Avocado and pineapples

This morning I opened up the paper towel protecting my pineapple seeds and found that they all looked just as before. So I did a bit of research and found several different ways of germinating them. Now, 4 of them are in a plastic bag wrapped in paper towel as before, 4 are buried in seedling earth and 3 are in a little pot with some water and the lid on. I made a hole in the lid so they can breathe, and I've put them outside in the sunshine to be warm (will bring them in overnight of course). We shall see which ones grow first, if any.

Michelle from Steadfast at Home asked how I got avocados to grow. The classic method is of course the toothpick one, but that hasn't worked for me in the past so I didn't try it this time.

The one I had as a teenager I started with toothpicks, but as nothing happened for aaaages, I gave up, put it in a pot with some water, shoved it to the back of a dark cupboard and forgot about it until several months later when I discovered a large root and red shoot in there. The water was quite manky by then, and it was very happy to come out into the light!

The two I have now were planted roughly one week apart. #1 I put in the bottom of a yoghurt pot, with some water up to about halfway, maybe a bit less. Before I started #2, I read somewhere that making a few small cuts in the sides of the pit with a sharp knife would help it absorb water, so I did that before putting it in a yoghurt pot too. I took the skin off both. #2 grew very soon, and #1 followed it about a month later. I don't know whether the cutting was what made the difference, as #2 was a somewhat larger pit in the first place, so maybe it was riper?

Once the pit split and the root started trying to emerge, I moved it into one of those sundae glasses that are like an upside-down cone, so the root had space to grow below it. Presumably it would have done fine in the yoghurt pot and would just have curled round to come out of the side, like my very first one did, but I felt sorry for it.

The photo I posted the other day was of #2 - #1 only has a root and hasn't finished splitting at the top yet.

I have another 4 sitting in water now, and have just made cuts in them all to try to speed things along. I also have one that split when I accidentally dropped it while getting it out of the avocado. I don't know if that will grow, the bit that germinates could be damaged but I can't really tell.

Have you found any other ways of growing avocados (or indeed anything else)?