Overview
What an avocado needs, how big it gets, and whether you can expect fruit.
Almost every avocado on a windowsill started as a stone saved from lunch, and it sprouts readily. Fruit is another matter: a seedling can take ten years to flower, rarely does indoors, and won’t come true to the fruit you ate. Grow a stone for a handsome, fast-growing houseplant; plant a grafted tree in a frost-free garden if you want avocados of your own.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Persea americana
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
- Hardiness
- USDA zone 12b and warmer
- Propagation
- Seed, Grafting
Keep above 13 °C
Growing details
- Germination
- 14 – 56 days
- Frost sensitivity
- Frost tender
Growing calendar
- Active growth: year-round indoors
- Repot: March, April, May
- Prune: March, April, May, June, July, August
Indoors: growth follows light and warmth rather than the calendar. Young plants whenever roots show at the drainage holes; established plants each spring. Pinch out tips of indoor plants as they grow; prune outdoor trees after harvest or frost.
Is this plant right for you?
- Houseplant from a stone
- Fun to grow with children
- Needs warmth and humidity
- Rarely fruits indoors
- Fruit tree in frost-free gardens
- Frost tender
Toxic to pets
Toxic to horses: the plant contains persin. Keep plants and prunings away from them, and call a vet promptly if a horse eats any.
Before You Grow
Decide first: a houseplant from a stone, or a grafted tree for fruit in a frost-free garden.
Houseplant avocados generally last a few years before they decline; plan to raise a replacement.
What you need
A stone from a ripe avocado
From any shop-bought fruit. Wash off the flesh. See growing from a stone.
A jar and four cocktail sticks, or a pot
To sprout it in water, or straight into moist compost.
Soil-based compost and sharp sand
For potting on. See compost and soil.
A warm, bright spot
20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F) to sprout, then good light. See light.
A tray of damp gravel
To raise humidity around the plant. See indoors.
Houseplant feed
For spring and summer. See feeding.
A stone, a sapling or a grafted tree
From a stone you get a fast-growing, attractive foliage plant, and a good project for children. In the UK, shop fruit is mostly knobbly ‘Hass’ and smoother green types such as ‘Fuerte’ or ‘Ettinger’.
Don’t expect fruit from it. A seedling takes years to flower: four to ten, says UF/IFAS; ten or more, says the RHS. Indoors it rarely flowers at all. And seed doesn’t come true, so any fruit may be nothing like the one you ate.
A grafted tree is the way to fruit. It is a known variety on a rootstock, often starts cropping in three to four years, and may stay more compact on a dwarfing rootstock. It still needs a frost-free climate, or a large, warm, humid greenhouse or conservatory.
Cold tolerance varies by type. Gardeners’ World suggests a cold-hardy variety for anyone hoping for fruit in the UK. See avocado types compared.
Avocado types compared
-
Little
- Survives
- Only where it rarely freezes
- Examples
- ‘Donnie’, ‘Simmonds’, ‘Waldin’
- Notes
- ‘Waldin’ fruits well alone
-
Moderate
- Survives
- About -4 to -1 °C (25 to 30 °F)
- Examples
- ‘Choquette’, ‘Monroe’, ‘Reed’, ‘Booth 8’
- Notes
- ‘Booth 8’ needs an A-type partner
-
Good
- Survives
- About -4 to -2 °C (24 to 28 °F), infrequently
- Examples
- ‘Taylor’, ‘Lula’, ‘Tonnage’
- Notes
- ‘Taylor’ and ‘Lula’ fruit well alone
-
Best: Mexican types
- Survives
- Colder still
- Examples
- ‘Brogdon’, ‘Mexicola’, ‘Ettinger’, ‘Winter Mexican’
- Notes
- Gardeners’ World gives ‘Brogdon’ to about -6 °C (21 °F)
Groups follow UF/IFAS, for established trees: West Indian types are the most tender, Mexican types the hardiest. Choose by your coldest winter night first, then by fruit. Young and stressed trees are more tender than these figures. ‘Hass’, the usual shop avocado, is about as cold-sensitive as a lemon (UC).
Where avocado grows best
Avocados are tender evergreen trees from Mexico and Central America. They want warmth, light, humidity and roots that never sit wet.
