Has anyone grown an avocado tree from a pit?

ok prepare yourselves because I think I surpassed the "Container" part of that, and I don't have them all inside yet!

Kitchen #2

Kitchen #3

Dining room #1

Diningroom #2

Dinning room #3

Dinning room #4

Dinning room #5

Dinning room #6

And diininr room #7....and I still don't have them all inside yet, plus I have them in the living room and bathroom, our bedroom, and the office, now workig on putting some in the kids rooms!

here's the front of the house...or at least most of it

here's what I still have to get repotted and in the house...#1

and #2

and here's #3 and I still have 3 huge plants on the back porch oh and two smaller ones

sorry for clogging up the thread, dial up people probably hate me!

LOL!! Have you got plants or what!!!
It looks like many of them are off the floor now and that is great progress!
Do you have any surfaces in your house that don't have plants on them! lol
Those are just babies outside. I was going to suggest that you put a lot of them in one big pot. Then I saw the photo that looked like you were going to do just that!
My, my -- my, my, my!!! What a job!
Teacher's Day is coming up on Oct. 15th. Maybe your kids could take some to their teachers!
I know you will find all of them good homes.

I've been mixing them up together in the pots so there are different colors to look at...In one pot I put 7 plants. a dracaena spike in the middle, with alternating iresine "purple lady" and dichondra "silver falls" oh wait I have a pic of that one...

I found it!! Yeah!!! here ya go!

Right! They just need some of your gardening care to make them the best they can be. In no time, they will out grow your pot.

jeez I know i"m dirty from the plants, but I didn't mea to run everybody off...boohoo now I'm gonna cry....booohooo

that's what I'm afraid of...that they'll grow out of their pots and attack mein my sleep!

I forgot what thread this was. It is the Avocado one!

No, no, no! Little Witchy, don't cry. We love seeing all your plants and where all you are putting them.

Yep! One morning you will wake up and you will be in a jungle!

and I believe it is the evil spider plants that will start the revolution!
The 3 in the living rom have been eyeing me suspiciously here lately!

I'm growing one from a pit. I have it planted in my father-in-law's back yard, since mine is too small and I already have enough trees. I couldn't help with the pruning issues, since ours stay in the ground...

I have seen programs about hoarders before but never someone who hoards plants!!!LOL

they are all so close together right now because they can't be in the kids rooms with the air conditioners!

I've been trying to give them away cause i got "gifted" (or cursed I'm thinking) with over a thousand plants when my friend closed her greenhouse due to health issues

I must admit quite a few made it to the compost pile because, well frankly, they could survive, but they'd take a lot of time and patience

it is helpful that the entire front of the house is glass though....and soon the back will be as well...hubby's building me a greenhouse attatched to the house so we can keep it climate controlled

Hi Venice & all ;D

New here but think I can help u with ur avocados. Born & raised in So Cal, grandparents had an avocado orchard where I spent a good deal of time ;D.

Young avocados need to have their trunks protected from harsh sun. They don't really have an outer bark to protect them when young. It's more like a thick skin than a bark. In nature they grow in the shade of the parent trees. I live in IL now and have grown a couple here. Find a place where they get or can grow to sun during the day but are somewhat protected from full heat of the sun. A nice dappled but sunny northern exposure works well. Move them around until u find the spot they seem the happiest ;D

To keep them from growing spindly & tall, pinch new growth to encourage bushing out. Your friend had the right idea, but was over zealous in her approach. Since u live in the midwest, I recommend u pinch alot. Avocados will grow very tall so you will want to keep them shorter and bushy so they can come in the house in the fall.

Avocados DO NOT like wet feet. I think you may be overwatering (drooping). I watered mine well once or twice a week only. Also.... they MUST have good drainage and a little bit of room to spread out their roots. They don't like hard compacted soil. A somewhat sandy, loamy soil is what they like.

From ur photo, I would say they may need bigger pots. Re-pot in the spring each year as they grow, but don't give them too big a space all at once. Also, fertilize once a month during summer with a diluted citus fertilizer. Once every 8 - 10 weeks or so in winter. Please mist them when indoors if you don't have a humidifier going and remember to reacclimate them slowly in the spring.

I left mine outdoors til mid fall, but be sure you have a frost plan (large plastic sheet or something of that nature, cheapo plastic tablecloths with the fuzz underneath work well too) to protect them until you move them indoors. I also had mine on wheeled pot holders and just as in early spring re-acclimated them over a couple of weeks back to the house in the fall.

Good luck ;D

Jewlybug

Jewlybug,

Thanks for all the info. The droopy one has alwasy drooped and it is a different kind of avocado. They are now in 10" pots and I was going to repot them in 14.5" pots. This past spring I potted them from an 8" pot to the 10" pot. Someone suggested putting crushed pot cans in the bottom of the pot so the pot isn't so heavy. I think that is a good idea. I will look at the roots when I dump them out and see how many I would need.

I do think that one was getting too much sun. I didn't realize how sunny it was there late in the day.

I don't think I over water them. When they are outside on these hot days, I might water them everyday or so. They really start drooping if I don't. When I take them inside. I may not water them even once a week. Also since they are in clay pots, they dry more quickly than other pots. In the winter I was spraying them with water because I thought that they might grow more then.

You said to pinch new growth. Will my top ever grow back? Also, the branches are long for its height. Should I cut them back? Last year I had a lot of shorter trees. When I pinched back the top, they basically stopped growing and produced just stunted leaves so I threw them out. How much should I cut off the branches?

Do you have photos of your trees so I can see the shape of them and try to determine how to trim my trees?

Thanks again and hope to see some of your photos.

venice62, I just wanted to say I hope my baby will grow as tall as yours have. Mines only a few months old. How old are yours?
Christine

That is a happy looking avocado plant, Jasminesmom. It should do well.

Photo taken September 2007. I don't know how old these were when I put them outside.

Photo taken summer 2008.

Photo taken December 2008.

The one on the left at the top of the post, was 7' tall before I cut about 3' off the top. They must be 3 years and a few months old now.

Wow Venice those look good!

You know they are all the same plant, right? Christine was asking how old my 2 trees were. So I thought I would show the progression of their growth. The leaves keep looking bad on the bottom. Therefore, I cut those off so that is why the leaves are so spare there.

venice62, Thank you so much for the pictures. Amazing how fast they grew in 3 years.I just brought mine in a few days ago, our nights are already starting to get on the chilly side up here. Nice kitty in the window.
Christine

Unfortunately, mine didn't grow much when they were in the house during he winter. I keep it about 65-68 degrees and don't know if that had anything to do with it. I did spray them when they were tall with distilled water during the winter because they get a warm draft from the vent. Once outside for a bit, they grow well.

I know a lot of info on the Interent says to cut the top off when it gets a certain height. However, I will advise you DO NOT CUT THE TOP OFF! Only cut the top off your tree when it gets as tall as your ceiling. Then maybe only cut 12' off the top. A top never grows back!

I'll remember your sad story about cutting the tops off if I'm that lucky for it to grow that big. I imagine come spring yours will fill out nicely and you'll never even know it was cut back. Thanks for your advice :>)
Christine

I couldn't imagine an avocado tree inside the house! I do have a 2nd story loft in my house and the ceiling on that side is very tall, but we've had avocado trees 40' tall lol...