An avocado seed

Good Morning! Took a short hiatus last week, but now I'm back. I'm trying to catch up on some things I really need to do, plus my hands are really giving me problems, especially when I use the computer, so I've been giving them a break. Thanks for bearing with me. I have an appointment with a neurologist at the beginning of May, then we'll see if they can be fixed.

How many of you have tried to grow an avocado seed? You poke the 3 toothpicks into the narrow end and suspend it in a jar of water with the fat end in the water, and then you wait. And wait. And wait.

And then wait some more. Finally, you give up, probably just before the thing starts to crack open. Or sometimes, even after it cracks open, it seems to take forever to actually grow! Well, I've done it, more than once, too, and I've even got it to give me the beginnings of a tree, but then I didn't know what to do with it and it died.

This time, I decided to ride it out. I was determined to leave that seed in the water until it either grew or rotted in the water! And it did! Grow, I mean. It was now a foot tall!

And suddenly, I was faced with the same problem - what do I do with it now? How do I keep it alive? I got out my laptop and Googled "how to grow and avocado" and got a zillion hits! I read a few and then I happened upon the website for the California Avocado Growers Association, and it was chock-full of information. I read about how to start growing the seed, about how it will probably not produce fruit, about how I have to take it in and out-of-doors so it doesn't freeze in the winter, etc. etc. etc. And then I read the death knell - I had to pinch off its leaves! Oh no. I just got it looking nice and getting big! I wasn't gonna chance that! But everything I read said I had to do it. So, I took a deep breath and did one of the hardest things I've ever done......I pinched off that top set of leaves.

Now it said that every time it grew six inches, I had to do it again! Pinch of the top set of leaves. It was hard, and I actually let it grow another foot before I did it again, but it paid off.

Look at it now! It's turning into a tree! It is almost 3 feet tall and has beautiful, shiny leaves, except where someone splashed bleach on a couple of them. It's even started to grow another branch right above the third set of leaves. When it warms up a little more, it's going outside to enjoy Mother Nature. Right now, it sit on the washer, in front of a pretty big window that gets good southern light, and it seems to be happy there.( Personally, I think it likes the vibrations of the spin cycle.)



Sorry its so yellow. It's the lighting.

Anyway, that's the skinny on the avocado tree. If you grow one, pinch! Pinch, pinch, pinch! And don't give up. They really do grow into trees.

That's it for now. I leave you with this thought......the best way to predict the future is to create it! Until next time,