Fruits You Can Grow From the Supermarket
Which supermarket fruit you can grow at home: mango seed, avocado pit and pineapple top, what to expect, how long it takes and why a banana will not work.
You can grow a plant from a supermarket pineapple, mango or avocado, but only the pineapple is a quick, sure way to get fruit. The top of a store-bought pineapple is the planting material most home gardeners use. A mango seed and an avocado pit sprout easily, then take years to fruit, and the fruit may not match the one you ate. Treat them as houseplant projects with a possible reward, not as a fruit plan.
This collection gathers the supermarket fruit our pages support, with the honest odds for each.
What to expect
| Fruit | What you plant | Time to fruit | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pineapple | The crown, twisted off and dried for two days | About 15–24 months | How to plant a pineapple top |
| Mango | The seed, lifted out of its husk | Usually 5–8 years, and the fruit may differ | Mango from seed |
| Avocado | The pit, in soil or over water | 5–13 years or more, and the fruit may be poor | Avocado from seed |
If you plant a pineapple crown, you are growing whatever that fruit was. Mango and avocado are less predictable. Avocados do not come true from seed, and a mango seed is a clone of its parent only for some types.
Fruit that will not work from the supermarket
- Banana. There is no seed in a store banana, so you cannot grow a fruiting plant from one. Plant a sucker instead: see our banana from scraps guide for why, and how to dig one.
- Meyer lemon. Citrus seedlings are not true to type, so a seed from a fruit will not give you a Meyer. Buy an Improved Meyer from a reputable nursery: our Meyer lemon guide says what to look for.
How to pick
- Want fruit? Plant the pineapple top, and give it full sun and patience. For a mango or an avocado, buy a grafted tree and treat the seed as a side project.
- Want a mango that matches? Choose seeds of polyembryonic types such as Ataulfo, sold as honey mangoes, or Nam Doc Mai, since most sprouts are clones of the parent.
- Want the fun of sprouting? An avocado pit gives you a leafy plant in a few months, and a mango seed sprouts in one to four weeks.
- Live in a cold zone? All three are tropical or subtropical. Grow them in pots and bring them in before frost: see our guide to growing fruit trees in containers.
- Want a sure thing? Read our guide on where to buy fruit trees in the US.
