Calculate the lineal feet of crack 4. Determine the infiltration heat loss per hour through the crack of a 3 X 5 ft. The air leakage for a window of this type at a wind velocity of 20 mph is 59 cubic feet per foot of crack per hour. This will be the value of Q in the air filtration formula.
The lineal feet of crack is 2 X 5 plus 3 X 3 , or 19 feet the value of L in the formula. The Crack Method. Having the correct orientation is important because the roots will emerge from the bottom. Make sure the seed gets adequate indirect sunlight to encourage growth. Young plants are sensitive to direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.
I place mine on my kitchen windowsill. A south-facing window is best. It may take anywhere from 2—8 weeks for the root and stem to sprout. If you notice the seed starting to crack, that is a good sign. Check the soil every few days to make sure the soil remains moist.
If you can't leave an impression of your fingers when you press on the soil, it needs more water. For a fuller plant, pinch off new leaves that sprout at the top of the stem. This also helps control the height of the plant. Do this whenever the plant grows another six inches.
This is a technique that can encourage new growth and helps prevent the plant from just being a tall stem with a few leaves at the top.
Don't do this untill your plant has a set of leaves below where you intend to cut. It may take a few weeks before the avocado seed sprouts the root and stalk. If you are growing an avocado tree as a decorative indoor plant, you should continuously prune it to make sure its size remains manageable.
According to the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Resources, there are hundreds of avocado varieties, and some of them like the Wurtz avocado , grow to only about 10—15 feet with regular pruning. Start early in the plant's life to make the stalk grow stronger and encourage lateral growth.
Avocado plants love water, but too much water can also harm the plant. Root rot is a common problem when a plant is over-watered or when there is poor drainage. Thoroughly wet the soil and let it go a little dry before another thorough watering. This helps promote strong root growth. Need some indicators for when to water? Check the soil. If you can leave an impression of your finger when you press on it, there's no need to water it. The leaves will reflect the plant's health and growing conditions.
Brown leaves can indicate salt or chloride burns from minerals in the water or fertilizer. Potted plants commonly encounter these problems because there is less drainage, and nutrients and minerals are more likely to concentrate in the soil. Pinch off top leaves to control how tall the avocado plant gets. Avoid exposing them to cold temperatures and breezes.
The dry heat of a heating system can also be damaging. A humidifier can moisten the dry air. You can also occasionally spray water on the leaves.
A growing lamp may be useful when there is not enough natural sunlight throughout the day. You also don't need to water as frequently in the winter. Avocado plants don't have a dormant period, but they won't be growing much in the winter either.
Too much water will increase the risk of root rot and nutrient depletion. Again, check the soil and leaves to determine when you should water. Avocado plants grown from seed—especially in a container or a pot—will have a hard time flowering and producing fruit, if at all. This is mainly because maintaining optimal growing conditions is much harder.
However, people commenting on this article have said friends and family members have been able to get their avocado plants to produce fruit. It can take anywhere from 5—13 years or more for an avocado planted from seed to bear fruit. A grafted avocado plant has a better chance of producing fruit. A grafted plant is a plant grown by fusing part of a young, growing plant onto an established plant.
Grafted avocado plants are available at many nurseries and will generally produce fruit in just a few years with proper care. Growing an Avocado Tree. California Avocados. Last accessed on July 18, Mary Lu Arpaia and Dr. Ben Faber. Avocado Information: Answers to Questions. University of California, Riverside. Edible Plants: Avocado, growing. Last accessed on July 19, Answer: I have never had any of my plants blossom.
I understand that avocado trees may take up to ten years to start blossoming, and commercial avocado groves usually graft their trees from already producing avocado trees.
It is about five feet tall. Since I live in the northern US, my plants are outside for about six months a year. This isn't the ideal environment for a fruit tree.
If my plants ever do blossom, I will post the information in my article. I have had comments that discuss blossoms or fruit from avocado seeds that they, or relatives of theirs, grew. Most, if not all of those comments seem to be from regions where the plant can stay all year outdoors or is planted in the ground. I think it is certainly possible for a plant you start to produce fruit eventually, but you seem to need to be in a favorable environment. I grow avocado plants from seeds as an attractive houseplant.
