The first steps I usually take are not shown here. However, I always peel off the reddish skin from a fresh avocado seed before dropping them in their little boat. Sometimes this takes a while to do. Often times I’ll let it dry first, then squeeze it until it cracks the outer skin. Once you have a few cracks you can usually peel it off pretty easily. Worth noting: you don’t HAVE to do this, but I find it helps prevent any residual flesh from the fruit from contaminating your water.
Here we have the first two seeds floating in their little AvoSeedo boats. I use Rubbermaid storage containers for their germination home, but there are AvoSeedo kits you can buy; but really, anything would work. At this point they have probably been sitting in them for about 3 weeks. As you can see, there is a little tail forming below the nearest seed which means it’s ready to get a new home.
Once I have a tail that is long enough, I’ll mix a pretty weak hydroponic solution and put it in a Gatorade or similar bottle. Any size works, but with the larger avocado seeds the opening of the 16/32oz bottles is perfect; it supports the seed without needing an additional grow basket to hold it.
So far with the few grows I’ve done previously, I used General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients. This batch I am on now I have been using General Hydroponics Nova Series. I tend to prefer the Nova since it’s a single-part system, no need to mix 3 different solutions into one which I find to be a headache.
Once your solution is mixed, I’d definitely recommend covering your container with something to block out the light. Here I’ve used aluminum foil. You can paint it, put it in a bag, etc. Anything to keep light out which in turns helps prevent algae growth. I’ve also heard of people adding a few drops of hydrogen peroxide into their water or nutrient solution for that purpose.
I also a piece of paper towel around the opening to give a little bit more light blockage. This may be unnecessary but if it helps a little to prevent algae, I’m all for it.
Stay tuned…