your avocado plant is about 12 inches you can transfer it to luscious soil, leaving the top half of the seed exposed. Place on a sunny windowsill. Avocados love sun – the more sun the better.
Some avocado plants will begin growing fruit after 3-4 years, others can after 8 or 15+ years, while others never do. It helps to have several avocado trees growing together to help pollination, which is a perfect excuse to eat more guacamole!
Happy growing!