21.01.10

today the last leaf dropped; the avocado stem is naked. there has been progress though: a new axillary bud has appeared just below the apical one, which is showing a leaf primordium (notice the hook in picture below). new leaves should come out of these buds. for now i will keep the plant warm and watered and give it lots of light. also, i fed it a serving of (15,15,18) fertilizer today. we'll see how the recovery goes.


bud development


other life around here is thriving...


potted hyacinth budding

hyacinth roots in a glass vase

16.01.10

after spending time away for the holidays, i returned to my guelph home to find the avocado plant in rough shape. i had moved most of my plants into the kitchen near the window that gets the most sunlight. i thought they would be happiest there while i was gone. unfortunately this window is adjacent to the house door.

all the other plants seemed to be fine, but the avocado, with hereditary preferences for tropical weather, seemed to have suffered some cold injury from the wintery kitchen drafts.


avo, jan 16th

the four avo leaves were all still intact, but each was in a different stage of drying out completely from the contour of the leaf towards its middle. while moving the plant around to photograph it, the three smallest leaves fell off, leaving the avocado with one great brittle leaf at the top of its slim figure.


leaf, dried and curled edges

but do not fret, friends of avo; a bulging new apical bud has appeared!


hopeful new bud

17.11.09

two weeks after pinching the avocado's apical meristem, it is looking quite a strange plant. the combination, i suspect, of overthrowing apical dominance and increasing exposure to fluorescent light has resulted in a vegetative growth spurt. (vertical growth has been so very little over the last couple weeks.) but while i had hoped that axillary buds lower on the stem would be inspired to put forth new leaves, all the energy has gone into enlarging the existing leaves -- the higher the leaf, the higher the priority given. the result is a skinny-stemmed plant with 4 large leaves. the length of the top leaf is nearly one half of the plant's height. goodness gracious.


avo, nov 17th

gigantic avo leaf, nov 17th

perhaps if the pinch was made earlier the plant would have produced leaves closer to the base.

05.11.09

highest point of avo plant, nov. 5th

02.11.09

the avocado's leaves have been maturing nicely.

avo plant, oct 29th

plants perceive light as a ratio of red to far red light frequencies. far red is what stimulates a plant to grow taller, while the red makes a plant grow fuller. both are important. sunlight gives a hefty range that is tough to match while growing a plant indoors. incandescent light gives primarily far red while fluorescent is rich in red. combining these types of light can make for an adequately happy indoor plant.

i am going to try to up the avo's intake of fluorescent light.


avo plant with wine for scale, nov 2nd


this afternoon i decided to attack apical dominance.
the story of the pinch:








severed apical meristem