Which one of these avocado plants should I keep?

Hi folks,
Now because my daughter grabbed the avocado nuts and germinated them in her room and popped them on to the top of plastic bottles of water before leaving home and leaving me to pot them and look after them, there is some sentimental value to them.
(She can’t have them because she is abroad.)
However, I don’t want to be looking after 8 avocados, so I’m going to keep the best one and bin the rest.
Which one is the best?
The tallest? The one with two even sized shoots?
The one with the most leaves?
Which one is going to best for looking acceptable in the garden room and producing avocados at some point hopefully before I croak?
(Being outside, they’re all being nibbled.)
Thanks

 

Come on, at least mark them A,B,C... I'll have the 3rd from the end!

 

Well the oldest and tallest is far left of the photo of 5.
The one in the middle of the photo of 3 is one of the youngest but has two equal shoots both with lots of leaves close together.
Sorry I didn’t label them.
Maybe I should take 8 photos of a close up of each and label them?
I feel it’s quite an important decision.

 

Okay if it's important I'll bow out... Best of luck!

 

Well, you know, she looked after them for a few weeks and I’ve looked after them for maybe a year. And they have sentimental value. I want to pick the best as a nice looking plant which will give us some fruit and remind me of my daughter.

 

Good morning @David F. Avocados are tender evergreen trees and are unlikely to survive in our climate. Well done to your daughter for getting all of those to grow but they would need to be kept in a warm environment and more than likely won't live much longer than a few years. They make super house plants.

 

As they tend to get a bit leggy when growing as houseplants I think I would keep the stockiest plant.
So look for the one with the shortest stem between leaves.

 

Bear in mind that avocados grown from seed are unlikely to produce any fruit for at least 6-10 years and by that time they will have outgrown any but the biggest of glasshouses as they will be several metres high. You could take out the lead shoot down to healthy leaves and produce a nice, bushy plant that you can enjoy in your house.

 

Doing a Farage....


I would keep one of these two (or both).

 

Hi @David F , personally I'd select the three with the best roots and plant them together in a big container (30/40cm might do). The resulting houseplant will look much more lush than a single plant racing towards the ceiling.

You will have a wonderful houseplant until it reaches the ceiling and gets out of hands. Mine took about 7 years to reach that height and then three years of detoriating vigour until it retired to Degu gnawing sticks. Chopped, dried branches are also great BBQ kindling or plant supports, we still have a pile.

I have never heard anyone achieving fruit from a houseplant Avocado. It makes sense, Avocado is a large tree and few would even flower until they are more mature- a decade is not very long time for a tree.

Avocado likes a bright spot (by the patio doors is great so that also lower leaves stay good) and enjoys misting. Aphids may like the plant. I potted mine on until it spent the last years in a 50cm container with just annual refresh of the compost and feeding.

 

Thanks for the replies.
When it comes to plants, for me they must give us at least one of

• Look beautiful
• Smell beautiful
• Make good food

Now I’m not a huge fan of green and we already have a cheese plant in our garden room (large conservatory with recently replaced warm roof which gets plenty of light) so I’m not particularly interested in keeping the avocados if they are not going to give us fruit at all or without significantly more investment.
So despite the sentimental value, I think I’m going to put them on Facebook marketplace for a fiver each. My daughter being a business graduate would appreciate that.

 

Hi David and welcome to GC.

I cannot make a decision for you but I will say this. I live in Algarve where it can be very hot and we don't really have a Winter. Our Avocado done from a stone 6/7 years ago and lives in a Courtyard in full Southern sun has never bloomed ... yet! We still live in hope.

This is it in December 2023 in the evening ...

 

Avocado makes a very nice houseplant