pineapple

[Stealth]

I've been toying with the idea of growing a tropical plant ever since I saw those wonderful pics of Rizs mango tree.
I couldn't think of anything until I came upon this picture (below) of a pineapple tree. After further research on the net, I found that it's been sucessfully grown in Dublin, Ireland.

I found the following detailed instuctions at Yahoo! Answers, provided by ridingonthewind.

"Slice the crown (that's the leafy top part) off the fruit. Be sure to remove all the flesh. If you don't remove this material it may rot in the soil. Carefully slice small, horizontal sections from the crown until you see root buds that appear as small dots or circles on the cut surface. The root buds are where the roots will eventually emerge and exposing them will facilitate quicker root formation... Strip off about an inch of lower leaves from the base to provide a stem for planting in the soil. Then set the plant top aside for a minimum of seven days in a dry place, out of full sun. The cut end must be allowed to heal and dry before planting, otherwise the plant will rot in the soil.

Although the pineapple plant is a Bromeliad, it is not an air plant and requires a soil bed. Regular potting soil is sufficient, but you can add a small amount of sand to the mixture. Pineapple plants require soil that is barely moist, not wet. I suggest using a clay or terracotta pot that breathes, to help avoid over-watering. Water your plant once a week, spraying the leaves in addition to wetting the soil. Fertilize four to six times a year.

The pineapple plant requires a lot of light. Keep yours in a sunny window throughout the winter, in a location that is protected from drafts and cold temperatures. In summer place your plant outside in a sunny location, being careful to allow the plant to adjust to more direct light by placing it in an area with partial sun for a few days first. Do not leave your plant out during freezing weather. Pineapple plants should never be subjected to temperatures lower then 60 degrees F ( 16 C ).

Getting a pineapple to bear fruit is harder than growing one. Once your plant is approximately 25-30 inches tall it will flower and produce fruit on its own. But how many people have the space for a 30 inch plus spiky plant? It will take at least two years to grow a plant of that size in a temperate climate.
Luckily, there is a way to force your plant to flower and bear fruit when it is half that size.

Wait until the winter season when the days are shorter and the nights cooler. Pineapple plants normally begin to produce fruit during this time. Place the entire plant, including the pot, into a plastic bag with some ripe apples. As apples rot, they emit Ethylene gas which tricks the plant into forming a flower instead of producing new leaves. Keep the plant in the bag with the apples for approximately 2 weeks or so. Place the plant back in a sunny window and wait for a flower spike to form in the center of the plant.

After several months the flower will dry out and the pineapple will form at the top end of the stem. Wait until the fruit turns a golden yellow colour before picking. After harvesting the fruit you may notice new shoots left on the plant. These can be removed and planted in the same method as the original mother plant. You can also grow another plant from the crown of the harvested fruit, leaving you with several, new, free plants."

Now I'm off to a well known supermarket. :p

[Riz]

Nice. I might try one myself

Place the entire plant, including the pot, into a plastic bag with some ripe apples. As apples rot, they emit Ethylene gas which tricks the plant into forming a flower instead of producing new leaves. Keep the plant in the bag with the apples for approximately 2 weeks or so. Place the plant back in a sunny window and wait for a flower spike to form in the center of the plant.

LOL, sneaky eh

[Sakeena]

that plant looks rather funky.

keep us posted on your progress stealth.

[Kirsten]

That's exactly how I started mine :) It's about a year old now and I'm planning to try and force it to fruit soon, as it's getting huge (keeps poking people as they walk by...)

http://i28.tinypic.com/2mzh8on.png

[Riz]

Very nice kirsten thanks for the pic

how long did it take to get to the current size !? the leaves look glossy and healthy, good work :)

[Kirsten]

Thanks! :)

I think it was about eight months old in that picture. The two leaves sticking out at the very bottom are from the original pineapple, all the rest of it is new (the old leaves start turning yellow and falling off after about 6 months). For a long time I didn't have a pot to put it in, so it lived in water in my coffee mug for about 2 months!

Some of the lower leaves are shorter because last summer it developed some odd disease where portions of the leaves turned completely white. I had no idea what was going on so I decided to just play it safe and chop off the white parts. It looked so sad for awhile because it was so bare; it reminded me of a cancer patient with no hair - but fortunately it recovered well!

