You can grow avocado tree from cuttings as well as from seeds. Growing an avocado tree from cutting will produce the tree which will be exact identical to the parent tree. The avocado trees propagated from cuttings can produce fruits quickly, just in 3-4 years.
Compare this with an avocado tree grown from seed (how to grow avocado tree from seed or pit) that can take 15 years to reach the maturity to produce fruits. Also, the avocado tree grown from seed will produce fruit that may be totally different from the parent tree. |
| Avocado Tree |
Propagating Avocado Tree From Cuttings
So can you propagate an avocado tree from a cutting? Yes, you can certainly grow avocados from cuttings quite easily. Following are the steps involved in growing avocado trees from cuttings, the method is the same for propagation of all types of avocados from cuttings including Hass, Shepard Pinkerton, Reed, Rincon and Wurt, Bacon, Edrano' and Fuerte avocados.
Step 1: Taking Cuttings
Before taking cuttings, ensure that your cutting shears or knife is clean and disinfected in bleach solution.
When to take cuttings: Taking correct avocado cuttings at the proper time is very important for the success of rooting avocado cuttings.
Take avocado cuttings in spring to summer from a healthy avocado tree. I started rooting avocado cuttings in Sydney, Australia in the month of December.
Take the avocado cuttings from young branches that have grown in the same growing season.
Size Of Cuttings
The cuttings should be about a pencil size, 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) long and 3-5 mm (1/4-inch) thick.
The cuttings should have two to three nodes along the stem including at least one unopened bud. Nodes are where leaves have emerged or will emerge, they contain the types of cells needed for root production.
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| Prepared Avocado Cutting |
Wrap the cuttings in a damp newspaper, while you bring them to home or prepare for other things. Or keep the cuttings dipped in water, until you are ready for planting them.
Step 2: Selecting the Pot
Take a small pot having drainage holes at its bottoms to drain excess water. Waterlogged soil in the pot will rot the cuttings, resulting in failure.
Fill this pot with the rooting medium as given below.
Step 3: Rooting Medium For Rooting Avocado Cuttings
Fill the pot with a mixture of perlite and peat moss or vermiculite. This soil mixture retains the moisture in it and at the same time it is free-draining. I use a mixture of potting mix and river sand in equal parts to propagate cuttings of many fruit and flower plants with high success.
Step 4: Watering
Water the pot thoroughly, ensure that the rooting medium is damp at all points. Keep the pot in shade for half an hour to drain excess water while you prepare for other things.
Step 5: Prepare Cuttings For Propagation
Remove all the lower leaves and cut the upper leaves into half. Scrape lightly the lower 1 inch of the cuttings, or you can make a slit at the middle of its lower 1 inch.
Can the avocado cutting be rooted in water? I tried to root the prepared cuttings in water. I put the cutting in water, but it did not root.
Step 6: Planting Avocado Cuttings
Apply rooting hormone at the lower end of the avocado stem cutting. You can either use a commercial chemical rooting hormone or a natural rooting hormone like aloe vera gel.
Then make a hole in the soil by a stick and insert the cutting in the hole, at least 2 inch deep or about 1 inch above the bottom of the pot. Do not push the cutting. Press the soil around the cutting.
You can plant 3-4 cuttings in the same pot. Do not water again.
You can use chemical rooting hormone or natural homemade rooting hormone like aloe Vera gel.
Step 7: Create a Mini Green House
The key to successfully rooting the cutting is humidity and temperature. Since the cuttings have no roots, they can easily dry out in the rooting process. So it is important to keep the environment around the cuttings humid.
The easiest way to do this is to keep the pot inside a greenhouse. You can create a mini greenhouse by covering the pot with a clear plastic bag to create high humidity around the planted cuttings. The bag will keep moisture within it, you will see water drops on inside of the bag.
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| Planted Avocado Cutting Enclosed in a Bag |
Place the bag in shade at a warm place. If the outdoor temperature is below 20°C, then keep the pot indoors in a warm bright room.
Step 8: Mist the Cuttings
Check the moisture levels every few days to ensure that the soil is moist.
Open the bag every 10 days and mist or add a few drops on soil if the soil is dry, otherwise seal the bag again.
Over-watering will rot the cuttings but if the soil dries out, the cuttings may die.
Step 9: Open the Bag To See if the Cuttings have Rooted
The avocado cuttings will take 2 to 5 weeks to grow roots and new leaves depending on several factors including temperature and size of cuttings.
You will see the growth of new leaves. If you tug gently on the cutting, and if you feel a slight resistance, it means roots are forming. You may also seed some roots coming out of the hole.
Open the covering from the avocado cuttings for half an hour. If the leaf stays okay, then open the bag for 1 hour daily for 1 week, keeping the pot in shade.
Open the bag for half day and keep it in bright shade for another week, away from direct sun light.
Open the bag and keep it in bright shade for another week, away from direct sun light.
Now you can expose the new growth to the morning sun for two weeks.
Step 10: Transplanting the Cuttings
By this time the avocado cuttings would have developed strong roots and can be transplanted into a new pot (how to grow avocado tree in pot) or directly out into the garden in free-draining nutrition rich soil.
This is how you can propagate avocado cuttings with success. The cuttings may fail to root if you have not provided the needed humidity and warmness. avocado seed germination with paper towel video