After a few weeks I noticed the old leaves seemed to be drying and dying back, but there was new growth coming from the center. Success! I immediately drove to the store and picked up another pineapple, and repeated the process. My original plan was to get a pineapple every week or two until I had 8-10 plants. However, today when I was at HEB getting something else in the produce section, I noticed several pineapple tops and skins in a trash box behind the counter where they chop, juice, and package fresh fruit. I asked if I could have some of the tops. Even though they thought I was crazy at first, they gave me six pineapple tops for free! One person's trash is another person's treasure. I brought them home, and while preparing and planting them, found that almost all had really well developed root initials. I'll move them all to the greenhouse just as soon as I get the drip irrigation system installed. I can't wait to taste a homegrown pineapple!
Pineapple Top I love fresh pineapple, and I had once read that you could grow your own by planting the top of a fresh fruit. Pineapples are tropical and very cold-sensitive, so I never bothered to trying it, but now that I have a greenhouse I'm going to give it a shot. I bought a ripe yellow pineapple from HEB, brought it home, and twisted off the top. While the boys were happily eating the delicious fruit, I was examining the tough leaves. I peeled off several layers of leaves to expose about an inch of the stalk, and found several little brown bumps. These are the root initials, which will develop into the root system of the new pineapple plant. One website I read suggested leaving the top out to dry for a few days, but I didn't. I just planted it in some plain potting soil and watered it in well.
After a few weeks I noticed the old leaves seemed to be drying and dying back, but there was new growth coming from the center. Success! I immediately drove to the store and picked up another pineapple, and repeated the process. My original plan was to get a pineapple every week or two until I had 8-10 plants. However, today when I was at HEB getting something else in the produce section, I noticed several pineapple tops and skins in a trash box behind the counter where they chop, juice, and package fresh fruit. I asked if I could have some of the tops. Even though they thought I was crazy at first, they gave me six pineapple tops for free! One person's trash is another person's treasure. I brought them home, and while preparing and planting them, found that almost all had really well developed root initials. I'll move them all to the greenhouse just as soon as I get the drip irrigation system installed. I can't wait to taste a homegrown pineapple!
5 Comments
James
6/11/2012 01:41:05 am
Very nice, Clayton! I've tried this a couple of times, with little success. Once I tried a method I read about which involved rooting the tops in water, but they quickly rotted. I've also planted them in pure perlite and forgotten about them, killing them by dehydration. I may need to try again soon. From what I've read they need constant moisture, but excellent drainage. Also, when your plants mature, I've read that you can trigger blooming with ethelene gas. Apparently a ripe apple set in the center of the rosette, covered by a bag can do the trick! Good luck!
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Yvonne Gibbs
6/12/2012 08:25:07 am
Hi Clayton, really enjoyed your latest Bell Blog and pictures on Pineapple propagation.You make all of this look like lots of fun.
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Misty
10/3/2012 10:26:39 am
I'm glad your Pineapples are growing! Stop back by for more. The pineapple's we get are from Costa Rica. Since Costa Rica is closer than Hawaii we have them year round. My plant is really growing now!
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Lyn
10/8/2012 02:09:48 am
Good Luck!
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Karen
6/27/2013 09:33:58 am
Hey, I tried this too and got a nice lage pineapple plant that survived for a number of years until a hard freeze took it out, but it never made any pineapples. Probably because I didn't read up on them, didn't and still don't know if they need multiple varieties planted together to set fruit, or if you need two, or even if commercial pineapple plants are so hybridized that they are sterile.
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Clayton Bell
I'm a geologist in Houston, Texas who loves growing fruit trees.
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