[Kirsten]

I decided to give it a try at forcing mine to flower -
I grew up in a poor family so I can't really justify putting two whole apples in there and letting them bruise for the sole reason of making my pineapple fruit :p Instead I put two apple cores in there and covered it with a plastic bag, figuring it would probably still produce ethylene. I moved it inside during this time. I know you're supposed to keep it in the shade, but I couldn't find a clear plastic bag (had to use two large white ones), so I kept in a semi-sunny place.

Today (a week later) I looked inside and one of the cores had molded horribly (:eek:) and the second one was developing fuzzy white spots, so I tossed them out. It's only been a week, but the inside of the bag smelled SO apple-y, I just took it all out of the bag and put the pineapple back in the sun outside.

We'll see...

[Riz]

do you think it will flower now ?

i hope it does it sounds like a cool idea :)

[Kirsten]

I hope so! It's been outside soaking up the lovely sunshine we've been getting and I've been feeding it with some compost tea, so hopefully it'll grow a nice plant :)

[Kirsten]

http://i27.tinypic.com/141rxwo.png

[Riz]

wow !!!

look how big it is.. the leaves are shouting upwards and sideways.. very nice looking plant :)

[Kirsten]

Thanks :)
No sign of a flower though... I wonder if I didn't leave it with the apples long enough.

[Riz]

how is the pineapple doing now kirsten ?

[Kirsten]

It's doing pretty well! I'll have to post a picture of it soon, the leaves in the middle are all nice and green and glossy and gotten m uch bigger. It's inside now so not getting quite as much sun as before, but I have it by the window :)

I still can't believe nobody else on here has a pineapple!!

[~Obsidian~]

I still can't believe nobody else on here has a pineapple!!

Just today me bro brought home a pineapple...:D

[Kirsten]

Grow it and let me know what happens!!! My pineapple is lonely in this thread :p

[~Obsidian~]

Grow it and let me know what happens!!! My pineapple is lonely in this thread :p

I'll try, we'll have to see what happens with these miserable temps and pathetic sunlight! Does anybody have a picture of what the roots are supposed to look like? I don't wanna cut through them or totally miss them.

[~Obsidian~]

Never mind, I found this great website, bit heavy on the advertising at first but it's actually quite a good walkthrough. Is it too late for me to start mine - at the end of summer?
http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm

Edit: I did it anyway :D it's now chilling out in a cupboard, drying out

[Kirsten]

That's the very site I used, followed it to a T :) I've often felt like I should take a picture of my pineapple and send it to that guy and let him know how much I've appreciated his site and how far it's taken me.

[~Obsidian~]

Wahey, that was some dodgy luck:p maybe you should! He might just advertise muslimgrower :D

Did you use the same kind of pots as him? I don't have any breathable ones with drainage holes :(

[Kirsten]

Nope. I planted mine while I was at school and didn't have a pot... so it went in my coffee mug for two months (while it sprouted roots). After that it went in a tiny tiny little ceramic pot that was maybe about four inches across tops.

That summer it really started to grow (a lot of the leaves on the inside had rotted and I pulled them out, so it had like a hollow center haha) and I repotted it at the end of the summer into a plastic pot with a hole in the bottom. It contracted some weird disease that summer where some patches on the leaves just turned completely snow white, and in desperation I just cut all the affected parts off. It was so sad looking for awhile - it looked like a cancer patient with all its hair cut off :(

But it recovered and since then it's been growing big and nicely - I'll upload a pic in a few minutes. It actually got so big during the summer that I had to trim some leaves to get it to fit into the car.

[Kirsten]

http://i35.tinypic.com/14ctda1.png

That's my lemon in the background.

