Growing Pineapple from a Store Bought Pineapple Fruit

It all started with a store bought pineapple fruit and now there are many pineapple plants on the property that are almost self sustainable as they are in a sub-tropical environment and don't need much care.

Zone 10a, sandy soil.

How I grew pineapples from fruit tops: I cut off the green leafy top with still some fruit flesh attached, this is to not cut off the roots contained within the leaves.  I cleaned off the fruit flesh and peeled off by hand several layers of the bottom leaves to expose the roots.  Next, a small hole was dug into the ground and the pineapple top placed in and buried about 2-3 inches deep depending on how large the top is.  A few scoops of compost soil were added.  Plant was watered and all it then needed was regular watering until the roots were established and strong.

Related: Starting Small in the Garden

UPDATED to include more step by step photos.

Cut top of pineapple.

 

Clean up any pineapple flesh to prevent rot when planted and start peeling off bottom leaves to expose the roots.

Peel off leaves to expose pineapple roots.

Pineapple top ready to be planted.

Plant the pineapple directly into the ground or in pot to be transplanted later.

Pineapple top growing into an established plant.

Pineapple bud.

Pineapple blooming.

 

Pineapple plant with fruit.

Pineapple on plant.

Plant ripened pineapple.

 

The pineapple is ripe once it turns a golden color and is the sweetest.  The above photo has the top half still slightly green and this part is not as sweet as the bottom golden colored part.  I ended up having to pick it early due to pests moving in.  The taste was sweet as honey with a floral fragrance, best pineapple I ever tasted!

Pineapple plant producing suckers after fruiting.

Pineapple plant sucker after the plant has produced fruit.

 

It took about 18 months to see the plant fruit, others took well over two years to set fruit.  It took about 4-5 months for the fruit to ripen.  After fruiting, pineapple plants begins the die off stage and produces suckers, new plants to plant.  I also planted the top of the fruit it produced.  Currently, the two dying plants have produced 4 suckers emerging from the plant itself.  As the suckers get big enough, they are twisted off and planted.  Research shows that the plant can also produce suckers growing from the mother plant from the stem below the ground, but my plants have not produces such suckers yet.

Potted pineapple plant.

Since then, I have experimented with planting the pineapple top into a large container.  The difference here was that within one year, the plant was fruiting.  The area where the pineapple was planted into the ground has a lot of oak tree roots stealing nutrients and water, thus the plants don't thrive as much. 

For nutrients, I soaked banana peels and egg shells in water inside a large glass jar with a lid for two-three days.  This I've made every 3 months or so. I also added chicken manure dissolved in water every 4 months.  These fertilizers were also given to the plants planted directly into the ground, but they didn't thrive as much while competing with the oak trees.

Let me know what you are growing in the comments below!

 

With love,

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