Gardening : Grocery Bag Gardening: It’s the Pits : Propagation: Exotic subtropical plants can be grown from pits. Just start with a trip to the supermarket.
Like most people, I was introduced to “grocery bag gardening” as a child. I was amazed that you could put an avocado pit into a glass of water or a pot of soil and, as if by magic, a beautiful plant would eventually appear. Or that a sweet potato would sprout glorious climbing vines if half-submerged in a glass of water supported by three or four toothpicks.
It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that you can also grow such exotic subtropical plants as mangoes, papayas, litchis, macadamias, star fruit, coconuts and tamarinds from the pits of fruit you’ve bought at the supermarket. You can also grow citrus, kiwis, guavas, loquats, passion fruit, coffee beans, persimmons and pineapples--all in pots in your home or apartment.
Unfortunately, most of these plants won’t produce edible fruit when grown indoors, but so what? Their beautiful, lush, unusual foliage is rewarding enough.
And growing “plants from pits” is a terrific way to get kids started on the plant and gardening experience, a wonderful way for children to expand their sense of responsibility and learn the rudiments of life and death in a relatively harmless manner.
Although the basic planting and care instructions are the same--easy--for most of these plants, here are some hints that will give you a much better chance of succeeding with them.
First, of course, you must obtain the fruit with the pits, most of which is available in our supermarkets.
Once you’ve enjoyed the fruit, remove the pits and plant them in small pots in a mixture of three-quarters commercial potting soil and one-quarter perlite or vermiculite.
There’s no absolute formula as to how deep to plant the pits--remember, in nature the seeds just drop off the trees and sprout where they land--but a good rule of thumb is to plant your seeds about an inch below the top of the soil. Always plant several seeds, because some will germinate and others will not.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell which seeds are viable (able to germinate) by just looking at them, but for best results, plant the seeds as soon as you can. The fresher the better--within two or three days is best.
Keep the pots in bright light and keep the soil warm and moist. In most cases your seeds will sprout within three to four weeks. If they don’t germinate and start producing plantlets within a month, give up on them and plant some new ones.
Once the seedlings sprout and reach a height of 2 or 3 inches, weed out the weaker plantlets--they’ll be obviously smaller and scrawnier than the rest--then repot the stronger, lusher, healthier seedlings into individual 2- or 3-inch pots in regular commercial potting mix. Once you’ve repotted your seedlings, start the general care as follows:
They all need lots of good, bright light. If they don’t get it, they’ll probably fail. A western or southern exposure is best for almost all of these plants.
Water often enough so that the soil doesn’t dry out. You may have to water every day during the summer and only a couple of times a week during the winter, but make sure the soil is always moist.
As you would expect from plants whose natural habitats are tropical isles (or at least warm, humid places), plants from pits need lots of humidity. Spray them daily. And all of these plants prefer temperatures on the warm side. Don’t let the temperature drop below 55 degrees--and remember that cold winter drafts can be deadly.
Now I’d like to introduce you to some of the plants from pits in my own “plantation” and give you special tips on how to grow them.
Avocado--( Persea americana ) . The avocado plant is a tall and quite handsome tree, with darkish-green, oval, pointed leaves. New growth is coppery red and appears throughout the year. Remove the pit from the center of the avocado and begin the germination process by planting your avocado pit directly into a 6-inch pot of commercial potting mix, pointy side up, leaving the top one-fourth of the pit above the soil.
Or--and this is the way we did it when we were kids--you can stand your pit, supported by toothpicks, in a tall glass of water (again, pointy side up), submerging the bottom three-quarters of the pit and leaving the top one-quarter above water.
In either case, with luck, the pit will split, producing a stem and leaves which will begin to grow upward. If you’ve germinated the seed in water, wait until the stem is about 4 inches long and then place it in a pot in potting mix, as above.
Keep the plant in a bright, sunny window and keep the soil moist. Spray the plant frequently, because avocado leaves tend to turn brown if they don’t get enough humidity, and feed it every week with liquid house plant food. After the stem reaches a height of about one foot, begin pinching off the top growth to encourage bushiness. Your avocado will eventually reach heights of 5 or 6 feet.