[~Obsidian~]

Lol! How pathetic it must have been! Doesn't look so bad now though, do you have all of the broken pottery/stones/perlite in there? Shame you don't live anywhere around here, you could have tried to get a couple of apples from riz to force your thing to fruit eh? :p

[Riz]

you could have tried to get a couple of apples from riz to force your thing to fruit eh? :p

Apples, pears anything kirsten likes, i would even make her a cup of tea :)

[~Obsidian~]

Kirsten, if he threw in a scone or two would you be tempted to move? :p

[Kirsten]

haha you guys are so sweet :) If I'm ever in London again (I was there a couple of years ago), I'd seriously need to drop by to see your amazing gardens! Though I don't know if I could live in London... I seem to remember things being awfully expensive there when you convert to the dollar :p

I actually did try to force it fruit this year, but ran into a couple of problems. First off... the thing was so big I couldn't find a clear plastic bag that would actually cover it and seal it, so I improved with two white bags. Then I couldn't justify throwing good apples in there, so I threw in the cores of the ones that I ate. Then, of course, after only a week (I think you're supposed to leave it for at least two weeks), the cores developed a TON of mold and I freaked and threw them away. The whole thing smelled SO apple-y when I pulled the bags off, but sadly no flower developed :(

I never put any broken shards and stuff in there, nor did I use his recommended mix of soil - I just used plain old garden soil and it seems to be happy enough. I threw in a little bit of compost this year, which seems to have helped.

This is my favorite plant, along with my lemon, just because I started them from scratch and I've had them for so long. I can't ever walk by it without running my hands up and down the big leaves. One of my friends came in yesterday and tried to touch it and got poked by the super sharp ends... :p

[~Obsidian~]

My garden sucks :p

Well that gives me alot of confidence, because I don't have all of that stuff to hand nor the resources to buy them at present :) I'll probably be doing the same as you (without the extended period in the cup :p) Do you get any fruit offa your lemon trees?

Hope you can get it to fruit at some point, I remember seeing some tiny potted pineapples in a store once, they looked so odd! I can't wait to plant mine now! :natur014:

[~Obsidian~]

Heres a picture of the little thing after I ripped it off the top and massacred it :D

[Riz]

intresting...

pineapples are cool they smell great swell :)

ok i am going to get one. :boots:

[~Obsidian~]

Wuhoo! You edited in that last bit :D

I'm not whether I'm very successful with mine, loads of the leaves are drying up so I bunged it in the water. One of the leaves kinda looks like it's got arabic on it :confused:

[Kirsten]

LOL what does the arabic say?? "PLEEEEEEASE plant me!" haha :D

Yours looks better than mine did - mine didn't have any little roots at all (supposedly that's what the brown curly things are, based on pics of other people's pineapples I've seen) and it took more than two months for me to get roots of any decent size.

OK Riz, now we're waiting to see yours... ;)

[~Obsidian~]

:p it doesn't look like it says that, although maybe it's telepathically trying to get me to plant it, the whole thing just looks like a dying disaster and may not survive.

Aye Riz, waiting for yours now!

[Riz]

Every now and again the local shopkeeper gets some really tropical fruit to sell, two weeks ago he had some pinapples and i forget to get one,, So i am waiting for him to re stock :)

[~Obsidian~]

I think mine is going mouldy:sky11: well the pineapples are abundant in Green street atm, 75p each. The tops were kinda brown on some of them even though I didn't take a closer look. Might get another, might not. :confused:

[~Obsidian~]

It went gross :( I donated it to the bin instead

[Riz]

looks like growing pineapples is an art form eh !!

[Kirsten]

Aww, sorry to hear about that :( It happens from time to time - my second one failed too (I saw the chef in the school dining hall was cooking pineapples and asked him if I could have the tops. He thought I was crazy, but I did my best to explain :p)

[~Obsidian~]

:p well there's plenty about in the shops anyway, I could start another at any time really just gotta pick when to go an buy them :p It was rather gross, the leaves accidentally got wet one time and that was like a death sentence, the water turned milky white (yes I changed it daily and sometimes twice daily) and just bleurgh!!

[Kirsten]

a fun overhead shot

http://i35.tinypic.com/1z312qx.png

[Riz]

its looking good the leaves look healthy....

[~Obsidian~]

Lovely and green! *thinks back to mouldy top* :p

[Riz]

the corner shop doesnt sell anything as exotic as pineapples around my area lol.

I have to go to the main market down town to get ( parking is a nightmare) so i have instructed my sis in-law to get one for me :)

[~Obsidian~]

Some awesome pics from somebody else's fruiting tree
http://www.all-creatures.org/pics/pineapple.html

[Kirsten]

That's so cute!!! I want mine to grow one, maybe it'll grow one on its own without being pushed?

