I have been wanting more plants around the house lately, but I didn't really know what type of plant(s) I wanted. I had debated on some miniature banana trees (my mom had a couple when I was growing up) because they are pretty easy to care for and they can stay indoors. I also tossed around the idea of maybe having a fern of some sort...but again, I was a little uncertain. A few weeks ago I had seeded one of my avocados for a sandwich I was making and the Mr. came up with the idea to root the avocado seed so that we could transplant it and grow an avocado tree...eventually. He read how to do it from an awesome old gardening book (no really, it's vintage old!) his grandfather gave him when they were here visiting. I was a little skeptical about it actually working, when he told me how you actually go about "rooting" an avocado seed, but after a couple weeks, whadaya know?!?! I actually started to see some roots popping out!!! Since the book is all packed up, I found this site that provides step-by-step instructions on how to do this "rooting" process, in case any of you out there want to try it yourselves!
Basically though, you wash you seed, and then stick wooden skewers, toothpicks, or something similar into the sides of the seed...then fill a cup or a jar (like we did) with water so that the bottom (about 1 inch or so) is submerged. Then place it is a bright area like a window sill until you see roots forming. The top will split...as you can see in the below picture...and leaves will start to grow from the top...pull those off and let new leaves form and grow...then it's ready to plant!
any day now we should be seeing little leaves forming through the split!
I am surprised at how extensive the root system is! They reach the bottom of the jar already!
Are there any plants you have planted lately or are thinking of planting soon? I need some ideas!!!