In cool climates, grow it indoors. A warm, bright room suits it, or a heated greenhouse. In winter keep it at 13 to 18 °C (55 to 65 °F). In summer it can go outside to a warm, sheltered spot in dappled shade; bring it in before temperatures drop.
Outdoors all year only where winters are frost-free or nearly so, such as southern Florida and coastal California. There, choose the warmest part of the garden that never floods, well away from buildings and other trees: UF/IFAS spaces trees 7 to 9 m (23 to 30 ft) from them.
Wind. Limbs break easily in strong wind or under a heavy crop.
Indoors, give it a warm, bright spot, such as a sunny windowsill for a young plant. Too little light is one of the two usual reasons houseplant avocados decline (see indoors).
Outdoors in summer, a pot plant does best in dappled shade rather than full sun.
Fruiting trees want full sun. They tolerate some light shade, but flowering and fruiting are best in warm, sunny conditions, and trees crowded by buildings or other trees crop poorly.
- Winter indoors
- 13 to 18 °C (55 to 65 °F)
- Frost
- Damages or kills most types
- Size outdoors
- 9 to 20 m (30 to 65 ft) unpruned
- Size indoors
- 1 m (3 ft) or more
Compost and soil
In pots, use a soil-based, free-draining compost, such as peat-free John Innes No 3 with added sharp sand. John Innes No 2 suits a sprouted stone.
In the ground, avocados grow in many soils as long as they drain; they don’t tolerate flooding or wet soil, which brings on root rot. Where the ground stays wet after rain, UF/IFAS plants on a mound of native soil 60 to 120 cm (2 to 4 ft) high.
pH. Avocados suffer in soil above pH 7, which locks up iron and zinc. UC advises checking pH before planting and lowering it with elemental sulfur if needed, which takes about six months.
Planting
Sprout a stone at any time of year, repot young plants often, and plant trees out where it never freezes.
Keep a sprouting stone at 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F); germination can take two months.
When to sprout, pot and plant
Sprout a stone at any time of year, as long as you can keep it at 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F). UC suggests early spring for the best start.
Pot on young plants whenever roots appear at the drainage holes. Repot established plants each spring, into a slightly larger pot.
Plant a tree outdoors only in a frost-free climate, once any danger of frost has passed.
How to grow an avocado from a stone
Two methods: suspended over water, where you can watch the roots, or straight into compost.
-
Clean the stone
Wash off the flesh. Note which end is rounded: that is the base, where the roots grow.
-
In water: suspend it on cocktail sticks
Push four cocktail sticks into the stone halfway up and rest them on the rim of a wide jar, so the rounded end just sits in the water.
-
Or in compost: soak, then plant upright
The RHS soaks the stone in hot water at 40 to 52 °C (104 to 125 °F) for 30 minutes, then sets it upright in moist, sandy seed compost with the pointed end slightly above the surface.
-
Keep it at 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F)
Top up and change the water regularly, or keep the compost slightly damp, never soggy or dry.
-
Wait for the split
The stone splits and sends out a root, then a shoot. Allow two to eight weeks, sometimes longer: Gardeners’ World expects roots in about six, the RHS says eight or more.
-
Pot up a water-grown stone
Once it has several leaves and plenty of roots, pot it in John Innes No 2, spreading the roots and leaving the top half of the stone exposed.
-
Move it into the light
A warm, sunny windowsill, with the compost kept evenly moist. See pinching and pruning for the first cut.
How to plant an avocado tree outdoors
For frost-free gardens, from a grafted nursery tree. Based on UF/IFAS advice.
-
Choose a healthy nursery tree
About 60 to 120 cm (2 to 4 ft) tall in an 11 L (3 gal) pot. Avoid a big tree in a small pot: its roots may be circling.
-
Clear a ring of grass
1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) across, so the tree doesn’t compete with turf.
-
Dig a big hole
Three to four times as wide and three times as deep as the pot, to loosen the surrounding soil.
-
Backfill with the native soil
Don’t add compost, topsoil or fertiliser to the hole.
-
Plant at the same level
The top of the root ball level with, or slightly above, the surrounding soil. Firm gently to remove air pockets.
-
Water in straight away
Then keep it watered as it establishes. See watering.
-
Stake if needed, and mulch
Tie with natural string, not wire or nylon. Mulch 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) deep, keeping it 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) clear of the trunk.