[~Obsidian~]

I think so, but I think it takes a few years before it'll do that. From what I understood, the ethene method is a way of forcing it to fruit while it's young

[edibles]

you would have to be a idiot to start growing pinapple in days of snow

so anyway i decide to grow pinapple recently using this guide
http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm
havent got far

[Kirsten]

Getting tall and happy :)

http://i37.tinypic.com/zpo4n.png

[~Obsidian~]

Brilliant!! It's amazing how much sunlight you are still getting

[Kirsten]

Yeah I think I have one of the sunniest rooms in the whole university :) It's actually still so bright in here right now that the lemon's getting a little fried from the sunlight being magnified through the glass windows :eek:

[~Obsidian~]

So lucky!

[Riz]

Getting tall and happy :)




It looks more healthier now than it did in mid summer seriously :D
:GreenThumbs:

[edibles]

how about an update kirsten
my previous attempt failed but it is getting warmer so im getting ready
did any one else get one to grow

[Kirsten]

Mine is still big and green and doing well :) I'll post a pic tomorrow...

[aamirc]

I've planted a pineapple top in a massive pot, it's been a week or so and I haven't seen any growth at all. Don't know if it has rooted yet or not. How long did you guys wait for your pineapple plant to show any sight of growth.

[~Obsidian~]

Did you allow it to dry out first? In the OP stealth says that it must be allowed to dry out and heal before you pot it.

[edibles]

i bought a pineapple the other day but get this, they had cut out the inner core of leaves

[aamirc]

i let it dry for a few days, then I stripped the lower outer leaves and planted it. Should I have cut the leaves first then let it dry?

Edibles, bad luck man, you should have checked when you bought it. ;) :p don't know why they cut them out though. They want people not to grow it, so they make more money.

[~Obsidian~]

Hmm, I think you did it the wrong way - strip the leaves first and then let it dry.

[Kirsten]

Not the best pic, but here's what it looks like recently - I've really neglected it a lot in favor of the tomatoes recently and it's unhappy :(

http://i39.tinypic.com/2isux5s.jpg

[aamirc]

wow... that's really big. My one is still not growing, it's probably dead by now. But i'm gonna leave it in the pot. It looks good but it will eventually rot away. How often did you water it Kirsten when you planted the top of that plant? i'm watering it on a weekly basis.

[Kirsten]

I started it off in water until it had ample roots (I think that took around 2 months) and then plunked it in a pot. I don't remember how often I watered - I don't usually water on a schedule; I usually just check with my fingers and wiggle them into the dirt and if it's dry down to about half an inch I'll go ahead and water. So my guess is that's probably what I did :) It definitely took a long time for it to decide to start sprouting new leaves after the roots showed up first though, so don't lose patience!

[tahir_phoenix]

That pineapple looks very impressive! I cut two pineapples last october and left them in water until the roots developed a bit then stuck them into compost, neither has done anything yet - I pulled the centre leaves on one and they came out :( so i think that is going to be scrapped, the other seems to be ok but no sign of any new leaves yet - we need more sun and heat, then I think it will start growing :sunny:

[Nife180]

So I wanted to do this 8 years ago, I haven't tried it yet, until today. So I picked a pineapple (Very big and healthy) and It was cut on spot. I asked the man for the crown and he gave it to me, plus one more :)

The center leaves are intact, the leaves are firm and there are no scales. So I pulled out the leaves and stuck them in water. Inshallah It will grow.

[~Obsidian~]

Hey Nife insha Allah it will. You see the crown on the left there? It looks like the leaves are in the water, its probably just my eyes though. If it isn't you'll need to take them out otherwise they will go mouldy! Just suspend the stripped part of the crown in the water like you've done with the second one.

[Nife180]

Thanks for the heads up! :goodpost:

I've adjusted the water level, and only the stripped crown is in the water now, When I was younger I liked canned pineapples, because I once tried a fresh pineapple and it was tough. lol, It's been 3 years and this is the second fresh one I tried, and it was amazing. Just my luck the first one wasn't ripe or w/e.

