Can You Grow Avocados Indoors?

Do you want to grow avocado fruit but don’t know if they can be grown indoors? Don’t worry, you are not the only one who had the same question. I also faced a similar problem before starting to produce avocado inside my own house.  In this article, I’ll try to share my experience to explain if you can grow avocados indoors. You can definitely grow avocados indoors by using seeds or young plants. Most people think growing fruits inside the house is a very difficult task which requires a lot of tools. But this is completely wrong. You already have the required tools to start growing avocado houseplant. All you need is a proper mindset and passion to treat the plants as your family members. With regular monitoring and nurture, you can expect to get a successful growth. Also, if you can grow more than your requirement, you can also sell those fruits to earn cash.  So, follow along with us if you want to know more about growing avocado plant indoors.

Choose your Method to Initiate Growth

You can either grow avocados from seeds or from young plants. These are the two popular ways to grow avocados as indoor plants.  You can grow from an avocado pit that was harvested from a grocery store or from nursery stock. Keep in mind that the avocados are cloned from the mature trees when they are nursery grown, which results in rapid growth over the years. They usually grow about 16 feet tall.

Grow Avocado from seeds

• First, take an avocado seed and rinse it properly with water to make it clean.
• Then used 3 or 4 toothpicks to suspend it over a glass of water. Those toothpicks should be placed in such a way that seed gets submerged around 1 inch. The top of the seed should be exposed to air.
• Place the transparent glass in a comparatively warmer spot. Try to avoid direct sunlight.
• After 5 or 6 weeks, a stem shoot with root system will start to grow from the seed. If it doesn’t happen even after 8 or 10 weeks, remove the seed and place it with a new one.  See if everything goes properly this time.
• Keep changing the water continuously after you notice an initial growth.
• As the stem is around 7 inches long, cut it back to 3 inches. Then wait until the plant starts to sprout leaves.
• You will eventually notice that the root system has become complex, and the leaves are even bigger.  So now, it’s time to transplant it into a pot.
• Get a container with a minimum of 10 inches in diameter. Ensure that there are enough drainage holes so that the water doesn’t stay there too long and make the soil soggy. If your container doesn’t have drainage holes initially, drill them to make small holes. Remember that a proper drainage system is a must for avocado plants. Because they tend to have a shallow root system. That means they are very much vulnerable to damage if the roots stay underwater for more than a few days.
• After you have fixed the container, it is time to choose the ideal soil. You can use sandy potting soil or something else like it, which is fertile, well-drained and loose. In case you don’t want to go out of your house, you can always browse Amazon and buy the best pot that fits your indoor environment.
• You can place some coarse stones at the bottom of the container, it will help in drainage.
• Fill the container with potting mix and spread out the roots around the pit. While filling the container with soil, don’t press the soil too hard against the container and try to keep it as loose as possible. This will help the root system to get enough airflow to maintain proper temperature. Sometimes you may want to loosen up the soil a little bit to create few air pockets.
• Make sure that the top of the seed is above the soil level.
• Water the plant gently, try to avoid pouring excessive water.
• Try to avoid direct sunlight while fixing a permanent location for the pot. Make sure that the place you choose has enough wind flow and is not cold. A south facing window will be suitable to place it.

Grow Avocado from Young Trees:

• You can find young avocado plants from your local garden centers or a nearby gardener to grow as indoor trees. The potted plant is easier to nurture rather than growing from seed. If you can nourish them properly, expect a better outcome with a higher number of fruits.
• As you buy the young plants try to plant them in the pot immediately. This will help the plant to get fast nutrients in the initial stage and thus enhance growth along the way.
• If the ordered plants don’t come with a pot or container, you need to arrange one very quickly. Just make sure that the container is large enough and has enough drainage holes at the bottom.
• Fill the container with potting mix and try not to press the soil level too hard against the roots.
• If the young tree you got is root bound, try to rough up the root ball before planting. It will result in healthy roots.
• Place the pot in a sunny spot. But don’t leave it there for too long.

How to Care for Avocado Plants

1. Provide Necessary Sunlight

You must provide adequate sunlight to your avocado plants; these are very sensitive and do not like excessive hot temperatures of summer. Try to keep them in a warm spot.  Maximum temperature should be 85 degrees Fahrenheit but not more than that. In addition to bright light, you may even arrange for supplemental light during the winter season. In this case, buy a couple of low heating light bulbs and hang them above the tree maintaining a considerable distance. As a result, they will get adequate light as expected just like summer.

2. Ensure Adequate Drainage Facility

• Always make sure that no stagnant water stands near the stem of your plant. To ensure that, never overwater your plants. In most cases, overwatering is a prominent cause of death for the avocado plants that are grown in pot. When you see the color of the leaves are becoming yellowish, you can be very much sure that the plant has been overwatered. In such cases leave the plant like that and let it dry out itself within a few days.
• Check the plants daily to see the current leaf color and soil moist. If they show any sign of wilting, deep soak the plants once a week.
• Sometimes you may find that the avocado plants grown in pots suffer from salt accumulation problems. Notice carefully if the leaves are getting dry or curly. You may also see the leaf color of the turning brown.  As soon as you see this you can be sure that excess minerals have accumulated in your soil. To solve this problem, you can approach to methods:
• Let distilled warm water flow inside the soil of the container and go through the drainage holes at the bottom.  This process should be continued for several minutes until the excess minerals are flushed out of the soil.
• Use pure rainwater to water your plants every time. When you catch rainwater straight from the sky, it never touches the soil and thus does not have a chance to carry excess minerals. As a result, using pure rainwater will less likely cause mineral accumulation near the roots.
• Take extra caution in cold winter months. Because due to higher humidity the water tends to evaporate more slowly than summer season. If you don’t take preventive measures as early as possible, it may start root rot. so, it is best to maintain a schedule of watering plants depending on how much water your plants soak up.

3. Prune Timely

Prune the plants in due time to stimulate growth. Use sharp tools and germinate them properly before starting the process to avoid any kind of fungal or bacterial contamination. You need to trim the top leaves just when the avocado plant reaches around 12 or 13 inches in height. make the cut carefully just above the growth nodes otherwise the plant may get damaged.  This will make the plant grow better laterally. Again, trim the lateral stems when they are around 8 inches long. Don’t continue the same type of pruning after the first year.  After that, you need to only prune the year in another winter or autumn if the plant isn’t showing enough new growth.

4. Use Fertilizers when Necessary

You can use fertilizer during the first year after plantation to enhance the root growth. Apply citrus fertilizer after every few months. Do it occasionally, not heavily or frequently. Note that avocado trees also benefit from a certain amount of 10% nitrogen, 10% Potash and 10% Phosphorus with 6% Magnesium. If the trees start to grow fruits you may need to increase the level of Potash up to 15%. Spray Manganese, Boron, zinc etc.  after every few months for the first 5 years. This will make sure that your trees are able to produce enough fruits.

Conclusion:

Avocado is a very juicy and make beautiful houseplants. With its increasing popularity, many gardeners have already started growing fruit trees. Always remember that you may face struggles at the first few times. But as you gain confidence after getting positive results, no one can hold you back. So, don’t waste your time, go buy some seeds or plants and start your very own avocado gardening indoor!