I have a very inquisitive little girl who likes LOVES projects of all sorts... science projects, art projects, craft projects, etc. She wants to learn how to do EVERYTHING! A few weeks ago as my mom and I made homemade guacamole, my very inquisitive little girl looks at me and says, "I wonder if we could sprout this big seed!". Of course, I've always heard it's practically impossible to sprout much less get to grow into a tree and harvest avocados...for various reasons I'm sure - GMO, splicing, grafting, climate, etc. Anyway - we took our chances, I did a bit of research, and we began collecting avocado seeds. Since I'm an avid recycler, we began planting them a couple at a time in yogurt and orange juice containers; then sitting them in a warm, but shady spot on our back deck. There are all sorts of ugly, but very useful plastic planters housing about a half-dozen unsuccessful attempts.
We checked daily for the whole month of June and...nothing. Then we took our family vacation and when we got back...viola! We had a sprout! Yay - we were sooooo excited. Below is a picture of our success story, which of course...just adds fuel to the fire of wanting to keep trying some more. I mean - who doesn't want an avocado grove in their backyard?
There was really nothing special to the process. I have read that you can't use seeds from avocados that have been refrigerated. Maybe that explains the many failures. I pretty sure this was one we had just bought a day or two previously. My very inquisitive little girl also reminded me that "THIS was the seed we peeled the seed coat off of before we planted it". We did wash the avocado meat off the seed and let it dry out a few days first.
So, get busy everyone - plant your avocados, dig in your compost bin (They sometimes sprout in there!), and come back to tell us your story. I have another one sitting in my kitchen window anxiously awaiting to be planted.
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