Blossoms and fruit would be an incredible bonus, but I don't expect them. There are several nurseries that sell grafted avocado trees, and I recommend you consider getting a grafted plant if you really want to grow your own fruit. Question: I have purple flowers this year.
I planted last year in the dirt put it in the garage for the winter brought it back out in the spring. Do avocado trees have purple flowers? Answer: Many of the avocados I have started seem to have leaves that are tinged red or purple, but they turn green as they get bigger. I have some five-year-old avocado house plants, and none of them have flowered yet, so I think your flowers are actually young leaves.
Online pictures of avocado flowers look like they are quite small and white or yellowish. Each flower is only open for a couple of days at most. Question: My large avocado seed has produced a 2" root, and I can see the leaf down there. I'm afraid to keep the bottom in water anymore and wonder if this is the time to plant in the dirt or do I need to add small amounts of dirt until the water is gone? Answer: If you have successfully started your pit in water, that sounds like a good point to plant it in soil.
I would not gradually add small amounts of dirt until the water is gone. Put your sprouted pit into loosened soil in a pot, keeping the upper part above the soil level. You might even want to poke a hole for the root, so it doesn't crack or break. Then sit the entire pot into water in your sink or a larger container. You can dribble water into the soil around the pit as well. When the soil is saturated, let the excess water drain from the pot.
This should compact the loose soil around your root without the force of pushing it into dirt. Once it is planted, you want moist soil, not soupy soil. Question: Do I bury the avocado pit when the plant is several inches tall? My pit is cracking but has not fallen off. I only bury the pit partially when I start in soil, and I would not bury it completely if I were planting one started by the toothpick method either.
Question: When you say cut the stem in half, are you cutting top down or horizontally? Answer: If you trim your plant, you are cutting it horizontally, so that it is shorter. I'm not sure what you mean by vertically, but please don't split your plant down the middle.
I'm afraid that would be very traumatic, and likely to be fatal. Question: When do you put the avocado seeds in the dirt? This isn't a question, just a comment!
I've tried so many times with the toothpicks and it didn't work. So about 4 months ago I put 2 seeds in a wet paper towel into a Ziploc bag and then placed it in a drawer. Well, I now have two started and one is almost 8 inches tall. Answer: I'm glad your seeds finally sprouted.
I'd put them in dirt now. When you plant them, make sure you have a space for the root, and then fill in soil around and on top gently, so you aren't cracking or breaking the root. When the pot is full of dirt, put it in the sink and let water dribble in. The water will compact the dirt around the root, and you will probably need to add more.
After the soil is thoroughly wetted and excess water drained, put your pot on a saucer where it can get light. Be sure to keep the soil moist. Starting an avocado pit in a Ziploc bag with a wet paper towel is a way to make sure the sprouting avocado stays moist.
If you keep forgetting to water the pot with dirt where you planted a seed, it can help sprout your new plant. However your new plant will need additional water, and more nutrients than are in the pit, so make sure you plant it in the dirt after it sprouts.
You don't need to wait until you have an 8-inch sprout. Waiting too long can also cause the sprout to curve in the bag as it gets longer. Your plant sprout can get oddly curled. Question: My plant is 17 inches tall with no leaves left. It is 13 months old and grown indoors. It has had spotty leaves as well. Now it looks like two are trying to grow at very top. What should I do for my avocado plant?
Is it ok? Answer: Leaves generally fall off for two reasons. Too much water, or too little water. Since your plant is trying to sprout again, it probably has the right amount of moisture now. Don't nip off your new leaves or any new bud. Your plant is pulling all of the nutrients to grow those leaves from the seed. After you have at least two sets of new leaves, which provide your plant with a way to make food, you can nip a new bud off the top, to encourage your plant to put outside buds.