How to repot an avocado
Young plants grow fast and need moving on often.
-
Check the drainage holes
Roots showing there mean it is time. Established plants: every spring.
-
Choose a pot just slightly larger
Overpotting into a much bigger pot leaves compost that stays wet.
-
Use soil-based compost
See compost and soil.
-
Keep the same depth
Set the plant at the level it grew before and firm the compost around it.
-
Water and let it drain
Then return it to its warm, bright spot.
Care
Warmth, humidity, steady moisture and regular pinching keep an indoor avocado bushy.
Pinch out the tips as the plant grows, or it becomes one tall, bare stem.
Care by growth stage
Sprouting stone
Temperature: 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F) · Water: never let the base dry
Warmth and constant moisture. See growing from a stone.
Young plant
Prune: cut back at 15 cm (6 in) · Repot: when roots show
Fast growth. Pinch it early and pot on often. See pinching and pruning.
Established houseplant
Feed: spring and summer · Humidity: gravel tray or misting
Keep it bright, humid and evenly moist. See indoors.
Summer outdoors
Water: more in hot spells
A warm, sheltered spot in dappled shade. See where it grows best.
Winter
Water: reduce · Feed: every six to eight weeks
Indoors at 13 to 18 °C (55 to 65 °F), watered less.
Watering avocado
Keep the compost evenly moist: neither wet nor completely dry.
Indoors, water as needed in spring and summer, more in hot, sunny spells, and less in winter.
Outdoor trees are shallow-rooted, with most roots in the top 20 cm (8 in). They need frequent, modest watering rather than occasional soaking.
- New trees (UF/IFAS): every other day for the first week or so, then once or twice a week for the first couple of months.
- Young trees, in their first three years: twice a week in dry spells of five days or more.
- Older trees: in long dry spells, and above all from flowering through fruit growth.
Both over- and under-watering bring on root rot in outdoor trees. Check the soil before you water, and keep lawn sprinklers off the root zone.
Feeding avocado
Indoors, give a general-purpose houseplant feed in spring and summer at the rate on the packet, and every six to eight weeks for the rest of the year (RHS). Gardeners’ World feeds every two weeks in the growing season.
Outdoor trees like small, frequent feeds, applied while the soil is warm, from spring to autumn. The two extensions differ:
- UC: nothing at first. In the first year, about 28 g (1 oz) of nitrogen per tree in total, split into four or five doses. Double it each year for the next five years. Once bearing, from about year three, add potassium at a similar rate.
- UF/IFAS: feed young trees every one to two months in the first year, then three or four times a year.
Leaf mulch counts. A thick layer of fallen leaves feeds the tree, so you can cut back nitrogen once it has built up.
Trace elements. In alkaline soil avocados run short of iron and zinc; UF/IFAS corrects iron with chelated iron.
Pinching and pruning
Young plants. Left alone, an avocado grows as a single tall stem. To make it bushy, cut the main stem back by half once it reaches about 15 cm (6 in), just above a leaf (RHS; Gardeners’ World waits until about 30 cm, or 12 in). After another 15 cm (6 in) of growth, pinch out the tip, and keep pinching the shoot tips regularly.
Older houseplants. A tall, spindly plant can be cut back hard and usually recovers well.
Outdoor trees. Formative pruning in the first two years encourages side branches. Once cropping, UF/IFAS keeps trees to 3 to 4.5 m (10 to 15 ft) by removing a few upper limbs each year, back to where they branch. Prune soon after harvest, or after the danger of frost for late varieties, and never remove the lower branches. Hire a professional for trees over 9 m (30 ft).
Flowers and fruit set
Indoors, expect no flowers. Houseplant avocados generally don’t flower, and a seedling needs years and a lot of light to reach flowering size. If yours does flower, Gardeners’ World advises pollinating by hand.
Outdoors, the flowers are unusual. Each flower opens twice: first as female, then as male. Varieties are type A or type B, depending on whether their female stage falls in the morning or afternoon, so planting an A with a B helps cross-pollination.
One tree is often enough. UF/IFAS finds flowers are also self-pollinated, mainly by wind, and varieties such as ‘Waldin’, ‘Lula’ and ‘Taylor’ fruit well alone. If there are no other avocados nearby, plant an A and a B type.
