Avocado Battle

9/02/2010 08:03:00 PM Posted In Edit This 21 Comments »
I have started avocado plants from pits before, and I decided I wanted to grow one again.  I know how to do it ..... toothpicks in their sides, hang them in water, they sprout roots and grow a shoot, and you plant them in dirt.  Well, I've been trying for several months to do it again.  I hung pits in water for weeks and weeks with nothing happening except they got rotten.  I don't like to give up once I start something, so I just kept at it.   Finally, one of the pits grew long roots.  It had about 5 of them, and I left it in the water until the roots were about 4 inches long.  It still didn't have a shoot coming out the top.   So, I put some dirt in a little pot and planted it, leaving the top of the pit uncovered.  All summer long I watered it, talked to it, turned it so different sides faced the sun, but still nothing. 
And then, one day I went outside and voila!!!! There was a tiny shoot sticking up!  It seemed to take forever, but little by little it began to grow.  And now, just look at its magnificent self!!!  It has leaves ...  it has a long "trunk" .... it's sturdy .... I love it!!!  I just hope I can keep it alive all winter.  Wish me luck!


21 comments:

Vicki Holdwick said...

This is quite Nancy. I just love avocados.

It is nice to see you creating again.

xoxo

Shirley said...

So nice to celebrate this little plant with a drawing. Sending good vibes for a healthy fall and winter.

Shirley said...

So nice to celebrate this little plant with a drawing. Sending good vibes for a healthy fall and winter.

Autumn Leaves said...

Good job, Nancy! It looks fabulous!

Unknown said...

Wonderful sketch, Nancy! I've tried doing them in water too, but gave up with the two I had soaking never rooted. Last week I met one of my second cousins for the first time and he has lots of avocado trees. He said the water method is the hard way. I haven't tried it yet, but he said it is easier to do it the dry way.
Put the seed in a window until it dries out. Then plant in a pot, pointing up with only the tip popping out of the soil. Keep it moist. That's it. He had about ten new ones going in pots and they had all sprouted!

Mari Brown and Colourblob said...

Avocados mmmmmm, love them. Tried to grow one of my own but got a stick with one leaf (very small one too, about 2") then it just stood there and after 6 months it died back. Nice drawing, I like the blue sides.

Revelle Taillon said...

great job Nancy! I love both art AND gardening! Good luck with both.

Cathy Holtom said...

A lovely little plant, keep talking to it, convince it to survive!

Alex said...

Yeaaah! This is actually how I remember your drawings =) I love those "copying the masters" sketches too, but that's definitely yours and I like it!
So you've got 100 emails huh? I got about 40 =)

K said...

Victory!!! Kudos to you, I can't grow anything. We even put fake flowers in the planters on the front porch because we have such fierce winds that everything withers away. Lovely sketch of your new "baby", and hope you have some great avocados from your plant in the spring!

Jesse/Joan said...

I'm curious... in what part of the country do you live? CA is one of the major growing areas in the country for avocados which are picked and marketed by CalAvo assoc.

My folks had an avocado grove located on a mountain, they (Avos) love that kind of terrain because of the rocky texture with good drainage. Florida is the only other state I know of where these trees grow and produce fruit.

Do you get fruit from these seeded plants? The drawing is wonderful.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your perseverance and a great drawing too.

Thanks for your continued support of my blog :D

ANAIS G. BURGOS said...

Beautiful drawing, Nancy.
It's fantastic being able to observe a plant from the beggining. I love it: I love plants ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancy, Avocados grow great indoors. We had one that grew so large we give it away to someone who had a sunroom. My husband's Aunt had one for several years. They thought they killed the thing once, but it recovered. There's grew to the ceiling too and did well outside during the summer. Good luck! Oh, they do start out SLOW.

Very cool drawing, by the way!

Timaree said...

Love your sketch. I've grown a couple to a multi-leaved shoot but never did get a tree out of a seed.

donna said...

Love the sketch but I really admire your make it happen attitude. It is a great skill to apply to art making, don't you think?

Marie Scott said...

Yay for you!! Two major accomplishments... a new plant and a beautiful sketch.

Unknown said...

Nice sketch to go with the story. Good luck with the avocado. You made me curious - I'm going to look up the process of planting from pits.

Sandy Coleman said...

Oh, I love avocado! They are like butter to me. Good for you for not giving up. Nice avocado portrait. :-)

Anna Wolf said...

Great! I love recycling! And contour drawing - just love the spontaneous feeling of it!

Dragana Savkov - Bajić said...

I also planted an avocado years ago, but luckily, mine wasn't so demanding! The sketch is beautiful!