I'm afraid that plant is likely to always be leggy, and it may die if your seed does not have enough food left. I would start a new seed or two in another pot, and keep a close eye on the soil moisture for all your plants. When you push your finger into the pot, the soil should feel moist. Make sure all the pots have a drain hole and a saucer under them, so excess water doesn't drown your plant. Answer: I would use a pot that is at least four or five inches deep and wide, so the plant has room to get well established before it needs to be repotted.
Pictures online of young grafted avocados for sale often show them in a tall narrow pot, and I've guessed that is to encourage deep roots. A wide shallow pot is probably the worst choice. Question: How wide does the root span get on an avocado tree? What size pot do I need to plant my already rooted seed in? How long till I can graft for fruit? Answer: Plant your avocado in a pot no more than two inches bigger in diameter than your root mass.
More room than that and your plant will spend its energy on the root system and not its leaves and branches. Transplant into a larger pot when roots have extended to the edge of the pot. I'd say for a patio plant that a 15 to inch pot is as big as you will need to go, and your tree will be several years old at that point.
You will need a grant from an established fruiting tree to get fruit on your avocado. I don't have access to a fruiting avocado, so I haven't tried grafting. There are YouTube videos on grafting, and I think their advice would be better than mine.
If you do graft your plant successfully, please leave a comment, as a lot of people are interested in their avocado eventually bearing fruit. Question: If I already started with the toothpick method for planting my avocado seed when do I move the sprout to a pot? Answer: I would put your plant in dirt when you have a couple of inches of roots and a sprout about an inch high.
Make sure you soak the dirt around the roots, as air pockets around the roots are bad for the plant. Answer: Almost all my sprouted avocados push out a root before a stem. I think it is the way they germinate. Some crack open partially, so the root has gotten an inch or so long before the pointed end of the avocado pit even splits.
I think every avocado seed I've started has always sprouted a stem eventually, unless I let the pot dry out. Answer: I use Miracle Great plant food when I water, about once a month during the growing season. For me, that is when I bring my plants outside, hopefully, around the middle of May in northern New York. During winter, I give half strength food once a month.
Basically, feed it more often once your local growing season starts, and less in the dormant portion of the year. Answer: To prune is to cut off buds or twigs or branches from your plant to encourage it to grow in a specific way.
Pruning your avocado by nipping off the top bud, or even the top of the stalk, can encourage it to send out branches and stop being so leggy. I recommend not pruning until you have at least two sets of leaves. Then just nip off the little bud that would become the next set of leaves.
A very leggy plant with half a dozen sets of leaves could be cut down to just two or three sets of leaves, but you want to make sure the plant can continue making enough food for its self from the remaining leaves. Don't arbitrarily prune the plant if you don't have leaves, even if the stalk is getting tall. It lives off stored material in the pit until it makes its food from photosynthesis in its leaves.
Even avocado pits have a limit to how much they have to feed their plant. Question: I planted my first Avocado seed about 6 months ago and it didn't take too long to sprout but I wasn't really sure what I was doing. Unfortunately I didn't do step 7, so I now have a tall stem with 6 big leaves at the top. I also cut a bud instead of a new leaf, my bad.
Have I killed my avocado tree? How do I make sure my transplanted avocado tree survives? I've become quite attached. Answer: The bud you took off will probably encourage your plant to put out some side sprouts. I don't think you have killed your plant. Just make sure your pot never dries out. I've learned to grow avocado plants from seed through trial and error and killed some in the process.
Think of this as you gaining experience. I'm always encouraging people to sprout more avocado pits, so your avocado attachment can have more plants to love. Question: Can you cover the bottom of an avocado tree so your house does not get dirty?
Answer: I would encourage you to set the bottom of your pot in a plant saucer or a small plate. As well as making sure dirt doesn't fall out holes in the bottom, it will keep water from puddling on your shelf or table when you water the avocado. Answer: They are sprouts, all attached to the seed. You could not successfully separate them and get multiple plants. On one occasion I learned that soapy water had been poured into the pot around the time the pit was beginning to split.
