The Terrible Avocado Experiment: The Long Journey Downhill

Well as you might have guessed from my title, things are already going bad for me. One of my many followers pointed out that I can't simply put the seed in the water any ol' way and expect it to grow. This person was also kind enough to send me a link of where to go to find out how to do it correctly. As I was reading the instructions on Howcast.com, I began to realize this was a failed experiment to begin with. Now I know I said when I started this that I wasn't going to look up any information about it, and that was part of the fun. But I can honestly say that in this case it royally screwed it up from the beginning, and here's why.

First of all, there is indeed a "right side up" for these seeds. Now not being a botanist, or having any real interest in plants at all other than to eat some from time to time, I had no idea this was the case. I was under the impression that you just stick the seed in water with some toothpicks and you're good to go! That was, of course, the wrong assumption. But wait, it gets worse!

So not only did I have a 50% chance of the seeds being upside down, but apparently because they're tropical plants they need to be in warmth day and night, you can't even put them in cold water. Now anyone who knows the weather in Northern Nevada knows it can get pretty warm during the day, but even in the summer the temperatures can drop down to the 40's at night. And since 3 of my 4 seeds were outside, that's already a guaranteed 75% failure rate. Even the seed in the makeshift greenhouse wouldn't be able to stay warm enough all night.

One last thing I read on that website killed the little bit of hope that was still in me. It says that if the water turns cloudy or murky the seed is bad and to replace it immediately. Well the one seed that might have made it, the one sitting in my window sill, had rather cloudy water just a couple of days after I set it up. I didn't think it was anything more than a little dust and maybe some debris that wasn't washed off the seed when it was prepared. As it actually turns out, it was because the seed was no good and needed to be replaced.

And if all of that wasn't enough, it turns out that they aren't supposed to be in direct sunlight either. Basically they need to be kept in a closet or store room where it is mostly dark and relatively warm. Unfortunately no such place exists in my house.

Now you might say that I can just start over with some more avocado seeds and put them all in my closet with a small space heater set to just keep it warm enough and go from there. But that ruins the whole point of the experiment! It has to be under such specific conditions, there is no room to try one way or the other. A friend of mine has told me to keep going and see if I can save them, so I will do what I can, but I make no promises.

I will continue to post until there is nothing worth posting. And hopefully by then I will have thought of something else to post about. But don't let that stop you from making any suggestions! I'm sure most of you are more creative than I am anyway, so let those creative juices flow and let me know what you want to see. You also probably noticed there are no pictures this time, so instead, a picture of my two favorite boys, Scott (left) and Logan (right).




P.S. During one of our last windstorms (we get a lot of those in this area) one of the cans was blown away and, along with the seed, seems to have disappeared. I have no idea where it went, and I'm not so dedicated that I'm going to form a search party to go look for it.

P.P.S. I'd like to give a shout out to my newest followers JC JC and Krystal, thanks for the adds. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. And of course comments are also appreciated! I know I don't always get back right away, but these next few weeks I'm working full time and I'm not really used to that. Thanks again everyone!