How Does an Avocado Seed Grow?

It would be easier to guess what method of growing avocado seeds is going to work best if you understand just how an avocado seed grows.

I've had 5 avocado seeds growing for about 4 - 5 weeks now (one joined the party about a week or two late) and one of the seeds has started to really grow.

Note: these 5 avocado seeds are all untouched, unprepped seeds like the first two in our experiment

The bottom of an avocado seed that has been soaking in water for several weeks

As you can see, the bottom of this avocado seed has split open drastically, and there is some semblance of plant matter concealed in the middle, which will eventually take the form of roots.

It's also worth noting that his seed has become extremely slimy (you can see the slime in the right side of the crack there). Some of the outer layer had also disintegrated.



From what I can gather from this particular seed, avocado seeds grow by softening up in water for a long period of time until the outer layer and inner-seed are both squishy enough to allow the seed to pry open like the one above and push out roots. I can assume that it will eventually split at the top as well to push out a stem once the roots are established.

Based on these observations, I would predict that the Peeled Seeds will have an advantage seeing that they have no outer layer needed to be soaked through. I also think the Cut Top/Bottom Seeds will have the advantage of soaking more efficiently and allowing easier splitting of the seed. (Which some Cut Top/Bottom seeds have already begun doing. Read about it here)

We will continue to watch both the 8 Experiment Seeds and these 5 far-ahead seeds to learn more about avocado seed growth.