It's the only thing out of the ordinary I could find. Possibly some chemical in the dish detergent stimulated the seed to put out multiple sprouts. The other time, I was even more clueless about the cause. What I did was pick the thickest sprout to be primary, and use a paring knife to cut off the other sprouts.
The plant grew normally after that. Question: Do you plant the avocado seed from a dry seed or do they have to be fresh? Answer: I usually plant seeds soon after I eat the avocado, but I have successfully planted seeds that are a few months old.
I think, although I have not specifically kept track, that my germination rate is a little better with fresh seeds, but I'll try to start paying attention to see if that is true. Do still plant seeds from avocados that have gotten brown or mushy, because even though the avocado is no longer edible, the seed can certainly sprout.
I put it outside and the sun burned a few leaves, my question is can I still prune it for it to grow wide instead of tall? And should I cut off the leaves that have turned brown from the sun? Answer: Go ahead and pinch off the center leaf bud, as that will encourage your plant to start branching. I've found I can keep sunburn to a minimum by putting my indoor plants outside on the shadiest side of my house, and gradually letting them get more sun every few days for a week or two.
The first couple of days I may move them away from the sun if it is a really bright day. I have a lot of plants I bring in for the winter, and most of them may get sunburnt if they have too much exposure the first couple weeks. Answer: If after several months you don't even see a crack starting in the seed, I would throw it out and try again. Do give it two to three months in soil you keep moist. If the soil in the pot has dried out completely, especially more than once, my experience has been a pit that doesn't sprout, probably because I have killed it.
While I find I am far more successful starting avocados in soil, there have certainly been pits that I have had to throw away too. I have at least 15 avocado houseplants of varying sizes, so I no longer plant a seed from every avocado I eat, but for a few years I started every pit I had.
If you eventually have more sprouted pits than you want to grow, why not give some away to friends who have had no luck with the toothpick method. Question: It is at night, and I just transplanted a baby avocado tree. Can I water a newly transplanted avocado tree and how much water should I use?
My pot has an 8-inch diameter. Answer: Don't worry about the time of day or night that you transplant. You should water your plant after transplanting. I'd put it in the sink and let water dribble in gently until water flows out the bottom. Then let it sit a little longer to finish draining. Put the pot on a saucer, and place it wherever you want.
An 8-inch pot may need a dinner plate sized saucer. A too large pot will not kill your plant unless you let the pot dry out. The rule of thumb on transplanting from one pot to another is to go up about two inches in size each time.
Question: I have two avocado seeds, one has grown a stem, and the other had cracked open. My question is, what becomes of the seed as it grows, should I do anything?
Answer: Don't remove the seed or pit from the growing stalk. As long as it is attached, the plant can continue to use stored nutrients in the pit. Eventually, it will separate from the plant on its own, usually one side at a time. I've had plants well over a year old that still have withered looking pits attached at soil level.
They do no harm remaining attached. Some recipes call for salting the water or adding baking soda, but adding either is completely optional and, honestly, unnecessary. Make sure you add enough water to cover all your eggs completely. A note on hot water versus cold water: You might have heard that you should start the eggs in room temperature or cold water and then bring them to a boil. This is a myth. According to our tests, starting with hot water yields eggs that are easier to peel—so always start by boiling your water.
Once the water has come to a rolling boil, use a large spoon to lower the eggs into the boiling water. If you drop the eggs in haphazardly, they can hit the bottom of the pot and crack, leaving you with egg whites floating in the water.
Oh, and start with cold eggs from the fridge if you can—it makes the finished eggs easier to peel. Then set a timer and let the eggs cook to your desired doneness.
Boiled eggs can be ready to eat in as little as 4 minutes, though at that point they will be soft-boiled the kind you spoon right out of the shell.
After 8 minutes they will be hard-boiled, but those who like drier hard-boiled eggs can keep going all the way to 14 minutes. Refer to the table of cooking times below and experiment to find your ideal level of doneness. When the timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs from the boiling water to a large bowl full of ice water.
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