[~Obsidian~]

Haha well I tried this before and failed miserably, so I'm rooting for ya! (Haha geddit? Okay yeah that was bad :p)

[Riz]

^ haha !!

i would rep ya, if we had such a thing !! :)

[Nife180]

1 month later......

and we have roots! I basically forgot about them, but then I noticed them at the end of May, first the one on the right started and it is yet to develop more roots.

But the second one (on the left) caught up two days later and developed lots of roots (The tiny things in the center aren't roots, they are the fiber that was attached to the pineapple), should I wait for more roots on this one or pot it? How big should the depth and diameter of the pot be?

[Riz]

hey congrats nife..

very nice :)

[Tania]

Congratulations :) I think too they are ready to go in pots. The root place its in soil

[tahir_phoenix]

1 month later......

and we have roots! I basically forgot about them, but then I noticed them at the end of May, first the one on the right started and it is yet to develop more roots.

But the second one (on the left) caught up two days later and developed lots of roots (The tiny things in the center aren't roots, they are the fiber that was attached to the pineapple), should I wait for more roots on this one or pot it?How big should the depth and diameter of the pot be?

I did the same thing back in Oct last year - both pineapples rooted so I potted them but one didn't grow at all and I binned it, the other as you can see from the pics has had a few new tiny leaves develop over the last 2 weeks :) the old leaves look a mess so I hope the new ones grow quickly so I can cut the old ones off :)

I would leave them in the water a bit longer so the roots get bigger and then pot into a mix of 50/50 sand and compost into a fairly deep pot so the roots have enough space to grow but so far they look great! :GreenThumbs:

[rubmanhayat]

Hello every1,

My brother brought a pineapple yesterday and after reading this post I thought I should give it a try too. It's cold but by the time it will have roots growing it will be summer and it can enjoy all the sun in the pot. Now everyone alone with my mother and wife says I am going retarded and probably need to go see a psych lolz. First it was mango, now pineapple and then what? :D
Shhhhhhhh ;) I have decided to get chiku seeds from Pakistan hehehe

Some pictures of what i have done : )

[Riz]

very cool hayat..

your mum and wife will be well impressed when you get the pineapple to set roots and grow :)

dont forget to germinate pomigranite seeds too, then you will be officially psycho LOL

[rubmanhayat]

:GreenThumbs: Thanks and inshallah I'll try to do that as well.

[edibles]

lets not forget coconut :p

[rubmanhayat]

wow...Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Pomegranate in NY where temp goes way below freezing. Officially Psycho... but i will definitely try once I move out of this apartment and go somewhere where I will have atleast a backyard space. Feel like soon inshallah i will have an orchard and who knows it will turn out to be a family business. lolz...

[rubmanhayat]

1 month later......

and we have roots! I basically forgot about them, but then I noticed them at the end of May, first the one on the right started and it is yet to develop more roots.

But the second one (on the left) caught up two days later and developed lots of roots (The tiny things in the center aren't roots, they are the fiber that was attached to the pineapple), should I wait for more roots on this one or pot it? How big should the depth and diameter of the pot be?

Salaam-O-Alaikum,

Any updates on this one. My first one rotted so I got another one. It's still in water for about 2 months now but no roots :down: I will post a picture of how it looks.

[~Obsidian~]

wow...Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Pomegranate in NY where temp goes way below freezing. Officially Psycho... but i will definitely try once I move out of this apartment and go somewhere where I will have atleast a backyard space. Feel like soon inshallah i will have an orchard and who knows it will turn out to be a family business. lolz...

Try growing some Papayas too :p

[Riz]

hayat in post 72 the last pic looks like if the pineapple head is too far into the water.. just want the bottom of the head to just kiss the water....

[rubmanhayat]

:) yah Riz that one was a disaster. That pineapple was really ripe and the head had some roots too. After a few days in water it was all moulded and smelling eventhough I changed the water everyday. My mom threw it out :(
I wasn't disappointed so I started a second one, and after 2 1/2 months in water i finally saw today it is shooting out real roots. This one didn't smell and I didn't have to change water everyday. It was like 2ice in a week. I will try to take a picture and see if roots would be visible :)

[rubmanhayat]

...and we have tiney miney roots, like 6 or 7 of them. Let's see when it goes in the soil.

