Earlier this year, right around Easter Sunday, my grandmother suffered a fatal heart attack. She was going strong until her final day, though, and kept herself busy with little projects. Her latest one was growing an avocado tree from a pit. Since her passing, I have decided to take over the project and will do whatever I can to complete it.

Unfortunately, the pit that she had started was poorly neglected while she was in the hospital for her final week. I nursed it for a while with no results. I decided to get rid of that one and started with a new one on May 16th and another one shortly thereafter on May 30th. Even though I am not using the one she had prepared, I feel that since this is the same project, it still has the same sentiment. They are both doing very well at the present time. I just trimmed the older of the two back to 3 inches and feel that I will have to do the same to the other one in a week or two. They almost look ready to be potted!

I did tons of research online and found that this "project" is relatively simple. The method I am using is growing it in a glass of water (the same way Grandma had started it) with toothpicks inserted into the sides to suspend it at the top of the glass. They look great right now and I feel that they will continue to grow at a fast rate until it starts getting cooler out. I live in the Chicagoland area and I don't know what I will need to do when winter comes around. Any suggestions?

Hi! jleo3

First of all. Please allow me to offer my sincerest condolences on the loss of your Grandmother.
From your description of her, she sounds like a person I would of liked to have met. I would have been honored to have made her acquaintance.
I know she is proud of you for taking up on her project.

You have every right to be concerned 'bout the cold weather in your area. The Avocado is not happy if it is taken out of it's natural plant zone, and I'm not talking 1, 2, or 11.

The Avocado, doesn't like any Latitudes + or - higher than 25° not withstanding Elevation.

So what you need to do is simulate those tropical conditions for 9 or 10 months out of the year.

Since you've done tons of research, I hope you haven't seen these yet:
Avocado General Information (http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/Kbase/Crop/crops/i_avocad.htm)
Avocado Information Home Page (http://ucavo.ucr.edu/)

I'm trying to find the 'mark I have from New Zealand fruit growers assoc. a PDF that discusses problems of increasing their annual tonnage. It explains the three basics for increased production Carbohydrates, oxygen intake, and ........eddie what's that third one? Did you find that 'mark yet?.......eddie's my assistant

If you have or haven't seen those let me know, and we'll develop a plan of attack.


k