Growing avocado in water

Today I visited my parents’ house, and my mother showed me some pictures she had took recently. One of them was a picture of avocado on the windowsill in the kitchen. At the beginning of this year, she started water cultivation with the seed of an avocado that she had eaten.

On the windowsill, there were two avocado seed. This one is older and cracked. It was put in a coffee cup from a convenience store.

In addition to the cup, a garbage draining tool was used to support the seed. My mother said it had taken a long time to sprout. When she gave up and was about to discard the seed, she noticed that the roots had come out first.

Now it has also three leaves.

The stem is quite long. It is about 32 cm from the seed to the top of the stem.

The other seed on the windowsill hasn’t sprouted yet though water cultivation was started on July 5.

I wondered how in the world she had thought of cultivating avocado as I had never imagined that it could grow in Japan. Most avocados sold in Japan are imported from Mexico. My mother said that it was her acupuncture therapist who had told her about it. I also wondered if it was necessary to plant it in soil when it would further grow. How tall will it be?

According to some websites, there are some places in Japan where farmers cultivate avocados. Among them, Matsuyama in Ehime prefecture aims to be No.1 in avocado cultivation in Japan. Their avocados were first released in the market in the city of Matsuyama in 2016. I have never seen avocados from Matsuyama or any other places in Japan, but I would like to buy their fruits if they become available in ordinary supermarkets here. Domestic avocados are said to have a richer taste as they can stay longer on trees compared with imported ones.