Avocado: Using metrics

In the programming world, it is fun to use a lot of words to describe methods of performance improvement, but until you actually take metrics all the talk in the world is just bluster.

Since the avocado seedling broke off a couple weeks back, I've been blustering and doing a lot of hoping and hand waving. But that's not going to do any good, and it doesn't provide any significant data.

So I will measure the growth of the avocado seedling with a ruler. Though it is not visible in this week's shot, the bottom of the ruler is sitting on the top of the seed. As you can see, the stem is approximately 5.5cm.

I mentioned before that the broken stem may act as a rough "pinch" and though the damage is initially significant, the plant will find a way to increase growth. In fact, if you look at the stem around the 2.5cm mark, leaf buds are coming in laterally. These buds did not exist last week. The seedling is fighting back and finding an outlet for its energy.

On the other avocado plant, new leaf buds are coming in on the top where I pinched off the new leaves three weeks ago. You can make them out in this picture.

The brown area is the pinch point. The bud is red with a light green leaf emerging. Unlike the seedling, the plant is not producing leaf buds from the sides of the stem. I suppose this may just be the way avocados grow.