We've got avocado progress coming right along over here at 17 Apart! Since our last update a little over 2 weeks ago, both pits have been splitting open from the bottom and cracking apart near their heads. The outer skin on the smaller avocado has been flaking off on it's own.
Not having successfully grown these plants before, we weren't even sure if the cracking was a good sign or not, so I decided to consult my avocado planting experts (hello Youtube tutorial videos!) and boy did I learn a lot. In the majority of the videos with successful plants, the growers shared their "secret" of gently peeling off the outer skin of the avocado pit once they've soaked for a week or two. Evidently this is supposed speed up the rooting and sprouting process immensely — why didn't I watch these videos sooner??
After watching who knows how many tutorials on growing avocado plants (it got strangely addicting), I didn't waste any time grabbing my pair of tweezers and peeling the outer layer of skin remaining on both pits. The skin on the smaller pit came right off with ease while the skin on the larger pit took some gentle scraping to peel completely off.
After yet another refresh of the water, now we continue the patient waiting, watching and watering of our newly "naked" avocado pits. See how we got started growing these pits here.
P.S. In other garden related news, have you heard of Sprout Robot??? It's a gardening site Tim came across via Richmond Food Collective where you simply enter in your zip-code and personalized planting recommendations are auto-generated with instructions based on your location. If you like, you can even sign up to have organic heirloom seeds mailed to you on a subscription basis — they'll even tailor your order based on the size of your planting area — like patio, small, or family size gardens.
While Tim and I aren't yet signing up for the subscription, we're having fun consulting the site to what times are best to plant what varieties right here in Richmond, VA! We love how it's based on zip-code instead of larger area regions — breaking everything down so simply!
Yay for progress! What a cool website...will pass this on to my husband for a birthday pressie idea for me :)
ReplyDeleteHello, I have been trying this. I just peeled off the papery skin after leaving it on for a couple weeks... but the top of the seed does not look like your picture. It kind of looks like a dark orange walnut, with brown, almost burned looking edges. The rest of the seed is intact and pale white colored. Is there something wrong? It looks a little shriveled on the top where the brown and orange are. Will this still sprout?
ReplyDeleteHey there!
DeleteSo glad you were able to peel the skin and things seem to be moving along for you! The funny thing about avocado pits is they are ALL different. We're sure yours is just fine and these pits take some patience, that's for sure! I would give it a few more weeks or a month and see how things progress!