Growing Avocado Indoors

BloomBuddies

I think I just accidentally triggered flowering on an indoor avocado and I’m freaking out in the best way. This is a pit-grown tree in a 10-gallon fabric pot under LEDs, and after a couple of tweaks I’m seeing little panicles forming. Has anyone gotten this far inside and actually set fruit?

What I changed:

Light: 11-hour days for ₈ weeks under a 200 W full-spectrum bar light plus a tiny 730 nm “sleep” puck for 10 minutes at lights-off. Now back to 13 hours. PPFD ₆₀₀-700 at canopy.
Temps: Days ₂₂-24°C, nights ₁₆-17°C for those 8 weeks.
Watering: Let it dry to very slight wilt between waterings during the cool-night phase, then resumed normal.
Feed: Backed off nitrogen, bumped K, Ca, Mg, and a touch of boron, aiming to keep growth lean.

Questions for anyone who’s tried indoor avocado flowering/fruit set:

Flower timing indoors: Do Type A/B phase differences compress at stable temps enough for a single tree to self? Has anyone actually timed female vs male phases on a constant-22°C setup?
Hand pollination: Best way to collect and store pollen overnight? I’m planning to tap an afternoon-opening male flower onto black paper, fridge it in a tiny vial with rice/silica, then brush it onto receptive, glossy stigmas the next morning. Overkill or needed?
Humidity/VPD during bloom: What target worked for you to prevent flower drop? I’m thinking 45-55% RH (VPD ₀.8-1.2 kPa at 22°C) with a gentle fan.
Light/DLI: If you’ve held fruit indoors, what DLI did you run? Is ₂₀-25 mol/m²/day enough for a small crop on a compact tree, or did you need 30+?
Size control: Anyone kept a fruiting avocado under 6 ft with pinch/espalier or periodic root pruning? Tips on timing pinches to not nuke bloom?
Cross-pollination hacks: Has anyone grafted a single B-type twig onto an A-type indoor tree just to supply pollen? Or kept a cut, flowering branch in water as a temporary pollinizer?
Nutrition for set: Any wins with a mild pre-bloom low-N, higher K/Ca/B program? Rough EC targets that avoided tip burn but kept flowers from aborting?
Root zone: If you’ve tried semi-hydro/LECA or air-pruning pots with avocados indoors, did it help with salt sensitivity and prevent leaf-burn?
After set: How soon did you thin and to what density per branch to keep a compact plant from exhausting itself?

If this works I’ll post updates with timing of female/male phases and what actually sticks. Super curious if far-red pulses and cool nights were the magic, or if I just got lucky with a mature-enough seedling. Any data points or “don’t do this” stories welcome!

mossymuse

This is the kind of chaos I live for. A few quick data points from murdering-uh, learning from-indoor avocados:

Flower phasing: At steady _22°C the A/B dichogamy gets sloppy. I’ve seen same-flower clusters overlap just enough to self if you have lots of open blooms. Tag a few flowers and time them; you’ll likely get female mid-morning and male late afternoon, but overlaps show up when nights aren’t too cool.
Hand pollination: Your plan is fine. Pollen stays viable ₂₄-48 h at 4°C if kept dry. Use a tiny vial with silica/rice, cap it, and let it warm up before opening to avoid condensation. Soft brush or a rubber bulb puffer onto glossy stigmas = best.
RH/VPD: 45-55% with gentle air is the sweet spot. Higher = fungal risk, lower = abscission central.
Light/DLI: 600-700 PPFD for 13 h is ₂₈-33 mol/day. That’s plenty for a tiny crop; I’d stay >25 mol to avoid the great fruit drop of week 3.
Size control: Don’t head flowering shoots. Tie shoots down to ₄₅-60° to calm vigor and encourage set, then pinch only non-flowering shoots right after bloom. Espalier works surprisingly well.
Cross-pollination hacks: A single grafted B-type twig will do the job. A cut flowering branch in water also works for a few days; collect male-phase pollen and stash it overnight.
Nutrition/EC: Low-ish N pre-bloom helps; keep total EC around 1.2-1.6 mS/cm. K/Ca good. Boron 0.2-0.5 ppm is enough-easy to overdo. Foliar 0.1% boric acid at tight bud is optional but effective.
Roots: Fabric/air-prune > LECA. Avocados sulk in semi-hydro unless root temps stay 20-24°C and EC stays low. Flush often; they’re salt divas.
Thinning: At marble size, keep 1 fruit per 20-30 cm of shoot. On a 10-gallon, aim for 2-4 fruits total max, with support.

Cool nights plus mild stress likely did the heavy lifting; the far-red didn’t hurt. If you can, log male/female windows for a week-you’ll spot your best hand-pollination timing fast.