I see a lot of grow-an-avocado-from-a-pit tutorials on the interwebs. It’s a great project for both kids and adults. If you’d like an avocado houseplant, by all means grow one from a pit. If, however, you live somewhere where avocados grow outside (USDA zones 8 through 11) and intend to plant your seedling outside, you should buy a tree from a nursery. Why? Bees love to pollinate avocado flowers. If you plant an avocado seed you’ll get some weird cross between the many different avocado varieties. Odds are it won’t taste good and who wants to water a tree for nine years only to get a bushel of foul avocados?
So to review: if you’d like a houseplant go ahead and plant that pit. If you’d like to keep your hipsters supplied with avocado toast buy a tree from a nursery or learn the art of avocado seedling grafting.
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The Home Orchard. Developed especially for use by backyard orchardists, rare fruit growers, and small-scale growers, The Home Orchard offers a comprehensive look at standard growing methods, as well as some innovative practices that enthusiasts have developed in recent years, some of which are uniquely suited to the small-scale grower. You will learn how trees grow, which species grow best in the different regions and soils, varieties from which to select, preparing the soil, planting, watering and fertilizing, pruning and grafting, thinning the fruit, diagnosing problems, controlling pests, and harvesting.
