Helpful information
Timing: All year round
Where to do it: Indoors
Garden space: Indoor space, greenhouse
If you would like a fun growing experiment, you can try growing your own avocado from a stone. Even if you don't get fruit, it can be an enjoyable experience to try.
- An activity involving little equipment that can be done indoors at a table - perfect for a rainy day, or if you're feeling lower on energy
- This involves some fine motor skills and dexterity
- Enjoy watching your avocado stone change over time and wonder at the hidden powers of nature
Avocados hanging from a tree
Trying to grow new plants from existing ones is a wonderful way to experience the growing cycle of nature.
For this activity, you can use the stone from a supermarket avocado. This gives the extra benefit of enjoying eating the avocado before you get going!
This is a quick activity, with little equipment and a small number of steps. It provides ongoing enjoyment as you watch the avocado germinate (hopefully!). It's good to be realistic about growing your own crop of avocados, though. It can take as long as 10 years before an avocado tree produces fruit. A real exercise in patience!
Avocado fact
Avocados are a fruit, although they are generally used as part of savoury dishes. Some people call them avocado pears, but they are not related to pears in any way. This is just because of their pear-like shape.
Essential items
- Avocado
- Knife
- Tooth picks
- Glass jar
- Water
Optional items
- Chopping board
Follow these steps to grow an avocado from its stone with ease.
Step 1: Gather your equipment
Equipment for growing your own avocado from a stone
Get everything together that you need and find a comfortable spot to work.
Step 2: Get your avocado stone
An avocado cut into quarters with the stone removed
To get your avocado stone, you need to first remove it from a ripe avocado. The safest way to do this is to first carefully cut the avocado into quarters around the stone. You may want a chopping board to do this on. Once you have cut the avocado into quarters, you should be able to push the stone out with your fingers.
If the avocado is not ripe, it can be more difficult to remove the stone. It is not advisable to push a knife into the avocado stone to remove it. This causes a number of accidents every year.
Make it easier
If you have any concerns about using a knife to cut your avocado, you could ask for some help with this step.
Step 3: Clean the stone
An avocado stone is washed under the tap
Rinse the avocado stone under the tap until clean.
Step 4: Insert toothpicks into avocado stone
An avocado stone with four toothpicks pushed in
Carefully insert four toothpicks into your avocado stone.
To do this, hold the stone so the pointy end is facing up. If your stone is quite round, feel for a small bump. You want the toothpicks to be about one-third of the way down from this pointy end. Space them evenly around the stone. They will make a sort of 'X' shape.
Step 5: Fill jar with water
A glass jar filled close to the top with water
Fill your glass jar with water, not quite to the top. You want the water level to be high enough so that the bottom of the stone sits in it when in place.
You can always add a little more if you discover it's not enough, or tip some out if it's too much.
Step 6: Balance avocado stone on glass jar
An avocado stone balanced with toothpicks on a glass jar
Sit the stone on top of your glass jar filled with water. The toothpicks should rest across the rim of the glass and support the stone.
Check that the bottom half of the avocado stone is in the water.
Step 7: Position somewhere warm and light
An avocado stone partly in water on a windowsill
Avocados are tropical fruit that need plenty of warmth and light to germinate. Position somewhere like a sunny windowsill, or in a greenhouse if you have one.
Enjoy watching as your avocado stone develops and changes. Keep the water level topped up as needed. It may take a number of weeks, but eventually the stone should develop roots and a sprout.
If you want to try growing an avocado tree, you could plant the stone in a container with soil once it has sprouted. Keep the top half of the stone above the soil line, while the bottom half goes below.
Remember, avocado trees take many years to mature and produce fruit! This is an activity to really enjoy the process and not focus too much on the end result.
An avocado stone after 8 weeks with a strong root growing
An avocado stone after 2.5 months with a shoot
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