Most flowers don’t set fruit. Fewer than 1% become fruit, and many young fruit drop in early summer. That is normal. For an A and B pair, the flowering periods must overlap: ask your nursery which local varieties are A and B types.
Avocado in containers
In a cool climate an avocado lives in a pot, indoors or moved out for summer.
Pot size. Move up a little at a time, just slightly larger each time; overpotting leaves wet compost. See repotting.
Compost. See compost and soil.
Weight. A soil-based compost and a heavy pot keep a tall plant from toppling.
Fruit in a pot is unlikely. UF/IFAS notes avocados grow too big to be contained for long; a grafted tree in a large pot in a warm, humid conservatory is the best chance.
Growing avocado indoors
Given good light, humidity and plenty of water, an avocado thrives indoors for several years.
Humidity. Avocados like humid air. Mist the leaves regularly, or stand the pot on a tray of damp gravel with the water level just below the base of the pot.
Warmth. See where it grows best for temperatures.
Expect a lifespan. After a few years most houseplant avocados decline, becoming spindly with yellowing leaves, usually from too little light and humidity. A humid, heated greenhouse or conservatory helps, or simply raise a replacement from another stone.
Problems
Most avocado trouble is wet roots, dry air or cold. Outdoors, watch for root rot and laurel wilt.
Common avocado problems
These are growing problems, not pests or diseases.
Leaves curling up
- Overwatering
The RHS links curling leaves to too much water. Let the compost dry a little between waterings.
Spindly growth with yellow leaves
- Low light
- Dry air
The usual decline of an older houseplant. See indoors.
A tall, bare stem
- Not pinched
It was never cut back, or it is short of light. See pinching and pruning and light.
No flowers or fruit
- Normal indoors
- Seedling
Normal for a houseplant or a young seedling. See flowers and fruit set.
Frost-damaged leaves and bark
- Cold
Frozen leaves turn brittle, then collapse; damaged bark splits. Don’t rush to prune or feed: wait to see what regrows, water less while the tree has fewer leaves, and whitewash bared branches against sunburn (UC).
More problems with avocado
Common pests
Indoors, the usual glasshouse pests. Outdoors, insects seldom limit fruiting much, and control is worth it only in large outbreaks.
Red spider mite
Tiny mites that mottle the leaves, worst in warm, dry air. Raise the humidity, and treat a bad infestation with a houseplant insecticide or a biological control, following the label.
Whitefly
Small white flies that lift from the leaves when disturbed. Yellow sticky traps catch them; treat larger numbers with a suitable insecticide.
Mealybugs
White, woolly insects in leaf joints and under leaves. Wipe them off with a damp cloth, or treat with insecticidal soap.
Thrips
Tiny insects that leave silvery marks on the leaves. Treat with a suitable houseplant insecticide.
Ambrosia beetles
In Florida, tiny beetles carry laurel wilt into the wood. See diseases.
More problems with avocado
Common diseases
In the home garden, disease control is seldom needed. Good drainage and resistant varieties prevent most of it. For outdoor trees, ask your local extension office about treatment.
Root rot
The most serious avocado disease worldwide, from Phytophthora in wet or flooded soil; in pots, from compost kept too wet. Leaves pale, wilt or die, twigs die back, feeder roots blacken. Fix the watering first; a thick woody mulch helps outdoors.
Laurel wilt
A fungal disease spread by ambrosia beetles that kills trees within weeks to a year, mainly a threat in Florida. There is no effective spray. Buy trees only from registered nurseries.
Avocado scab
Small dark spots on young leaves, twigs and fruit; fruit becomes corky but is fine inside. Many varieties resist it.
Anthracnose
Brown to black sunken spots that rot fruit as it ripens, usually entering through scab or other wounds.
Sun-blotch
Yellow or white sunken streaks on twigs, leaves and fruit. Caused by a viroid; there is no control, and infected trees should be destroyed.
Harvest & Use
Avocados don’t ripen on the tree: pick a mature fruit and let it soften indoors.
Harvesting avocados
Avocados don’t ripen on the tree. They must be picked, then they soften indoors. Picked too soon, before they are mature, they never soften properly and stay rubbery.
When. Each variety has its season, and mature fruit can hang on the tree for weeks or months, picked as you need it. Late in the season they start to drop.
