Compost bins and avocado pits:

Hello! Last week at work I found 8 avocado pits in a compost bin that I was emptying. They all had roots – a stem and looked pretty darn healthy. (I figure because of the warmth in the bin)

So I was thinking that I will try an experiment and get a couple of avocado -mango and other tropical fruit pits and place them in my compost bin and see if they sprout. Growing tropical fruit might even be my new thing because I’m getting pretty sick of apples and berries. I got to keep the 8 avocado pits that were sprouted and I have put them in small clay pots with tropical soil. Cheers!

 

I've found potato's starting in the compost from the potato peelings thrown out in our kitchen scrap backet. The compost gets to hot for them to grow any real spuds.

 

You can grow an avacado tree, here's a picture of the one I have growing in my living room. They are not cold hardy.

 

tarabelle - is there anything special you have to do for your avocado plant? I've been meaning to grow one.

 

No, I just feed and water it and give it as much sun as I can. I do have to prune it regularly - it wants to grow through the ceiling. Getting it to sprout was the hardest part. It took awhile.

 

Hello and thank you for the photo! Now that I know what an avocado plant looks like I really want to grow one. I have a sunroom that’s not heated I think I am going to stop being cheap and add an electric heater and maybe some florescent tube grow bulbs. I also have a unheated green house and I think it would be kind of cool to have some kind of tropical fruit growing in it. One of these days I would like to add a wood stove and heat it with fire wood because I’m rich in that. Cheers!

 

Unless you have them in an area that gets a lot of light in the spring and summer, chances are all you have is a houseplant. I don't really think grow lights will do it for avocados, and they have to become somewhat woody before they fruit. Some things are meant to be grown in their normal climates, unless like the wealthy victorians you can build huge orangeries.

 

Yes, it's just a houseplant. I don't expect to get fruit. There's no way I get enough light here in WA for anything else. I started it to show my boys when they were young that the seed would sprout and become a plant. I never expected it to do as well as it has.

 

They can grow very big and very strong, in the beginning.

 

I've had it for 9 years now. I think it will go on and on and on.