Pineapples Galore!

Or at least that's what I hope anyway.  I can just barely imagine how nice a home grown pineapple must taste...heaven.  Well, one day I might find out because I have just planted one in our greenhouse in a little pot.  Apparently they take about two years to fruit, if they are in the right growing conditions presumably, but I have patience, so I'll enjoy the wait.

The first thing to do is to buy a pineapple from where ever you can.  Eat it and save the top bit with all the spikey leaves.  Remove all the flesh from around the base of this leafy mass and then leave to dry for about a week.  This is to make sure that the pineapple stump doesn't rot before it sends out roots.  I left mine on the top shelf of the greenhouse and of course forgot about it for about two and a half weeks so it is well and truly dried out now.  Whether or not it's too dry to plant I have no idea and the only way I'll find out is to wait about six months and see if it's successful.  This is how long it takes to root it seems.  God knows why it's so slow but that's the way it is and so I planted my stump in a little pot filled with light garden soil to which I had added some home made garden compost. I watered it carefully and put it at the back of the greenhouse where it will not be disturbed. 
I know very little about how to grow pineapples in Ireland but I know that they need to be some where nice and warm and that's why it is in the greenhouse.  It's in good company anyway, sitting beside an avocado plant that popped up from the compost bin.  I'm not sure if our greenhouse will get hot enough for long enough but I will surely find on something along the way and if this attempt is unsuccessful then I'll try again and then again and again until I get a pineapple.  Imagine.....

Comments

[Adrienne]

Hi - I'm in London and currently have two pineapples that I've rooted in the office. The method I used was to twist the crown from the fruit, pull the bottom leaves off gently to leave about half to three-quarter inches of "stalk", trim off the bottom in razor thin slices until I could see the ends of primordial roots (you see small circular marks start to appear), and started it off in water, potting on when the roots were half an inch or a bit longer. When you pull off the lower leaves you may see some vestigial roots there already. In both cases I had good root growth in 4-6 weeks, at which time I potted them. The one I planted first, early in the year (Jan/Feb) when the heating was on, has made considerable growth and has had to be repotted from its original 3 inch pot because it was becoming potbound. The second one, started about April not long before the heating was turned off, is not developing as rapidly but is making progress - its roots are about 3 inches long now. If your greenhouse is warm you should see good roots much sooner than 6 months.

[Maria]

Wow, that sounds great, thanks for the advice. I'm going to go out and but another pineapple now!

[Adrienne]

Good luck! Inspired by the tropical temperatures in this office when the heating is on, I have been planting various exotic seeds and roots and so far this year have rooted two pineapple crowns,grown mango, pomegranate, physalis, kiwifruit, blood orange and loquat from seed, rooted lemongrass from a bulb (intended for cooking) bought from a Thai supermarket, sprouted root ginger (now more than 2 feet tall with a second shoot appearing) and am waiting for galangal and turmeric root (also from the Thai supermarket) to sprout.

[RI Greening]

I remember seeing a gardener plant "new" pineapples this way in Jamaica. I was staying at a small inn, and the gardener came by with several pineapple tops salvaged from the kitchen. He was just tucking them into the garden soil outdoors. He said that some would root, and some wouldn't. For the ones that didn't root, there was no harm!

[any]

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