planting plants

i have this avocado affair. and i have questions. so i made a thread. also posted my questions here (gardening forum i think). but i will ask here too. 
help. 

I am going to start with describing my plant and how it has grown and it's living conditions, and then I'll ask my questions later. So I have this indoor avocado plant which i planted from a nut and it is dearly loved by me. I named it Bertil. It is about eight months old, about 40 cm/16 inches tall from the soil up, and due to arctic climate i cannot plant it outside. I just moved a little more south so it won't be affected by the eight months of darkness, though it will get a little darker during winter. Also our is house a bit cold, around 18C (depends whether or not it's sunny outside). I don't know what soil I used, my mum just recommended it. And I don't think there is a lot of salt in our tap water as the main source is surface water from lakes and etc., but i could be wrong. I water it daily, but not too much. I keep the soil moist. Some say i should let it dry out and/or soak it once a week. I am confused.
Some history of Bertil. I repotted it before summer, late June (it's now halloween) and it had a huge growth spurt since then. I originally had two plants, where one had two stems from the beginning, but died of unknown reasons. The one that survived originally had just one stem, but after repotting and a car drive it suddenly had a new, long stem, which in the end is the one that grew to be 40 cm. The original stem hasn't grown more than 2-3 cm.
I try to keep my plant in the sun and at not too low temperature. I don't over water it (i think). I have been reading here for tips, and I noticed it was recommended not to water in the saucer or have gravel/rocks in the bottom, and i have/do both. It has gotten pretty big now (as mentioned), but there are a few things that worry me. The bottom leaves especially and some of the above have started to curl a little at the tip and I know they should be smooth. Also the lower leaves have gotten brown tips. It's rather healthy otherwise and there is new leaves at the top. Some time ago i plucked it at the top to encourage the lower leaves to be bigger, and it has helped. The top leaves are huge! But i am worried. Especially now that winter is approaching. How much sunlight does it need, what is the ideal temperature? Should i water it different, or how should I water it? It's doing ok now, but some of the leaves has started to curl and turn brown at the tip, is this a warning sign?
So the questions are:
Should I do something as winter is coming along and it will be colder and darker?
Why are the leaves curling and what can i do to prevent it?
Is my plant dying?
Should i perhaps repot it and how?
Am I watering it wrong?
I would truly appreciate if someone would take the time to reply because I would be very sad if this plant died. Also it is a wonder something hasn't gone wrong earlier as i probably potted them too early in the ceramic pots.
Thanks, that's all
Here are some pictures of it now. 


(also i am almost an expert now on the subject so if you wanna know how i did this (from nut) and the evolution of dear Bertil here, i can propbably write up something with pictures and shit  it's actually really easy)

You can grow your own avocados?

Yes, please.

Don't worry too much about the bottom leaves, Norc. If the top leaves are healthy, it's not uncommon for the lower leaves to fall off. Remember, it wants to grow into a large tree like an apple tree with a big trunk, and the leaves out on the spreading branches.

Just from the look of it, I think you're watering it plenty. Maybe too much if you're wanting it to stay small enough to keep in the house. Keeping big trees small and still healthy is something of an art (like bonsai ). They don't like to get close to freezing, but they should do fine at room temperature. They do like a southern facing window. With a little fertilizer added on top of the soil once or twice a year, you should be good to go.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that brown tips on leaves is a sign of overwatering. The avocado orchards I've seen are fairly dry.

I dearly love avocados, but why pick a large fruit bearing tree for an indoor plant? I'd think the kumquat is about the largest fruit you'd want to deal with. Bertil's gonna need to bust out of the pot and run around the backyard before he can leave you any love offerings, but then he'll freeze to death.

I don't have much experience growing trees from a small size, but we do have an orchard of avocados back home so I at least know what the tree should look like.

How long ago did you transplant it into this current pot Norc? At least from the look of it I'd say that that big new growth is going to be accompanied by the roots spreading out as well, and they'll want more space to grow than just that little clay pot.

As for the brown on the leaves, I'm not an expert but I see leaves go brown and drop off the avocado trees all the time; it's just what leaves do once they get old. Smaller branches on the mature trees die all the time.

As for watering, it's really quite simple. You should water it slowly until you see water coming out of the bottom of the pot. Stop watering then, and once no more water comes out of the bottom, water it slowly again until you see water coming out the bottom holes at which point stop watering right away. You should not water it again until the soil has begun to dry out. Not too dry of course, but certainly not when it's still damp to the touch. Every day is probably too much, especially if you replant it in a larger pot. (Basically, stick your finger into the soil, if it comes out moist with dirt sticking to it, you're fine. If it comes out dry you should water.)

So basically:

1. Transplant it into a larger clay pot with good potting soil and holes in the bottom.
2. Water according to the finger test. If the soil is damp it doesn't need to be watered again.

halfwise wrote:I seem to remember reading somewhere that brown tips on leaves is a sign of overwatering.  The avocado orchards I've seen are fairly dry.

I dearly love avocados, but why pick a large fruit bearing tree for an indoor plant?  I'd think the kumquat is about the largest fruit you'd want to deal with.  Bertil's gonna need to bust out of the pot and run around the backyard before he can leave you any love offerings, but then he'll freeze to death.

Well I think if you check it's growth by pruning and and so on you can fit inside still in a large enough pot and still get fruit. At least if you remember to feed it once it gets larger.

thank you guys! i will try and keep you updated!

yep that pot looks too small

haha, Thanks figgy..

Bertil is growing like hell! the little new leader that is pictured above was only like half a centimeter when i posted the first post. it's now almost three!!!!

and i am also trying this new watering-routine

go Bertil!

You know, I don't know how you do it. But you can somehow manage to make just about anything sound perfectly fascinating. (Cue half the forum being heavily into gardening in double quick time.) That's a real quality, that is.

Well on Bertil too though. Perhaps we'll see avocados yet.

Somehow that's precisely the type of situation I can see Norc getting into.

Hey, guys. Norc's life is not a goofy 80s comedy.

Oh, but we think it is.

azriel wrote:

brilliant...

Spoiler:

halfwise wrote:Somehow that's precisely the type of situation I can see Norc getting into.

I sense a new fanfict-chapter (figg?)

Bluebottle wrote:Hey, guys. Norc's life is not a goofy 80s comedy.

Oh but it is though...it is...

halfwise wrote:Oh, but we think it is.  

yeah totally.

I mean look!!! (Taken today)

You better fence that thing off before it starts eying the likes of Leopold.

no... but Bertil is nice.. he's a nice plant.