Growing Avocadoes from seed

[playground]

I noticed that, on ebay, seedling avocadoes fetch approx £5 to £15 plus postage
for seedlings between 12" and 24".  (prices are highly variable)
For example: 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Young-Potted-AVOCADO-FRUIT-TREE-11cms-Pot-18ins-Tall-/302075593029?hash=item46551bc145:g:Qw8AAOSwvzRXzXe4

And generally avocado 'trees' cost more, the taller they are.
So, for example, this 6ft to 7ft avocado tree,  costs £65.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Avocado-Fruit-tree-approx-6-7-ft-hight-In-Garden-or-outdoor-for-5-year-old-/232087236194?hash=item36097a2e62:g:Ki4AAOSwzaJX3ve0

So if you grew a few avocado plants from seeds, now... then by the time next spring arrives
you could sell the young avocado plants and pay your allotment costs, your seed costs, compost costs.. etc.

So with that in mind, i went rummaging around on youtube for
interesting videos about growing avocadoes from seeds

Here's my selection of the most interesting videos (that i saw)


How to grow an avocado tree from seed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTR1oZimeAM

How To Grow An Avocado Plant From Seed - to watch it grow!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBecvitpck

Indoor Avocado Tree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiVvYR-iKVg

Growing Dwarf Avocado Trees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh7QFNH4BRc

GEM Dwarf Avocado 'tree' -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q38tw-ZQPFk

GEM compared with Hass Avocadoes
http://www.myavocadotrees.com/gem-avocado.html

(From my limited knowledge)  I think perhaps the GEM variety
are the ones to go for, they are heavily fruiting and a
dwarf variety... so they'll fit in your greenhouse.

No sign of GEM avocado seeds on ebay.
I wonder where i can buy GEM variety avocado seeds from?

Contributions and suggestions are welcomed

have a nice day :)

[playground]

[Obelixx]

How many people do you know with a temperate greenhouse large enough to accommodate an avocado tree and the patience to wait till it is mature enough to fruit, not to mention the sunshine needed to ripen them to a decent level of tastiness?

[johhnyco15]

just a thought are they expensive because its a very limited market   

[playground]

How many people do you know with a temperate greenhouse large enough to accommodate an avocado tree and the patience to wait till it is mature enough to fruit, not to mention the sunshine needed to ripen them to a decent level of tastiness?

A regular Avocado tree, for example Hass avocados, grow 20ft (approx 6 or 7 meters).
But the GEM variety grows only 4 or 5 feet !
So it's possible to grow that at home, in front of a big window, in a sunny conservatory,
or perhaps a greenhouse.

There's a video (above) of an indian chap who's growing GEM avocados in his garden
in california.  It has 40 to 50 avocados on it ! 

You might need to prune it back after it's fruited and bring it indoors for
the winter....  or... improve the insulation on your green house and figure
out an efficient way of keeping it warm-er during the winter months.
(I'd welcome any bright ideas on that)

[playground]

just a thought are they expensive because its a very limited market   

Hi johhnyco15

I'm not sure what you mean by  "limited market".
Perhaps you mean that there's (relatively) little demand for them ?
But normally, reduced demand pushes prices down.

And... my understanding was that growing avocados was
becoming increasingly popular... which suggests that demand
is increasing, not decreasing.    However, 'increasing popular'
is the impression i've derived from chit-chatting with various people.
(I might have a false impression of the true state of the market)

Whatever the 'true' state of the market in avocado seedlings,
the fact is.. it's nearly October.  I fully expect the market in
seedlings (of most varieties) to pick up in spring and summer.
The current price for 12" to 24" avocado seedlings ranges between
£5 and £15 on ebay. ... presumably more for bigger, healthier
looking specimens.  So... i expect the prices on ebay will be higher
next march to june.

I think there's some way of looking up historical prices for things
on ebay.. .. but i'm not sure  how to do it.  It would be nice to
know how much avocado seedlings were fetching during this
spring and summer.


In any event, it would be as nice to grow your own avocados
as your own tomatoes. And I wonder if they might be grown
together...  perhaps they have similar requirements.
 

[galina]

There's a video (above) of an indian chap who's growing GEM avocados in his garden
in california.  It has 40 to 50 avocados on it ! 

