If you’re wondering, can you bonsai an avocado? Certainly, you can. You’re sure to love avocado bonsai when you grow it at home. Originally from Central and South America, these bonsai trees are easy to grow.
You can grow this avocado bonsai inside or outside effortlessly. A more interesting fact about avocados is that there are more than 900 varieties of avocado trees, so you have plenty of choices when it comes to making bonsai trees.
Avocado Bonsai Quick Facts
| Fact | Description |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Persea americana |
| Family | Laurels |
| Native to | Tropical America |
| Lifespan | 200-400 years |
| Height | 40 feet tall |
| Leaves | Small to medium in size and oblong to elliptic in shape |
| Fruit | Bright green fruit with a large pit and dark leathery skin |
| Cultivation | Bonsai plants |
| Symbolism | Love |
| Uses | Ornamental bonsai plants |
Avocado Bonsai Care Guide
For avocado bonsai to thrive, they need plenty of sunlight and humidity. If the temperature drops too low outside, it won’t survive! Despite this, if you take good care of your avocado bonsai, it will blossom. Let’s go over each care guide in detail below.
Avocado Bonsai Watering
Water your avocado bonsai 2 to 3 times a week when the topsoil is dry. Additionally, when it’s hot and dry, you might have to water more.
Also, it’s true that avocado bonsai trees don’t like their roots in water, but they can actually drink a lot of water.
To make sure the tree gets enough water, you will have to use free-draining soil. Also, it’s okay to let the tree dry out a little before watering again, but I wouldn’t recommend to leave it for too long.
In winter, if the growth slows down, water less frequently to avoid overwatering the roots.
Learn more about Watering a bonsai tree.
Avocado Bonsai Temperature Tolerance
Temperatures between 60 F and 85 F and moderate humidity are ideal for avocado trees’ bonsai. Once established, they can tolerate temperatures as low as 28 F to 32 F without being damaged.
It is best to avoid freezing temperatures. Furthermore, March to June is a good time to plant your avocado bonsai tree. To produce avocado fruit, 65 – 75 F is optimal.
Right Placement for Avocado Bonsai
Put the avocado bonsai where there’s a lot of sunlight in your house. A good supply of air is also important for these bonsai plants.
If you live in a warm climate, you can grow your avocado bonsai outside. When it’s cold, you need to bring them inside and provide adequate lighting, even if it’s artificial. Moreover, you can put them near a window sill or ledge that gets a lot of sun.
Repotting Avocado Bonsai
It’s best to repot avocados in spring, right after pruning. Also, make sure you repot your avocados every year. Follow the below steps to carefully repot the avocado bonsai tree.
- Get a bigger pot and some fresh, well-draining soil to repot your avocado plants.
- In the pot, create a drainage layer to prevent waterlogging. On top of that, put a layer of soil. Any gaps you see, fill them with soil.
- Take a look at the roots when you repot avocado trees. You should notice a fresh, healthy smell and not a musty one. A brown, soft root indicates root rot and waterlogging.
- Apply a mulch layer of expanded clay, gravel, or pine bark to the soil surface. By doing this, the soil is prevented from evaporating too quickly and the substrate remains moist.
Best Soil for Avocado Bonsai
A well-draining soil is a key component of the best soil for avocado trees. It’s rare for your trees to survive if their roots are holding onto moisture and rotting. It is therefore typically best to plant avocado trees in soil that is mainly composed of sand, loam, limestone, and granite bits.
Additionally, pumice, lava rock, Akadama, grit, and organic potting compost are the most common potting mixes for bonsai. To keep the roots from suffocating, fill the bottom of the pot with a well-draining material.
Grit goes on top, and organic potting soil goes between. Since avocado bonsai love nutrients, use a lot of organic matter. Use grit on top and organic potting soil in between.
How to Guides for Avocado Bonsai
In this section, we will discuss how to maintain the growth of avocado bonsai trees through pruning. Also, how to wire it properly to achieve the desired shape. And how to fertilize avocados so they receive the necessary nutrients. So, let’s take a closer look below,
How to Prune Avocado Bonsai
A good way to limit avocado growth height is to prune it. I recommend cutting avocado plants from the top early on as they are difficult to branch out on their own. The best time to prune avocado plants is in the early spring.
Use a sharp pair of scissors to trim off the main shoot above the upper leaves. From here, the avocado plant will branch out and sprout again. Similarly, proceed with side shoots. Make sure avocado plants have at least 30 cm in height and some leaves before pruning.
If any branches or leaves are dead, diseased, or damaged, remove them. To maintain the tree’s shape and size, trim any long branches. And to encourage branching and bushiness, prune the tips of the branches.
How to Wire an Avocado Bonsai
When new development appears, train the avocado once or twice each year. Follow the below steps to wire your avocado bonsai tree.
- Get a sharp pair of scissors and trim any excess foliage on your tree to make it easier to see the branches you’re wiring.