[Kirsten]

So cute! :)

[rubmanhayat]

Thanks :)

[rubmanhayat]

Is it time for this one to go in the soil? They are like inch and a half.

[Riz]

ahh nice.. you did well... ya pot it :)

[~Obsidian~]

I agree, 'tis very ready (if not overdue) for a meeting with the earth :p

[rubmanhayat]

:) meeting scheduled for Saturday lolz. It's going to be gorgeous...high 80's. Inshallah

[rubmanhayat]

I pot this one in soil last week and I see new leaves shooting out. I hope this one is a success :)

[rubmanhayat]

...and we have new leaves :) like about 6-7 of 'em.

[~Obsidian~]

Masha'Allah:GreenThumbs:

[rubmanhayat]

Update on my Pineapple. Have a few leaves now :)

[rubmanhayat]

Salaam,

Any update on how others are doing with their pineapple. Any fruit yet? :) Is the size of my pot enough or i'll have to repot it sometime soon?

[rubmanhayat]

Pineapple doing well :)

[Kirsten]

very nice!
Your pot will be fine for probably a couple of years - pineapples don't take up too much space with their roots. My plant is probably about three times the size of yours but in a pot 1/3 the size and is doing fine :)

[rubmanhayat]

Thanks :)

[rubmanhayat]

Grown a little bit more :)

[pwr_wrx]

Heres mine. I planted it in august and its grown new leaves but they should be a lot bigger. my brother in law planted it a month before mine and he had huge leaves the second month..

the other one with the fruit is from the store...the pineapple is still green after several months..i think its because i put it in a bigger pot so its growing the roots instead of ripening the fruit..any ideas?

[Riz]

wow

not bad.. I think you have done really well, foliage looks healthy too

[pwr_wrx]

Heres the end result :)

[Riz]

seriously well done.

hahha that pic made me smile, what does it taste like !!!!?

[pwr_wrx]

Ate it a while back. Tasted very good. Pretty Sweet :D

[~Obsidian~]

Masha'Allah :D

[rubmanhayat]

I have another one in the water and I see tiney miney roots :) It will soon meet soil Inshallah :)

[rubmanhayat]

Repot the bigger one and the new rooted one also went in the pot :)

[Riz]

you're becoming good at rooting pineapple heads brother..... :GreenThumbs:

[rubmanhayat]

Thx :)

[pomegranate]

i tried this method like 7 times already but it never works for me:down:
can you please advice me?
this is what i do, i just break the crown off the pineapple and remove few bottom leaves until few brown roots are visible and then put it in water and replace the water once every 2 days, but what happens is that all the leaves brown off and it starts to rot. it happens all the time! can you advice me bro?

Thanks!:)

[noora]

Masha'Allah

[noora]

i tried this method like 7 times already but it never works for me:down:
can you please advice me?
this is what i do, i just break the crown off the pineapple and remove few bottom leaves until few brown roots are visible and then put it in water and replace the water once every 2 days, but what happens is that all the leaves brown off and it starts to rot. it happens all the time! can you advice me bro?

Thanks!:)

http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm

[pomegranate]

i'll give it one more try! thanks for the link

[rubmanhayat]

i tried this method like 7 times already but it never works for me:down:
can you please advice me?
this is what i do, i just break the crown off the pineapple and remove few bottom leaves until few brown roots are visible and then put it in water and replace the water once every 2 days, but what happens is that all the leaves brown off and it starts to rot. it happens all the time! can you advice me bro?

Thanks!:)

Out of the three times I tried, two are successful. The first pineapple that I tried was really ripe and it didn't work. So I guess look for one that is not turned yellow all the way to the crown. Too ripe would start rotting faster. Just twist the crown off the pineapple. Make sure all the flesh is cut off. Yes exposing brown roots is good. I would take off more leaves than just exposing the roots. I would go about an inch and a half more because you don't want the leaves submerged in the water. That's the reason why it rots. You need to put only that bottom portion in the water and make sure the leaves stay dry. You can change the water every other day and put it in the sun. Inashallah that should work. see the pictures of my first pineapple. Look at how much leaves I have taken off to avoid water touching the leaves. Show us some pictures when you do it :)

[pomegranate]

thanks for the advice mate, i will now give it one more try and upload pics as i go through. Hope it works this time!:)

[pomegranate]

i forgot to mention, everytime i try this, the leaves go brown and die within 2 weeks, is that normal? should i cut the leaves as they turn brown?

