The pits
Sunday August 25th 2013, 10:47 pm
Filed under: My Garden,Wildlife

The funky Fuji feat.

I had an avocado pit, a really big one, with the usual toothpicks and in a glass of water and sprouting four roots.  I don’t know why I do this every few years, but there it was. Maybe it was the fact that it was trying so hard to give life that I decided to give it a chance to.

Biologist daughter told me the thing was living off the sugars of the pit only and that to grow well at all it needed soil, to go plant the thing now, not wait for the stem to show.

Oh okay, thinks I, no junk food for baby trees, minerals and future chlorophyll here we come, taking that as my motivation to get going. I got out potting soil and a plastic pot, nice and light and easier to transplant out of later, rather wishing I’d done this with the one that sprouted twin stems a few years ago. That one was cool!

I plant the pit. I water. I put it out by the containered blueberries where it will get lots of fresh sunshine and be faithfully watered every day. I wait.

You know what’s coming, right? You know it took only one night. Ooh, who brought the big nut?! Opened, even!

Seeds are the most concentrated form of nutrients in nature, yonder biologist reminded me just now, and while I might think of an avocado pit as having all the charm of a rock, there was utterly no sign of the thing this morning. None. We had an impressive display of free-range, unconstrained dirt.

I might start another one out of sheer cussedness just so I can sprout it inside. Maybe I’ll even get twins again.


7 Comments so far
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I get a thrill out of watching seeds grow, too. Years ago with the help of an electric propagator I got some exotic ones to germinate, like Swiss Cheese plants that grew into monsters (hence Monstera.) I’m back to stick-annuals into dirt in spring, but lack courage to sow in the fall and be very patient. The babies know when they want to hatch.

Comment by LynnM 08.26.13 @ 1:13 am

😎

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 08.26.13 @ 7:27 am

love the square edges of that apple

maybe with the next avocado some sort of shield over the pot with a small opening for the little leaves? makes me wonder how long one of them would be okay as a “house plant”

Comment by bev 08.26.13 @ 9:19 am

What the heck is an electric propagator?

A frenzy of ecstasy in the squirrels, I can just see it now. LOL in truth.

Comment by Marian 08.26.13 @ 9:21 am

That puts an entirely different spin on the phrase, “It’s the pits!”

Comment by Donald Meyer 08.26.13 @ 9:46 am

I am a charter member of the group, Avocadon’ts. We are dedicated to reminding people that they don’t have to start every avocado pit sprouting. It is perfectly ok to feed them to the squirrels. 🙂

Comment by twinsetellen 08.26.13 @ 4:27 pm

Your squirrels are rotten neighbors… as are mine.

Comment by Channon 08.27.13 @ 1:11 pm



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