You might need to prune it back after it's fruited and bring it indoors for
the winter....  or... improve the insulation on your green house and figure
out an efficient way of keeping it warm-er during the winter months.
(I'd welcome any bright ideas on that)

The problem is not just warmth, but our light levels at our latitudes, so different from India and California.  Providing the right temperature is fairly straightforward, providing the right light levels would require growing lamps in addition to heat.  I am not an expert in avocados, but if it was as easy as placing a shorter growing variety near a window during winter, then it would probably have been done already by some savvy gardener.

But I would be happy to revise this opinion (and it is just an opinion, based on what happens with other fruit and veg during our winter light levels).  Wish you good luck with this project. 

[playground]

There's a video (above) of an indian chap who's growing GEM avocados in his garden
in california.  It has 40 to 50 avocados on it ! 

You might need to prune it back after it's fruited and bring it indoors for
the winter....  or... improve the insulation on your green house and figure
out an efficient way of keeping it warm-er during the winter months.
(I'd welcome any bright ideas on that)

The problem is not just warmth, but our light levels at our latitudes, so different from India and California.  Providing the right temperature is fairly straightforward, providing the right light levels would require growing lamps in addition to heat.  I am not an expert in avocados, but if it was as easy as placing a shorter growing variety near a window during winter, then it would probably have been done already by some savvy gardener.

But I would be happy to revise this opinion (and it is just an opinion, based on what happens with other fruit and veg during our winter light levels).  Wish you good luck with this project. 

Hi  Galina :)

good answer. 
Growing lamps..  hmm... Now there's a thought.
I gather there are low-power LED (growing) lamps now...
I hear that cannabis growers are making use of them.
No need to run them 18 hours per day.. just 1 or 2 hours to boost the winter sun.

I was watching some youtube videos with John Coler.
He was showing off frost and cold-resistant avocado varieties.

Perfect, would be a dwarf avocado variety, like GWEN or GEM, that is
also frost resistant.   If this isn't currently in existence... i'm sure
it will be, one day soon...  afterall... they invented they Avozilla avocado....
And that's just an impossible monster of an avocado.

See here:
http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/01/giant-avozilla-avocado-goes-on-sale-3945240/

and this 35 second video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhlkHJ-azs

I wonder what size tree the Avozillas grow from.

[johhnyco15]

yes good luck in your quest with the light level thing a potted one in a conservatory in winter could be an option then put it back outside in the spring

[Vinlander]

OK, it's a great challenge and they are a nice looking tree, I'm sure there are lots of people who would like one in their living room as a talking point - until they hit the ceiling that is...

The reason there's not much of a market for them is a) you'd have to be mad to grow one for fruit - indoors or out, and b) they are really easy to germinate from the stone you usually throw away - I've had quite a few sprout in my compost heap - maybe 5% of what I buy.

Websites based in the US will say they are quite hardy - but that is for short sharp frosts followed by weeks and months of dry sunny days - over here, weeks of waterlogging in temperatures hovering around 0C will kill off 99% of stuff that is 'hardy' in Northern California.

The situation changes a bit if you live in Cornwall or Kerry - a professional gardener in St Mawes told me his neighbours down the hill on slopes close to the sea could grow and fruit avocados, but when I asked him about fruit quality he made a face - just don't expect many wins in that department...

IF you can get hold of a Mexican species you'd have a better chance (yes Mexico is further south than California but they have avocado species in the mountains). Unfortunately most Mexican varieties are considered watery, and there are very few named varieties that are considered good enough to grow in the cooler parts of California. You would need a grafted named variety from a supplier in North California or Oregon. NB. most of Oregon is south of southern France and has similar sunshine.

All this information is available from crfg.org - except how to get around having far too little sunshine for such a big tree.

Anyway, avocado pears are really quite cheap in the shops and crucially they ripen well off the tree - so you would be better off spending your money on a garden-share (if there is such a thing) in Spain or Greece - except - just a second - they are even cheaper there.

If you want a challenge how about the closest thing to a good tasty mango you can grow outdoors in the UK? The Custard Banana or New England Pawpaw (not papaya) is delicious and is related to the custard apple/cherimoya. It's a hardy tree that fruits right up to the east Canadian border. It appreciates a warm wall and/or a cool greenhouse but fruits even better if you take steps to keep it cold in Winter (cover the wall and/or remove the glass). Search for Asimina triloba - and agroforestry.co.uk is a good source if they've restocked. Self fertile varieties are sometimes available but the trees are small enough to grow 2 (I have 3 and a dwarf fig in a 3 sqm cold greenhouse and still have room for some odds and ends).

Cheers.