Learning how to grow avocados is something that can be very interesting, because the avocado is one of the most delicious and nutritious plants that exist.
The avocado is a plant whose fruit is one of the most famous that exist. This fruit is rich in vitamins and healthy fats, also having a spectacular flavor that you will surely love and already know.
Having an avocado plant can have many advantages, since in addition to not getting very big, it can bear fruit and be a beautiful plant for your home. Growing an avocado plant in a pot is easy and straightforward, so anyone can do it.
In this way, growing an avocado plant is a good way to teach children the love of nature, since as you will see below, this is really a children’s thing. You will only need an avocado seed, which you will take from any ripe avocado, as well as water, a little soil and fertilizer from the second year.
If you have never planted, don’t worry, because what you will learn here is more than enough. If you keep reading and look at the instructions that I have prepared for you to learn how to grow avocado, you will see how you can have your own small avocado garden at home in a very easy way.
Instructions for growing avocados
- Conditions for growing it: The first thing we are going to see is that all the conditions for growing avocados are met, which must be carefully considered in order to perfectly meet the objective of growing avocados. If we do not take into account the conditions, we could have a lot of problems to grow and the plant could even die. We have 4 conditions that we must meet, which are heat, sunlight, having a good soil and finally the PH
- Warm place, without cold or frost: First of all, we are going to see that we are doing it in a warm place, since avocados do not support cold places. In this way, unless you have a greenhouse, forget about growing avocados in the north, because the cold and frost can completely destroy the plant. If you live in a warm place, such as Andalusia, you will not have any problem growing them, since it perfectly meets what is required.
- Indirect and partial sunlight: In addition to worrying about having a warm place, light must be present, but be careful, one thing. The sunlight must be partial, that is, it should not give it light all day, but only a few hours. It is best to place it somewhere like a windowsill, so that, in this way, it only receives light for a few hours a day, so that the plant does not burn. Of course, if you live in a place where there is no sunlight, you can forget about it.
- Loose soil with good drainage and rich in nutrients: The soil in which this plant is grown must be loose, that is, it must be a finite soil. In addition, it must be rich in organic matter and nutrients, so that the avocado has enough energy to grow.
- Low pH of the soil: Finally, the pH of the soil must be low, because a pH that is too high could damage the plant. Try to make the PH around 5, so you will get its use correct.
- Germinate the seed taken from a ripe avocado in a glass of water: Now, we are going to germinate the seed in a glass of water, or in a glass of yogurt, like when we were told to plant something when we were little. We must take the seed and germinate it there with water, so that it releases the roots. In this way, we are going to start what is called the initial stage of the crop, which is the stage in which we have to be more careful.
- Care during the initial stage: First of all, we go to the initial stage, a stage that usually lasts from two to six weeks, in which we will have to be careful. First of all, we have to top up the water every 3 days; to make sure that the plant has everything it needs to grow. In the early stages, you won’t need soil, so you won’t need to put anything in the glass.
- Cut the stem when it exceeds 14 cm: During the initial week, we will see how the stem of the plant grows, something that will tell us when we should transplant. As soon as it exceeds approximately 14 centimeters, we must prune the plant, remembering the stem a few centimeters so that it does not become too large.
- Plant the seed in a pot a few weeks later: When the stem has grown, it will mean the end of the initial phase, so we are going to transplant the plant into a pot a couple of weeks after pruning. In this way, we are going to do it in a pot, which must have ventilation below to be able to strain the water, as we will see later. Remember to leave the top of the seed exposed when planting, but the roots inside. In this article we give you more information on how to plant avocado.
- Care after planting: Now, let’s go with the care after planting, which are the most important of the whole process, because they are what we have to continue doing over the years. First of all, we must water continuously, but without water being abundant, since we could drown the plant. Water the plant daily, but sparingly. Secondly, you must prune the leaves every 14 cm of growth in the same way that we have done with the stem. Thirdly, we must add fertilizer once a month from the first year of life, that is, the first year we should not add anything, but then compost and fertilizer to recharge the nutrients of the soil. Finally, we must monitor salt accumulations and drain the soil once a month, in order to avoid too much salt.
- Give the plant a little more sun to increase its stamina: This is a little-known trick, but it works very well to strengthen the plant. Once it has grown, we are going to expose the plant a little more to the sun, so that, in this way, it can develop a kind of endurance or resistance to the sun. Even if you do it right, it might be able to withstand continuous and direct light. However, remember that you must do it in a very gradual and controlled way, so that the leaves of the plant do not burn.
- Deworm: Not even the avocado is free from parasites, in this case from bedbugs, which can damage the plant forever. As soon as you see some yellow spots, it means that you have that enemy at home. To eliminate it, you should buy a commercial bed bug pesticide, which you should have no problem finding at any florist in your neighborhood. Take a little and you will be able to kill all the bedbugs.
