I remember my mom would often try to grow an avocado plant from a seed by stabbing toothpicks into an avocado seed and sitting it in water. She tried and tried but could never get one to sprout.
I recall trying a few times over the years as well, and just like her, had no luck.
Last year during the hours I would spend numbing myself by staring at videos on my phone I saw a different technique that involved peeling the outer layer off the avocado pit, then wrapping it in a damp paper towel, sealing it in a plastic bag and leaving it on a sunny window ledge.
Like this - Grow an avocado plant from seed
I suddenly remembered the videos a month or so ago, conveniently after buying a bag of avocados at The Boys request, and told The Mister about, who was like "Cool."
So we tried it. First off, peeling avocado pits is difficult! And if you have weak little fingers and nails like I do, it hurts. Soak the pit in water for a day or so first, it might help.
The wrap the pit in a damp paper towel, put it in a baggie or plastic container with a lid, and put it somewhere sunny. The sun hits our place at an angle and so we don't really have any super sunny window ledges, and so maybe that's why it took longer, but I would guess our pits sat around for close to a month before they split and sprouted. But they did! And since we don't have any super cool jars or vases like all the avocado growers on Tik Tok do, The Mister fashioned some little holders for them from plastic bottles.
This is 3 of our 4 pits and they seem to be doing well so far. My fingers are crossed that they will keep growing and I'll have an excuse to buy some funky bottles for them.
Update! No funky bottles, but The Mister picked up some mason jars from the dollar store. They look super cute - look how tall that first one is getting!
