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I have grown an avocado plant using the infamous toothpick method, i.e. suspending an avocado pit in water using toothpicks. Since the avocado pit contains the necessary nutrients, I left it in water for over a year while the plant was growing. I have since potted it into soil, but the pit hasn't vanished so I imagine it is still taking nutrients from it.

Can I add another avocado pit to the soil, close to the "original" one to feed the plant? Will the roots attach to this pit over time? If not, can I blend the avocado pit into tiny fragments that I can use to fertilize the soil?

Thomas Wagenaar
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    I would recommend not doing this. Compared with other materials, the rotting pit is more likely to grow fungi that is pathogenic towards the avocado seedling. – Polypipe Wrangler Jan 27 '21 at 05:11
  • You could always burn the pits to ash and fertilize with it. Same for banana peels and what-have-you. It shouldn't be as alkaline as wood ash, but the nitrogen will be gone. The phosphorus, potassium, and trace minerals should be present. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jun 17 '21 at 22:40
  • Pits are woody. They take many years to disintegrate in the soil. You may just as well "feed" your plant with a big chunk of bark or tree prunings. – kreemoweet Jun 10 '23 at 12:06

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An avocado grown from a pit in water can keep going for some time but it's not an ideal situation. The pit is there to feed the embryo seedling as it gets established, but the plant will expect to start feeding from roots and leaves as soon as possible. I put one of my potted avocados outside on the deck once, a squirrel came along to investigate, pulled off both halves of the pit and the seedling kept going like nothing had happened. It had outgrown the bicycle trainer wheels.

An avocado pit is organic material, and like all such stuff can be used to feed other plants once nicely rotted. However you might be further ahead just leaving the new pit to germinate directly in soil to make a new plant as backup to the first. Your squirrel might be more damaging and chew into the main stem.

Colin Beckingham
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