Citrus--The pits of the various species of oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits will produce beautiful, woody-stemmed plants with shiny green foliage that might even flower and fruit within two or three years, but citrus seeds often take up to six weeks to germinate, so be patient.
The key to succeeding with citrus is adequate light--no matter what kind of citrus you plant, it must have a western or southern exposure to succeed. Keep the soil moist and the humidity high. Spray the plants daily and feed them every week.
Mango--( Mangifera indica ) . The mango is known as the apple of the tropics and is the most widely consumed fruit in the world. Mango trees have long, narrow, deep green, shiny leaves and new growth is tinged with red.
They also produce lovely red flowers. The secret to succeeding with mango pits is to remove the pit from inside the fruit, let it dry out for three or four days, then push it down flat onto the top of the potting mixture.
A root will grow into the soil from the “eye” end of the pit and a seedling will emerge from the other end. Don’t be surprised if only about one out of three mango pits sprout , since almost as many will rot as will succeed. Once sprouted, place your mango plant in good, bright light, keep the soil damp and pinch to back frequently to encourage wide and attractive growth.
Tamarind--( Tamarindus indica ) . Tamarind pods, available in most supermarkets, look like plump, brown lima beans and are the fruit of the tamarind tree. The tree itself has feathery leaves and looks almost exactly like a mimosa tree. The pits are quite easy to grow.
Nick them and soak them in water for a couple of hours before planting them in either damp vermiculite or potting mix.
Keep the seeds in a bright, sunny, warm spot until they sprout. Keep the plants in good bright sunlight, spray daily and make sure the temperature never dips below 55 degrees.
Coffee--( Coffea arabica ) . A small coffee tree--with bright, shiny, oval-shaped green leaves growing on thin, woody stems--makes a beautiful windowsill plant. The coffee plant is easy and fun to grow, but there is one important rule to remember:
You must plant unroasted coffee beans, which are usually available at gourmet coffee stores. You cannot plant a roasted bean and expect it to germinate. Once you’ve got your coffee plant started, keep it in a bright spot, water it frequently so the soil never dries out completely, keep the humidity high and the temperature between 55 and 75 degrees. After three or four years your coffee plant should develop some bright red beans--maybe even enough to roast and make a demitasse.
Dates--( Phoenix roebeleni ) . Date pits will produce a lovely palm tree, but like most palm seeds, they’re slow to germinate--it may take two or three months before you see the first signs of green emerging from the soil. But it’s worth the wait for the beautiful plant that emerges: a very graceful tree with a single, rough trunk topped by a crown of feathery leaves.
Buy packaged, unpasteurized dates, usually found in health food stores, enjoy the fruit, then plant the pits, one to a 4-inch pot filled with commercial potting mix and set the pots in good, bright light. Once the plant emerges, keep it in filtered eastern light, keep the soil moist, spray the plant frequently, and in two or three years you’ll have a beautiful, mature trees.
Coconuts--( Cocos nucifera ) . No, you won’t get to harvest a “lovely bunch of coconuts , “ but if you get an unhusked coconut, place the whole coconut on top of sandy, damp soil in a large bucket or pot, and keep it warm and in good light, a coconut palm tree will emerge from the end of the “pit.”
Once your coconut sprouts, place it where it gets bright western or southern sunlight, keep the soil moist, spray daily and keep the temperature between 55 to 75 degrees. To grow a coconut palm tree 3 feet tall indoors might take three or four years, but the dramatic result is well worth the wait.
Pineapple--( Ananus comosus ) . Pineapples are not grown from pits or seeds but from the tops of mature pineapples. Twist or cut the top off a ripe pineapple, choosing one with especially full, bright - green, healthy foliage, allow the top to dry out for a day or two, then plant it in potting mix deep enough so that the stump is submerged beneath the soil.
Because the pineapple plant is a bromeliad, keep it in bright, filtered light, water directly into the cup of the plant itself, and spray frequently to keep the plant from turning brown and shriveling up.
Caring for plants from pits is roughly equivalent to caring for flowering plants. They need a bit more attention and TLC, but you’ll find the fact that you grew them yourself tremendously rewarding.
If you have a few disappointments--if pits rot or fail to germinate, or seedlings wilt and die--have faith. It’s only a matter of time until the fruits of your labor and patience will be rewarded--maybe even with fruit.