[noora]

Out of the three times I tried, two are successful. The first pineapple that I tried was really ripe and it didn't work. So I guess look for one that is not turned yellow all the way to the crown. Too ripe would start rotting faster. Just twist the crown off the pineapple. Make sure all the flesh is cut off. Yes exposing brown roots is good. I would take off more leaves than just exposing the roots. I would go about an inch and a half more because you don't want the leaves submerged in the water. That's the reason why it rots. You need to put only that bottom portion in the water and make sure the leaves stay dry. You can change the water every other day and put it in the sun. Inashallah that should work. see the pictures of my first pineapple. Look at how much leaves I have taken off to avoid water touching the leaves. Show us some pictures when you do it :)

thank you

[pomegranate]

Out of the three times I tried, two are successful. The first pineapple that I tried was really ripe and it didn't work. So I guess look for one that is not turned yellow all the way to the crown. Too ripe would start rotting faster. Just twist the crown off the pineapple. Make sure all the flesh is cut off. Yes exposing brown roots is good. I would take off more leaves than just exposing the roots. I would go about an inch and a half more because you don't want the leaves submerged in the water. That's the reason why it rots. You need to put only that bottom portion in the water and make sure the leaves stay dry. You can change the water every other day and put it in the sun. Inashallah that should work. see the pictures of my first pineapple. Look at how much leaves I have taken off to avoid water touching the leaves. Show us some pictures when you do it :)


i was so excited to try one more time so i went to sainsbury today and bought a pineapple which was not ripe and did what you said. i have attached images below so please tell me if i done it correctly or need to do something else.331933203321

can you tell me where to now store the pineapple crown? should i leave it inside the kitchen or do i need to leave it in the sun?

[rubmanhayat]

This is good. I think you should cut that flesh in the bottom with a knife. Take off about15-20 leaves more. It should look like the picture in post# 84

http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=61&page=9

You'll have to put it in a cup with a smaller opening to avoid it falling all the way in water after you take off more leaves. I had it in the sunlight. So i guess go with it. Don't worry about leaves turning brown. Once it gets roots you can take them off before you put it in soil. For me one started rooting after a month and a half. Second one took only 2 weeks. So give it atleast one month. Change water every other day. You wanna fix the pictures Good Luck :)

[pomegranate]

This is good. I think you should cut that flesh in the bottom with a knife. Take off about15-20 leaves more. It should look like the picture in post# 84

http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=61&page=9

You'll have to put it in a cup with a smaller opening to avoid it falling all the way in water after you take off more leaves. I had it in the sunlight. So i guess go with it. Don't worry about leaves turning brown. Once it gets roots you can take them off before you put it in soil. For me one started rooting after a month and a half. Second one took only 2 weeks. So give it atleast one month. Change water every other day. You wanna fix the pictures Good Luck :)


Thanks for your reply. i have now taken alot of leaves off the crown and also cut flesh off. yesterday and today i left it in the sun and at night i bring it back in.
is it now fine?3322

[rubmanhayat]

This is good. Exactly how I had it. Keep the water level to that red line :) You don't have to take it back and forth. Just keep it in your windowsill where you get sunlight. It should be ok :)

[pomegranate]

rubmanhayat you are a genius, your advice worked! roots are now growing and starting to cascade downwards.
but i got a small problem, the part where the water doesnt touch is getting mouldy! what should i do?3336

[rubmanhayat]

Wow that was only a week :) How is it doing now? Sorry somehow missed this post. Amm... yah that's a problem. R U sure that's mould or it dried up. It's ok if that is dried up. Take is out of water and let's see some more pictures. I think is should be ok to put in soil in a few more days. Let's see a top view of the leaves.