- Pick branches that can be single-wired, and wrap copper or aluminum wire around the trunk at a 45-degree angle for support, then around the branch you’re wiring.
- If there are any branches near each other, double-wire them.
- Using your wire, wrap around the middle part of the trunk to reach multiple branches, then wrap them at a 45-degree angle.
- After that, you can move your branches around.
- After 6-8 weeks, cut the copper wire with shears, and the branches will grow in their new location.
Learn more about How to Wire a Bonsai Tree Branch
How to Fertilize Avocado Bonsai
Fertilize avocado trees from spring to autumn. As the plant grows, it requires a lot of nutrients to remain healthy and grow. Moreover, you can use a liquid fertilizer, such as our Plantura Liquid Flower Food, when watering avocado plants in pots.
Besides being easy to apply, this fertilizer contains plenty of nitrogen to boost growth. It contains microorganisms that aid in nutrient absorption and optimum substrate utilization. Once a week is enough fertilizer. In winter, avocado trees don’t need fertilizer.
Check this detailed guide on How to Fertilize your Bonsai Trees the Correct Way
How to Grow an Avocado Bonsai
A key to success is patience, regardless of whether you start from seed or a cutting. It takes three or four years for a tree to bear fruit. You may need to wait 13 years or more from the time you plant a seed. Yet, there is something special about homegrown avocado bonsai trees that makes them worth the wait. So, let’s take a look at both methods.
How to Grow Avocado Bonsai from Seed
- If you want to grow avocados from seed, you can purchase seeds online or remove the stones from avocados.
- To remove avocado juice, wash with warm water. After drying thoroughly, fill a cup with warm water.
- With four toothpicks, gently pierce the avocado and suspend it over a cup of water, with the base touching the water.
- Then give it plenty of warmth and sunlight (preferably inside using a grow light), and within six weeks, it will sprout.
Check this detailed guide on How to grow a bonsai tree from seed?
How to Grow Avocado Bonsai from cutting
- Cut off a branch from an avocado tree.
- Until the inner wood is exposed, remove the bottom of the branch.
- Next, treat it with root hormone, and let it soak in warm water for a few weeks.
- After the cutting forms roots, you can put them in a new pot.
Common Avocado Bonsai Problems and Solutions / Diseases & Pests
1. Canker disease
This makes the leaves on the plant pale, causes slow growth, and swells the trunk. Occasionally, too much nitrogen or a wound not healed after pruning can cause this.
Solution: Cut off dead branches and twigs where spores and fungi form. Get rid of dead wood and old fruit away from avocado trees.
Only prune and harvest when it’s dry. Ensure a healthy environment and minimize pest problems
2. Chlorosis
It is due to a mineral deficiency in the soil. Soil may not have enough magnesium or iron.
Solution: If you spray the leaves with an iron compound, the chlorosis will go away temporarily, but you’ll need to amend the soil to make it last.
3. Mildew
This is a fungus that grows on bonsai leaves. When air circulation is poor and there is not enough light, it affects avocado plants in white powder form.
Solution: You can treat powdery mildew at home with baking soda. Pour 1 tablespoon baking soda and 12 teaspoons liquid soap into 1 gallon of water. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the tops and undersides of the leaves.
4. Root Rot
The disease is caused by overwatering. Those affected by this will see their leaves change color, their branches weaken, and their growth stunted.
Solution: Without damaging the roots, remove as much soil as possible from the pot. Check for rotting roots that appear black, brown, and mushy. Using clean, sterilized pruning shears, cut off the affected roots.
5. Aphids
Your bonsai’s sap is sucked by these tiny insects, which secrete “honeydew” that ants and mold love. This kind of aphid lives under your plant’s leaves.
Solution: To get rid of aphids on your bonsai, mix two tablespoons of liquid soap with 30 ounces of water and spray your leaves. Additionally, you can use neem oil, blast your bonsai with water, or buy predatory insects that eat aphids.
6. Mealybugs
In your bonsai, you will find these small oval-shaped bugs hiding in a dark cool place.
Solutions: You need one cup of rubbing alcohol, a few drops of Dawn dish soap, and one quart (32 ounces) of water. Put the solution in the spray bottle. Make sure you spray the whole plant, not just the parts with mealybugs. Give leaves a good spray, top, under, and stems.
7. Red Spider Mites
The tiny red spiders spin a fine web on the underside of leaves to protect their eggs. Also, they appear on the leaves of the plant.
Solution: You can get rid of unwanted spider mites by mixing liquid dish soap and water since the soap sticks to and suffocates them. Put one quart of lukewarm water and one teaspoon of liquid dish soap in a spray bottle, shake it up, and you’re done.
8. Scale
On leaves or stems, these oval-shaped insects look like bumps. Nevertheless, treat them right away before they spread to nearby plants and infect the entire plant.
Solution: Spray horticultural oils or pyrethrin on your avocado trees’ leaves to control avocado scale infestation.
Avocado Bonsai Images
