Growing Avocado Trees

 

• Ideal Soil pH: 6 to 6.5

• Ideal Climate: Moderately warm temps with very few instances of freezing temps

• Daily sunlight for mature trees: Full sun in the morning, shade in afternoon (5-6 hours sun)

• Watering mature trees: Water, let drain and mostly dry, then water again (1-2 times/week)

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**Note that starting from seed can take 5 to 13 years before the tree produces fruit and sometimes a tree started from seed will produce fruit inferior to its parent's or no fruit at all. If you take the time to go this route I recommend doing it with multiple seeds so it is more likely to get a couple trees with good fruit. If you start with a young tree from a nursery or online, it usually takes 3 to 4 years before you begin to get fruit.

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**You can also assure the production of fruit through grafting. See the process of grafting on our Apples page. You can follow this same process but with an avocado seedling and desire avocado scion.

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Step 1: Grow your Avocados Indoor or Outdoor?

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If you are in a region that has extremely hot summers or winters that consistently have temperatures under 30 degrees Fahrenheit, then an indoor tree is probably the way to go. If you have the right climate (consistently warm temperatures between 60-90 and moderate humidity) and decided to grow outside, be prepared to build some sort of shading structure and likely have to excavate a relatively large hole to prepare the soil for the tree or build a mound on top of existing soil to plant in.

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**Note that in climates with more extreme temperatures you can try out avocado varieties that can withstand larger temperature ranges. The Aravaipa Avocado can withstand temperatures from 14 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and are said to taste very similar to Hass Avocados.

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If you plant indoors you will need to continue to transfer the tree to larger pots as it gets bigger. Apply the same concepts described below for outdoor trees to your indoor trees (location and watering).

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Step 2: How to Germinate Avocado Seeds

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**If you are starting with a tree from a nursery skip to Step 5.

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You can take a seeds right out of store bought avocados of your favorite variety but only after the fruit is very ripe. Be sure to wash the seed thoroughly with warm water. Use three toothpicks to suspend each seed in a cup filled with water (wide-end pointed down and have the water level half way up the seed). Put it in a warm area, a window can be a good area as long as it doesn't get too much direct sunlight. Roots and a stem should start to sprout after 2 to 5 weeks. 

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Step 3: Pruning your Avocado Seedling

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Once your seed suspended in the cup of water develops a stem that is around 7 inches long, cut it back down to 3 inches. This will allow the roots to thicken up before the tree gets too far along. Once the stem starts producing leave again, the tree will be ready to be transferred to a pot.

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Step 4: Transfer Avocado Seedling to a Pot

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Get a 10 to 12 inch diameter pot that is well drained (may help to put some rocks on the bottom but make sure not to completely block the drainage hole) and fill it with nutrient rich topsoil. Plant the tree in the pot leaving the top half of the seed exposed above the soil. Put the pot in an area where it gets lots of direct sunlight in the morning and less in the afternoon. Aim to keep the soil moist but not soaked, it doesn't hurt to let the soil dry out a bit between watering but don't allow it to get completely dry. If the leaves are turning yellow you are probably over-watering. Once the tree is around a foot tall, cut it back down to 6 inches which should encourage the growth of new shoots. Once the tree grows back to a foot tall and there are a good amount of leaves, it can be planted in the ground outside.

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Step 5: Choosing a Location to Plant your Avocado Tree

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Avocado trees need a good amount of sunlight but can also be damaged be too much direct sunlight. Their trunks are not protected by bark so excessive sun and high temperatures can be damaging, and their leaves are prone to getting sunburned. With this in mind, the best locations for your tree will get direct sunlight in the morning and be mostly shaded in the afternoon. This could be on the east side of a building, next to a tree or other large plant, or you can construct your own shading structure with shade cloth. 

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Step 6: Checking/Preparing soil for Avocado Tree

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Before planting your avocado tree outdoors you are going to need to know what kind of native soils you have. You can use our easy method for identifying soils on our Soils In The Garden page. Avocado trees need to be planted in soils that are well drained or else their roots will rot. The ideal soil is a mix of sand, silt, and organic matter. If your soils have a good amount of clay or you just want to play it safe, build a mound to plant your tree in. Avocado tree roots are mostly near the surface so planting in a mound is very effective, making it easier to control moisture and add nutrients for your tree.

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If planting in the ground:

Dig a hole that is a about 1.5 times the depth and 2 times the width of the current root ball. You want the top of the root ball to be near the ground surface, filling in the hole around it with a mixture of sand, silt, and organic matter/compost (30% sand, 30% silt, 40% organics/compost would be ideal, but if you already have loamy sand that is rather well-drained then I would just suggest adding some organics).

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If planting in a mound:

Dig a hole that is only about 1/3 the height of the root ball. You are going to build up soil around the roots after planting the tree to create a sort of mound that is above existing ground level. The ideal soils to use are the same as described above with possibly a little more sand (40% sand, 20% silt, 40% organics/compost).

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Step 7: Planting your Avocado Tree

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If planting in the ground:

After digging your hole and lining the bottom with a few inches of sand/silt/organics, fill the hole about 1/4 full of water. This will allow you to see if it drains well while also giving your soil some initial moisture. If there are any roots that are wrapping in circles around the root ball of your tree, clip them before planting. Place the tree in the hole so that the root ball is just a couple inches from the ground surface and fill in the remainder of the hole with sand/silt/organics. Give your tree a thorough initial watering, and cover the soils around the trunk with coarse yard mulch (woody mulch such as barks work well).  

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If planting in a mound:

Line you shallow hole (again about 1/3 the depth of the root ball) with an inch or so of the soil mixture described above. Clip any roots in the root ball that are wrapping around the entire ball, and then place the root ball in the hole. Build the soil up around the roots making a mound and then cover the top with coarse yard mulch (woody mulch such as barks work well). Give your tree a thorough initial watering.

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Step 8: Watering your Avocado Tree

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Start out watering your tree about 2 to 3 times a week, letting the soil get fairly dried out between each watering. Once the root system becomes more developed towards the end of your first year having it in the ground, cut the watering down to once a week and let the soil get close fully dried out in between each watering. Continue to water every time the soil becomes dried out for the life of the tree.

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Step 9: Fertilizing your Avocado Tree

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Fertilize young trees with about 3/4 pound of nitrogen each year along with mixing in some ordinary home fertilizers and compost or organics. Make sure you use a home fertilizer that contains zinc as this is a key nutrient for healthy avocado trees.