Finally! I've done it!! At Last!!

[the.fee.fairy]

I've finally finally finally managed to grow an avocado plant!

I've been trying for years, and every time the stone shrivelled and went mouldy. But i have a plant! It's about 12" tall and is green with leaves and everything!

Woohoo!!

Pineapples next...

[frozenthunderbolt]

Cool beans! Well done Fee, (love the new avatar BTW) Pineapples are relatively easy; just cut the top off a store bought one and plonk it in a pot and most of the time it will strike quite happily. we have had fruit off plants grown like this :-)

[Milims]

Sounds like you need to read The After Dinner Gardening Book by Richard W Langer! It's gooood - and all about what you're doing/growing!

[contadino]

Excellent. Will you keep us posted on it's progress? I was rather put off the idea after reading a story of one that grew to 50ft tall, and the bloke had to cut a hole in the roof of his greenhouse to let it grow. However, someone told me that in Spain they get fruit off trees that aren't more than 8ft tall.

[Shirley]

Hey - well done Fee!!!

That book sounds like a good read Milims! Will see if I can get that from the library.

[Milims]

It's a very good read - Wombat put me onto it! He spotted itin our local second hand book shop for £1.80 - I looked it up on Amazon and in was nearer £20 It really is a good read, about just what Fee is doing, amusing and informative - a real inspiration!
Fee - keep us up to date with the Avocados progress - you may just have inspired us!

[the.fee.fairy]

I will do.

At the moment, its growing in a hyacinth vase - i figured taht if i kept the bottom wet, then it would encourage it to grow.

I love grwing things from seeds that i've eaten the fruit from. I've got a lychee plant growing at the moment too, and some orange trees. I don't know if any of them will ever produce fruit, but i love watching the plants appear.

I've got two pineapples (small golden). They were £1 for the two from a local market. I've had them a couple of weeks. One started to look a bit dead on top, so i've twisted the green bit off and put it into a cup of water. I think i might give the hyacinth vase a go for that one too. The other one seems to be sucking the life out of the pineapple underneath it! I'll leave it til it looks really dried out, then put that in some water too.

Oooh...i'll go and take pics in a minute.

Then i'll do some looking up to see how to look after it properly!

[the.fee.fairy]

Ta-Da! Pics:



The Avocado before potting. Its in a hyacinth vase.



The Lychee in a pot. It was in an old coffee jar (glass). Don't know if its going to survive. its mate didn't.



The dead-looking pineapple. Now moved to a hyacinth jar to give it water.

Please do excuse how filthy the window looks too...I watered my herb boxes that are hanging off the windowsill the other side earlier, and forgot about the splashes!


On the left: The sucked up pineapple
On the right: Tea plants!

[ina]

Great! I tried getting a pineapple to grow a few times, but no success. Same with avocados here; I think my house is simply too cold for any of these tropical/subtropical plants.

[kiwirach]

WOW!! thats really cool!. i'd love to grow pineapples, and hadnt thought about tea before....how'd you get them started?.
will also add that book to my list of required reading!!!.

[ina]

Look at this old thread...

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... =pineapple

[hedgewitch]

Oooh I've been trying to grow an Avocado for years. I get past the sprouting stage but then when I plant it outside in some soil it doesn't last very long after that - couple of months at the most. Still, I don't give up easily and I've got a few pips on the go at the moment - don't they take the longest time!!!

Your little plant looks lovely and healthy fee.
Maybe I plant mine out too soon?
I will try and leave them in water for longer this time.

Avocados are one plant I would really benefit from growing as we consume loads of them and at 14 euro a pop from the gardening centre it would be so nice to get one to do well.

[ina]

Oooh I've been trying to grow an Avocado for years. I get past the sprouting stage but then when I plant it outside in some soil it doesn't last very long after that

Outside??? Where are you again?

I have had fairly large ones in pots indoors - that was back in Germany, where I had central heating... But never to the flowering or even fruiting stage.

[possum]

I have germinated a few, just chucking them in damp compost works. out of nine, three germinated, one died after a couple of weeks, the other two one is healthy a year later in a pot, the other well not so healthy

[the.fee.fairy]

This is about my sixth attempt. Every time i have an avocado, i suspended it in water using cocktail sticks...and every time except this time failed. I think that it was because this was a huge stone, and it sat in the top of the hyacinth vase on its own.

I dont know if the pineapples are going to work. Theres a bloke at work who managed to get some to grow, and he used the hyacinth vase method.

Ill give it a go and see!