Avocado, One Year After Propagation from Seed

It's been over a year since I experimented on propagating avocado seeds. We got them from fruits we bought from a neighbor. I saved the seeds and let it dry for a few days and then rooted it in water. 

Rooting takes a few weeks and then I wanted for it to produce leaves. When it had enough leaves, I then planted it in a small pot. Waited a few more months and then re-potted it in a bigger pot. 

It took me awhile to transfer it to a bigger pot. We positioned it where it could get enough sunlight and I hope pests won't disturb it. I plan to leave it in this pot until it's transferred to soil. It will take a few more years before it hopefully bears fruit.

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My Avocado Trees!

It's been six months since I propagated 6 avocado seeds. Five rooted, but only 4 grew leaves which I eventually planted in soil.

All 4 plants are almost 3 feet tall now and I'm so happy with the progress. I know it will take years before they bear fruit. I'm happy to wait.

We had a huge avocado tree before at the back of our house. It produced a lot of fruits and I remember my Dad would always make crushed avocado with milk for me. Mom would also make avocado shake often.

It would be wonderful to have avocado trees again in our backyard and get free avocado! Maybe I could even make some ice cream. Yum-yum!

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Quick BGC Run and my Avocado Trees

We had to make a quick run to BGC to pick up something. There was a bit of traffic and surprisingly AQI was at 125. I only found out because I started sneezing like crazy. Good thing I brought my portable Tylex air purifier and Young Living Breathe Again oil. 

We managed to quickly finish our errand. Would have been faster if there were more lifts in the building. As soon as we got home, I watered the plants. I realized while watering the plants that I now have 4 avocado trees growing. Here's how they look now -

I'm so stoked that I managed to propagate four out of the six avocado seeds. The seedlings are now on their way to become trees. Yay!

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Gardening Helped Heal my Forearm Pain

I've been having forearm pain the past two weeks. I'm not sure if hand quilting triggered it (probably). My neuro told me to see her if I have pain since she flagged my scoliosis. She's out so I haven't been able to see her. The ointment my spine doctor has helped and I've been doing some of the exercises my PT taught me before.

I read on a hospital's page that you can do some gardening as home treatment for forearm pain. After exercising yesterday I felt I could give it a try today. I had to transplant the avocado I propagated in water anyway. Two avocados and one money plant was my plan. 

I ended up transplanting two avocados, the Ikea money plant, and re-potted some succulents into a bigger pot. Plus I prepared 2 big pots for calamansi and four smaller ones for seeds that sprouted from my propagation tray (I'm not sure what they are, haha). I didn't feel any pain and it felt good. It was good exercise and the cats watched me the whole time.

Hope to see my neuro next week! 

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Garden Notes: Cactus and Succulent Soil, Calamansi Soil, Avocado Soil

I have different kinds of plants and I can't find the notebook where I used to write down notes for my plants. I realized I should have just noted it here in my blog. That's what I do anyway when I need to refresh my memory. It's also why I make cooking videos at "Recipes for My Son". 

It's been hard to keep track of the needs of my plants. There's soil needs, fertilizer, pesticide, watering etc. So I thought I should write down what I use. It's easier to find it here than my (currently) missing notebook. Miggy can also put it to good use one day when he becomes a plantito (haha). 

Okay, so here's what I generally use for different kinds of plants -

Cactus and Succulents - loam soil, perlite, tiny pebbles, a little compost (learned this from Manong at the nursery)

Calamansi Soil - loam soil, compost/manure, rice husk, coco peat

Papaya Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk, Coco peat

Avocado Soil - loam soil, compost, perlite, Coco peat, rice husk (use when you transfer from water)

Soil to Propagate Gumamela - loam soil, coco peat, perlite, rice husk

Gumamela Soil - loam soil, rice husk, vermicast

Bell Pepper Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Desert Rose/Kalachuchi Soil - use succulent mix

Belly Buddha - use succulent mix

Ginger - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Dill Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk

Rosemary Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk, can also add some pebbles

Will update for other plants :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Avocado Update: Leaves, Finally!

Sweetie excitedly told me the other day that the avocado seeds I've been propagating for two months now have started to grow leaves! Finally!

In the past two weeks I increased the amount of honey and moved two of the seedlings with stems to a bigger jar. Sweetie also changed the kitchen curtains. The curtain was shorter and allowed more sunlight to come in. I think that encouraged the seedlings to progress faster.

I've been hesitant to move the jars to another spot with better sunlight because I might forget to top up the water (out of sight, out of mind!). I'm debating whether I should move the seedlings to soil already, but videos said they need to have leaves already. So I'll wait.

I hope to eventually harvest some fruits!

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Avocado Update: More Roots Plus a Tiny Stem

Ohh, I'm so stoked! The avocado seeds  propagating are progressing very well. There are more roots now and a tiny Stem is starting to grow out of one seed.

Three other seeds also have roots now. The two smaller ones are starting to crack, so I hope it will still progress.

I need to wait a few more months before I could move it to a pot with soil. My target is to grow a couple of trees for the future.

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Touchdown Avocado!

Last minute win for the month of August! We've been busy the past few days, but I made sure that the avocado seeds were submerged halfway. I noticed they've been sipping a lot of water and I had the top it up everyday. 

I'm propagating two sets of seeds. I started the first three on August 9. The second set on August 17. The first awed that started to open was from the second set. It's one of the bigger seeds and I guess the most mature one. 

We were out the whole day, so I was only able to check the seeds in the evening. I was surprised to see almost an inch of root from one. Yasss!

Another seed is also developing a root. In a few days it will be like the big seed.

My aim is to grow a couple since I'm sure the next challenge is to properly transplant it to soil. I have to wait a few more weeks until the seedlings have leaves already. This small win is a great start!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Trying to Grow Avocado

When I was growing up, we had a huge avocado tree in our backyard. It produced a lot of fruit and my Dad always made avocado with milk for me to eat. It was the only way I eat avocado, until I discovered avocado shake (haha) and well, guacamole. As a Filipino, I don't eat avocado as a salad. 

The avocado tree in my childhood home is long gone. I'm not sure if it fell during a typhoon or was taken down due to security issues. Since our avocado tree before was prolific I thought I could try growing another tree. We recently got some avocado from a neighbor. It was perfect, so I saved the seeds. 

I watched a couple of videos to learn how to germinate avocado seeds. I chose to put it in water. To make sure I added some honey to make sure it doesn't rot. Hopefully, the honey will help encourage the seed to grow roots. It will take a while to germinate, just like bell pepper and papaya seeds. 

Let's see where this goes. I have two other trees that are growing nicely, mango and weeping fig. Both grew unexpectedly. The mango grew inside the compost bin. The weeping fig grew randomly on our balcony. And oh, I have a curry tree too. I'm growing them in pots for now since I plan to plant them eventually in our future house. 

*Just a thought, maybe I should throw one of the seeds in the compost bin, hehe. 

#BeKind #StaySafe