If you are one of those who consume avocado, surely more than once you have wondered if you could not buy a plant, or have it from the bone. Perhaps you have read about it and you have been curious about whether avocado pits can be sown in water.
For this reason, on this occasion, we are going to give you the keys so that that avocado pit does not end up in the trash, but rather that you can germinate it and from there a plant grows. We already tell you that it is an easy but slow process, and if you do it well you can soon find an avocado in your house. Do you want to know how?
How to plant an avocado pit step by step in water
Surely more than once you have seen videos or read articles in which they tell you what you must do so that an avocado pit becomes a plant. From now on we tell you that it is easy but not all the bones you put in always come out. In addition, the process is slow, and sometimes that can make you forget about it and minimize the chances that it will succeed.
Since we do not want that, we have proposed to give you the steps one by one and with our experience so that you know what you have to do and how. Go for it?
Get an avocado bone
The first thing you are going to need to plant the avocado bone in water is, without a doubt, a bone. For this you have two options:
- You buy an avocado, eat it and keep the pit (now we’ll tell you what to do with it).
- You get an avocado pit. Either because another person has eaten the avocado and has given you the bone, or because the greengrocer has thrown away some already ripe ones and has removed the bone for you.
If you ask us which would be the best, we will tell you that the more ripe the avocado is, the more ripe the pit will be, and sometimes it even germinates inside its pulp, with which there are more opportunities for it to succeed.
However, you must be careful when removing it because sometimes it is hit with a knife. And, although it may seem that nothing is happening, the truth is that later it can be bad for it to develop correctly.
The bone has to dry
Now that you have the bone, you should wash it well to remove all the pulp that remains around it, as well as remove the film that it has (yes, it is transparent but it makes it more slippery). It is best to remove it.
Once you have it completely clean you will have to leave it in the air. That’s right, for now you are not going to sow the avocado bone in water, but first of all it has to dry well.
And when do you know if it is already dry? At the moment when the shell starts to fall off and you can peel it easily. It can occur in 24-48 hours although other bones may take longer.
Wrap your bone in a damp napkin
This step is not always said, but from our experience we will tell you that it is more effective than skipping it and doing what we will discuss below.
In this case, what you should do is take a paper napkin and wrap the bone with it. Now, moisten it and put it in a container with a little water.
Cover it with plastic wrap and make a few holes in it so it can breathe.
You must make sure that the napkin does not dry out, since if it does, it will not turn out well. In about 20-45 days the root should appear and become strong enough to move on to the next step. But don’t rush it. If it takes longer than those days, but you are seeing progress, leave it longer, nothing happens.
Sometimes some bones need more time. As long as it doesn’t look rotten or the shoots are lost, nothing will happen to it.
Sow the avocado bone in water
Now yes, now is the time when, once the root has been removed and it is already active, you have to put it in a glass of water. Normally it is recommended to stick three toothpicks into it to hold it up. But we do not recommend it (out there you can get infections and ruin everything you have achieved).
Instead, what you can do is take a piece of plastic or similar and put it as a “raft” so that you can put the roots in the water but not all the pits fall inside.
In this way, the bone will continue to develop its root. But, being out of that napkin and container, it will also start to create a stem, and with it, little leaves.
You have to make sure you change the water every week, that it is free of lime and above all check that the bone does not go bad. If so and you catch it in time, try adding a few drops of hydrogen peroxide (it is ideal for fighting infections and mold problems in plants).
Surely now you wonder how long you should have it in water. And the truth is that there is no answer for this. It can be as long as you want. As long as you give it all the care it needs and take care of the water in which it develops, it could perfectly stay in water forever (in fact, some have it that way because it is more attractive).
If, on the other hand, you prefer to plant it in the ground, then, after about 3-4 weeks in water (in the method that we have taught you), where it will have grown enough, it will be time to plant it in the ground.
Of course, we recommend that you do not cover the entire bone. It is better that it stays more or less half in the air to have a better chance of it moving forward. Also, there will be time when he is more adult to cover it up. At that time, you have to be careful that all the steps are done correctly and that the plant is tolerating it.
Now that you have seen how to have an avocado bone in water, would you dare to try it yourself? We already warned you, arm yourself with patience at first but once it germinates in a short time you will see its stem and its first leaves. And if you take good care of it, in a few years it could give you avocados as big as that little tree grew from.
