• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • Pearl Sutton
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Anne Miller
  • Nicole Alderman
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Maieshe Ljin
  • Benjamin Dinkel
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Triple stem avocado seedling

 
Posts: 596
Location: South Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain)
14
forest garden trees greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I"ve had avocado seedlings die and then sprout a second trunk. I've even seen the second trunk die and a third one come up. But i've never seen two trunks at a time. I've just had one shoot 3 healthy stems up. Is this common?
IMG_20180610_160012.jpg
[Thumbnail for IMG_20180610_160012.jpg]
 
pollinator
Posts: 3847
Location: Marmora, Ontario
595
4
hugelkultur dog forest garden fungi trees rabbit urban wofati cooking bee homestead
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
We start every avocado pit we come across, all as indoor plants. We currently have about 22 pits in water, two of which have stems and roots, and another dozen in the process of splitting and rooting out. We have eight potted, in various stages of growth, the oldest being four years, and taller than I am.

I have seen this action twice. Once, a primary came up first, followed by the other two, one after the other. The secondary and tertiary stems died eventually.

-CK
 
Posts: 53
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
14
forest garden trees urban homestead
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It's a polyembryonic seed.  I have one that I started a few months ago and it has put out at least 4 stems, 3 of which I pinched off right away to allow the biggest one to grow.  There is also a seed-grown avocado on my land that the previous owner planted, which is now about 8 feet tall.  When I first moved in, there were 3 of them within 1 square foot, all very leggy, not a lot of new growth at about 6 foot tall.  I cut down the 2 smaller ones and now the one that's left is growing beautifully, and a few new suckers have since come up near the base, which I removed.

Interesting bit of info I found on google just now:

"The old type Avocados can also be raised from seed if they are polyembryonic, meaning that a seed produces several stems. A polyembryonic seedling is worth keeping. If it is monoembryonic (single stemmed) you don't know if the tree will be a good producer or not."
 
Steve Farmer
Posts: 596
Location: South Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain)
14
forest garden trees greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Being polyembryonic... Does that make the trunks siblings rather than identical triplets?
 
pollinator
Posts: 112
Location: New Zealand
23
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
First shoots on polyembryonic mangoes are usually identical or close to the genetics of the original tree  and have similar fruiting qualities, but  I had always been under the impression that avocado seedlings had more or less reverted to the massive background genepool they came from and were unreliable (but potentially brilliant!) for fruit quality. This thread has made me  look into the subject more closely and reveal even more of my ignorance. Thanks very much! Next time I find a multi-shooting avo seed I will surely grow it on and see what happens! Does anyone know if the first shoot is clonal and next shoots sexual as is the case with polyembryonic mangoes?
 
Steve Farmer
Posts: 596
Location: South Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain)
14
forest garden trees greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I transplanted the seedling into its long term (hopefully it will survive) home, and here it is with its root. Just a single taproot. Does this mean it is not polyembryonic?

IMG_20180619_191601.jpg
[Thumbnail for IMG_20180619_191601.jpg]
 
Steve Farmer
Posts: 596
Location: South Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain)
14
forest garden trees greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
The triplets are doing fine after 11 days in the ground...
IMG_20180630_191809.jpg
[Thumbnail for IMG_20180630_191809.jpg]
 
Posts: 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have a total of about 15 shouts coming from my avacodo Pitt!! Is this normal?
 
Posts: 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I’m growing a pit in my kitchen and it’s growing quite nicely. My issue is this: at some point the main stem broke (we have no idea how). Since then, two other stems have sprouted and are now quite tall. I’m not sure what this is going to do to them, but I twisted and tied the two stems together in hopes that they will fuse together to make a single stem. The base looks like it has another 4-6 stems on it as well and I’m not sure if those ones will continue growing or if they’ll stick to the base... I guess if they do continue growing up, I’ll try braiding or twisting them to the two I have together now?
 
pollinator
Posts: 117
Location: 6.b.
31
forest garden chicken cooking
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Do you actually get fruiting trees from this, or is it more of a fun pass time because who doesn't like growing things? I've never grown a tree from seed.
 
Posts: 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
i have a tree about a foot tall right now and was wondering what i should do about it. i've actually thought about putting them together like you did but im not sure if it would work or not. how did it work for you?
 
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
How is the tree doing ? I have a three stem avacado tree about a foot tall interested in knowing what happens long term. Not sure if  I should prune mine.
 
Posts: 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
hello. This is my first time in growing my Avocado's from pits. My Avocado came from either Mexico or Guam, I am not sure. Right now my first plant is 2 feet tall and the leaves are only at the top. Maybe you can give me some insight as to what type of plant it is. thanks. It took 2 to 3 months for my pits to split and then grow. It took a little over 1 month to get 2 feet tall.
 
Posts: 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Will polyembryonic avocados be able to pollinate themselves? I know that avocado trees need two different trees to pollinate. I'm wondering if the 2nd stem will act as a second pollinating tree or if its too genetically the same. Does anyone know?
 
An electric car saves 2 tons of CO2 out of 30. This tiny ad is carbon neutral.
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic