Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Avocado Story

I took a little time off from blogging to focus on some other things without distraction. I've missed reading many of my favourite blogs during this time too. It's time to catch up.

I'd posted earlier in February (see here) that I'd put a couple of avocado seeds in water to get them to grow into plants. Here is an update on them, four months later.

When I first put the seeds in water, I didn't have much hope that they would sprout. I'd done this many times before, with no results.


This time again, the seeds sat suspended in water by the windows, while I patiently watched their apparent inactive state, all the while hoping something was happening inside. They had the full benefit of morning sunlight, though they were sheltered from its intensity indoors.



Some time later, their bottoms cracked open and slowly split apart, allowing a root to peep through. These roots rapidly grew longer and I checked their progress daily.



Soon the entire seed cracked open from one side, allowing me a glimpse of the seed within, and the shoot that was beginning to emerge as well.



How was it that both my seeds sprouted this time, while I had failed on all previous attempts?? Probably because I had a secret helper, assisting me all this time in his own quiet way.



Shadow likes slimy rainwater - this we know. But it seems like he has a taste for avocado flavored water as well! He came in every day to take a few licks from this water, which might just have been my magic ingredient! Here he is - caught in the act.



After some time, I decided to move the seedlings to pots, and took them outside to plant them. Shadow watched me doing this, and came over for one final drink of avocado water.



And so it is that we now have two happy avocado plants (in the white pots) that are growing rapidly. They grow to be large trees, and I don't know what I will do with them when they grow larger. For now, this experiment has been very successful, thanks to my little helper.


27 comments:

pink dogwood said...

Wow - so exciting. Can't you plant one of them in your yard somewhere? I wonder how big they grow to be.

Missed you and I am glad you are back :)

Srividya said...

Hi Bindu,

Nice to see you back. Where did you try them before? The fact that you are now in Texas might have helped :)..Just a wild guess.

Chris Daly said...

Hey you did it! Congratulations Bindu

ArtSparker said...

I have noticed that cats like to participate when they see their caretakers engaged in an activity. It may not have been only the taste of the water.

Sydney said...

Welcome back Bindu! I too have had to take a break and will ramp up over the summer. I remember you asking about this and I am thrilled to see you have had such great success this time. As with the spider story, I am so glad you got pictures from start to finish.

I love your little helper by the way!

Rajesh said...

That is so nice. You captured its entire growth. Good results.

Neelima Vallangi said...

Thats nice to see you were so dedicatedly taking care of the seed! :)
Well congratulations on your success ..

meb said...

Missed you Bindu although I must admit that I have been slow in posting as well.

I enjoyed the step-by-step nurturing of your Avocado seeds and recall when you were first asking advice from your readers on how to do this successfully. Well, you did it! Kudos to you!

megha puNAter" said...

wow this is amazing,to see them grow and develop

GMG said...

Hi Bindu! Happy to see you back and to read that it worked!! Having been born in an island with lots of avocados (Madeira), I've had that experience several times; but never managed to eat any avocado from those seeds... ;)

Blogtrotter is showing some sights of the most northern capital city in the world. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

bindu said...

Bhavana - I might do that. Don't think they are native to TX, but I'll have to make sure first.

Vidya - I had two failed attempts right here in TX ...

Thanks, Chris.

ArtSparker - you might be right about that. They sure are curious.

Sydney - thanks. Shadow is still half feral at heart, and so we are proud to have his trust!

Thanks, Rajesh.

Wandering Soul - I think I spent too much time staring at them! ;)

Thanks, Meb. It's always a thrill to see something grow well.

Thanks, Megha!

GMG - looking fwd to seeing your Iceland pictures!

Vamsee Modugula said...

Bindu,
It is so good to see you back. You and vagabond are two of my favorite bloggers and both of you went MIA the last few months!!
What a cool post....you are utterly patient for tracking the progress of the seeds for so many months.
Are you traveling any place fun this summer?
Saru and I am off to France for 10 days this weekend.
Hope to see you on my blog sometime soon.

leanne pizio said...

Bindu! So glad you are back!
And I am happy for you that your avocados are successfully growing and giving you joy. I can't wait to see them as trees.

Shayla said...

Bindu, that was cool. I've tried to sprout them too and it never worked. I imagine they have a better chance of thriving in your climate. Your kitty, by the way, is gorgeous. When we have enough room for another cat I want one just like him.

LadyFi said...

Hurray! They are sprouting!

And what an unusual taste in drinks your cat has! Love it.

ArtPropelled said...

Oh wow, they are growing! Have you thought of getting 2 very large concrete pots to grow them in? Glad you are back in the bloggersphere.

Shalini said...

Wow, how amazing is that!

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Good to have you back Bindu! (I've not been posting as regularly either because of much busyness!)

Your Avocado Story is lovely! The photos of Shadow are so cute and it's good to know he's been helping with the plants! I'll be interested to see how the little trees grow.

myonlyphoto said...

Interesting post about avacado. You know I did the same, but I gave up after 2 months, lol. May be next time I keep it longer, seems like it is long process. Thanks for sharing, good stuff. Anna :)

SG said...

This is so interesting.... nature helps nature!

Sekhar said...

Nice series of photos Bindu. Loved the shots :)

Unknown said...

I LOVE the avocado story! What a nice helper you have. It was fun to see the crack where the sprout was emerging. I have not seen an avocado sprout before.

It was nice to see your name in my comment box. Missed you!

bindu said...

Vamsee - I'm sure you're having fun in France right now. We'll probably stay here for the summer ... :(

Leanne - they seem to be growing like magic beans right now!

Shayla - Shadow thanks you for the compliment. His blush doesn't show coz he's black.

LadyFi, Shalini, Phoenix - :)

Robyn - I'm wondering if I should just put them in the ground after a while. Let's see ..

Raph - I'll give an update in about 6 months ... this is fun.

Sekhar - thanks.

Karina - thanks. I was pretty excited to see it sprout finally!

Anna - hope it works for you next time!

Unknown said...

Congratulations Bindu. I like the way you have taken us through this whole experience. Now you have two healthly Avocado plants.

We just setup our small terrace garden last week and one of the plants we bought was a medium sized bamboo plant that we potted 50 inch pot. Unfortunately all the leaves seems to be drying out and I m hoping that it will revive once it get used to the new environment. Maybe I need some secret help too...Thomas

Barbara Martin said...

I had wondered about growing avocado plants from the pit, and here you have two. Splendid!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

oh wow thats interesting idea to grow avacado tree.. photos are really impressive

Unknown said...

This is an old thread but its the ONLY one I've found where someone also has a cat that is after the avocado seed water. I inherited this 12 yr old cat from a neighbor moving.

He too likes slimy rainwater over fresh tap water. But the avocado seed water is his favorite.

I'm a little worried because avocado seed is supposed to be toxic to cats. Maybe he's getting a buzz?