The counter test. Pick one of the largest fruits and leave it at room temperature. UF/IFAS expects a mature fruit to soften in three to eight days; UC allows up to two weeks. If it softens evenly, the rest are ready. If it shrivels or turns rubbery, wait and try again.
Don’t leave them too long. Fruit left on the tree keeps building oil, but too long and it can taste almost rancid.
Ripening and storing avocados
Ripening. Florida avocados ripen best at 16 to 24 °C (60 to 75 °F); warmer, they ripen unevenly and taste off. Gardeners’ World ripens picked fruit for a couple of weeks somewhere warm and dry.
Before ripening, don’t chill them too far: below about 13 °C (55 °F) for West Indian types, or 4 °C (40 °F) for most others, the skin and flesh darken.
Once ripe, store them in the fridge; Gardeners’ World says they keep there for a few weeks.
Using. Cooking spoils the flavour, so avocados are eaten raw: in salads, dips and guacamole. Frozen avocado products can also be made satisfactorily.
Propagation
Stones grow easily but don’t come true; named varieties are grafted.
Propagating avocado
From seed. A stone grows readily (see growing from a stone), but most varieties don’t come true from seed, so the fruit, if any, is unpredictable.
Grafting is how named varieties are made. A shoot or bud of the variety you want is joined onto a young seedling grown as a rootstock.
- The rootstock is a vigorous seedling, ready when it is 60 to 75 cm (24 to 30 in) tall.
- Timing. UC grafts avocados in spring, when the bark lifts easily from the wood; UF/IFAS grafts in the cooler months, November to March.
- Methods. Cleft and veneer grafts (UF/IFAS), or a T-bud (UC), using budwood from near the tip of a shoot with mature, leathery leaves.
A T-bud, in outline (UC):
- Make a T-shaped cut in the rootstock bark 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) above the ground, the upright about 2.5 cm (1 in) long.
- Slice a shield-shaped bud, with its bark, from the variety you want.
- Slip it under the bark flaps until the cuts line up, and wrap with budding rubber, leaving the bud exposed.
- In spring it heals in three to four weeks. Then unwrap it and cut the rootstock back to 30 to 35 cm (12 to 14 in) above the bud.
- Once the bud has grown a few leaves, cut off the rest of the rootstock just above the union.
Cuttings and air layering have not been successful for avocado (UF/IFAS).
More to Explore
Quick answers, guides that pair well with avocado, and the sources behind this one.
Frequently asked questions
Will my avocado plant grow avocados?
Probably not indoors. A seedling can take four to ten years or more to flower, rarely does as a houseplant, and doesn’t come true. For fruit, grow a grafted tree in a frost-free climate.
How long does an avocado stone take to sprout?
Two to eight weeks at 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F). See growing from a stone.
Which way up does an avocado stone go?
Rounded end down, in the water or compost; the pointed end up.
Why is my avocado plant tall and leggy?
It hasn’t been pinched, or it is short of light. See pinching and pruning.
Why are my avocado leaves turning brown?
Usually underwatering. See common problems.
Can an avocado tree live outside in the UK?
Only in a very sheltered, frost-free spot in the mildest areas, and it is a risk. Most are moved outside for summer and brought back in before it turns cold.
How big does an avocado tree get?
Indoors, 1 m (3 ft) or more. Outdoors, 9 to 20 m (30 to 65 ft) unpruned, though trees are often kept to 3 to 4.5 m (10 to 15 ft).
Do avocados need two trees to fruit?
Not always: some varieties fruit well alone. With no avocados nearby, plant an A and a B type. See flowers and fruit set.
How do I know when an avocado is ready to pick?
Pick a large one and see whether it softens evenly indoors. See harvesting.
Is an avocado plant poisonous to pets?
The ASPCA lists it as toxic to horses. It doesn’t list dogs or cats; ask your vet if unsure.
Related guides
Sources
- How to grow avocados (opens in a new tab) Royal Horticultural Society
- Avocado (opens in a new tab) ASPCA Animal Poison Control
- Avocado growing in the Florida home landscape (opens in a new tab) UF/IFAS Extension
- Avocado (opens in a new tab) UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions
- Answers to frequently asked questions about avocados (opens in a new tab) UC Cooperative Extension, Ventura County
- Persea americana (opens in a new tab) NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- How to grow avocados from the stone (opens in a new tab) BBC Gardeners’ World