[pomegranate]

hi, the mould has slowly starting to disappear but the base is slimy, is this a problem? i change water every 3 days though!

the roots are very established as you can see from the image below, so should i pot it or wait few more days?
3378

[pomegranate]

Wow that was only a week :) How is it doing now? Sorry somehow missed this post. Amm... yah that's a problem. R U sure that's mould or it dried up. It's ok if that is dried up. Take is out of water and let's see some more pictures. I think is should be ok to put in soil in a few more days. Let's see a top view of the leaves.

i will upload another picture of the mould place in more close up and also the inside leaves are starting to change colour from dark green to light green (which is good) because i think it is showing that there is now new growth or something.. is this right?

i will upload the picture tomorrow asap.

Cheers!

[rubmanhayat]

Yes, it's time for this to go in the soil. There might be new growth but can't tell unless we see a picture. Don't worry about the slime, just put it in soil and it's going to be fine, Inshallah.

[pomegranate]

here are more pics of the crown.
what type of soil should i plant it in? does the soil has to be acidic or anything or will a normal multi-purpose compost do?
3379
3380

[rubmanhayat]

Nice :) I believe that's new growth, rite? You can put this in the soil. I'd say just normal multi-purpose compost is ok. Just make sure you have a pot big enough so that you don't have to repot it anytime soon. This is how mine looks.

[pomegranate]

wow! that looks very nice.
how old is that plant?

[rubmanhayat]

This is a year old. I potted it in May 2010. Did you put yours in the soil yet?

[pomegranate]

it looks quite big for a 1year old plant. yes i have potted mine now in a 7" pot, planning to pot it to a bigger pot later on, when the roots are more established.
Thanks so much for your help, i couldnt have got it to work without your help.
:ty:

[rubmanhayat]

I know.. this one grew really fast. The other one is kinda retarded. The leaves are growing sideways :\ and it's not growing as fast as the first one hmmm....
You are very welcome. That's the reason why we are here man. To learn and help each other with their growing. Inshallah it will grow and some day you'll harvest a pineapple of your own.

[rubmanhayat]

Any update on the pineapple?

[~Obsidian~]

Same question to you, any more growth?

[rubmanhayat]

:) Yeah got some new leaves on the smaller one. The bigger one is pretty much the same. Can't really see much difference on that one. I think it needs full sunlight. It's sitting in my window with all other plants. Will try to post some pic over this weekend. How about urself? You should try one too :)

[pomegranate]

i left my plant in the front garden to catch some sunlight but the next day i went to check, it was stolen :mad:

so i guess, i'll have to do it again :down:

[rubmanhayat]

Awww... that's not good...stealing somebody plants. How can someone walk into your garden and just pick up something that doesn't belong to them. Thats such a shame. It's ok, you know how to do it know. Try it again :)

[pomegranate]

its gonna get cold here in london within 2-3 months, so dont know how it will cope with that, but i will give it a go again.

[rubmanhayat]

Keep in indoors where it'll get sunlight like I have :) The second one that I started had all retarded leaves growing. They were all growing to one side so I pulled them off. Now there's new growth. I think there's 2-3 separate shoots/crowns. Will post pictures later. I have some pineapple seeds if you want to try growing from a seed. I know it won't be true to type but will be interesting.

[pomegranate]

wow, did you say pineapple seeds?
how do they look like and how can you harvest them?

i never knew they produce seeds:eek:

[rubmanhayat]

Yah, pineapple seed :) Normally you wouldn't get seeds because the flowers are not pollinated. The one that I bought was probably from some place that doesn't grow commercially and was pollinated. I was surprised myself to see the seeds. They were in the flesh closer to the skin. I am saving these from last year. Also updated pictures of my two pineapple. The second one that I massacared the leaves is now growing with 2 new shoots probably 3. Bigger one seems ok too.

[pomegranate]

looks very cool.
hope they produce nice pineapple for you:)

[rubmanhayat]

Time will tell :) the bigger one still has to go 5 more months. So i guess spring time next year I can start hoping for a fruit, may be try forcing method and see if that'd work.

[rubmanhayat]

Some updated pictures of my twins :) lolz They are growing slow but I think they are healthy :)

[pomegranate]

these look amazing! never seen a twin plant before:)
i ordered some plant growth medium and planning to do tissue culture for the 1st time.

[rubmanhayat]

Here's an update on the pineapple :) Smaller one has grown alot and the bigger one was really huge so I cut the leaves from the bottom. Now it's a little more manageable, yet somehow got into my wife's eye. She was really :mad: