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NANAMAN
02-04-2010, 08:34 AM
I forced this plant a couple months ago with calcium carbide. It's cool to be able to set fruit at whatever time of year you feel like having some!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=28565&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=28565)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=29493&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29493)

sbl
02-04-2010, 08:49 AM
So how do you do that--just put some calcium carbide crystals in the center?

jeffreyp
02-04-2010, 12:13 PM
I think that's the secret.

CookieCows
02-04-2010, 12:28 PM
Question... why do you sprinkle it in the center instead of watering it into the root system? I have 2, two year old plants in big pots that I'd like to try that on. One is just a top from a grocery store pineapple and the other one is a sugar loaf that I'm dying to get a fruit from! Never tasted one before!

Deb

Jack Daw
02-04-2010, 12:55 PM
I too am eager to hear where you put that CaC2 and how. Is it diluted in water or concentrated in solid form? You know that high amounts of Calcium carbid in food can cause food poisoning? For those interested, this chemical compound can also be used in bombs and ignition systems.

sunfish
02-04-2010, 01:20 PM
http://hortchat.com/info/coaxing-your-pineapple-to-bloom

sbl
02-04-2010, 01:32 PM
That should be a neat trick to keep my pineapples from blooming too late in the season. I had 2 that were big enough to support a fruit in the ground last summer--they never did bloom and died in the freeze. I just picked one I had bloom in a container--I have one yet to pick.

NANAMAN
02-04-2010, 01:38 PM
I too am eager to hear where you put that CaC2 and how. Is it diluted in water or concentrated in solid form? You know that high amounts of Calcium carbid in food can cause food poisoning? For those interested, this chemical compound can also be used in bombs and ignition systems.

You just make sure that there is some water down inside the center of the plant, and drop about a pea sized piece of calcium carbide in the water. Takes about 4/6 wks. till ya see the flower forming in there. Calcium carbide when put in water produces acetyleen gas, which the plant absorbs, and that tells the plant to produce a fruit!

NANAMAN
02-04-2010, 01:54 PM
That should be a neat trick to keep my pineapples from blooming too late in the season. I had 2 that were big enough to support a fruit in the ground last summer--they never did bloom and died in the freeze. I just picked one I had bloom in a container--I have one yet to pick.

Ya, why grow em for old man winter?

I'm experimenting with stretching the fruit harvesting out over about a 6 mo. period. In the pineapple industry, they force them to set the harvest at a paticular time. The plant just has to be large enough to support a full sized fruit.

Jack Daw
02-04-2010, 02:24 PM
You just make sure that there is some water down inside the center of the plant, and drop about a pea sized piece of calcium carbide in the water. Takes about 4/6 wks. till ya see the flower forming in there. Calcium carbide when put in water produces acetyleen gas, which the plant absorbs, and that tells the plant to produce a fruit!
Interesting. We (those who grow pineapples in greenhouses) used similar technique, but the acetylen gas was released from a rotting apple. You just have to enclose the rotting apple with pinapple in a plastic bag and just wait for a bloom. ;)

LilRaverBoi
02-04-2010, 10:46 PM
Wow, that's very interesting! I've never heard of forcing flowers/fruit via chemical means. Normally I hear of temperature/water-related methods.

NANAMAN
02-06-2010, 01:09 PM
Question... why do you sprinkle it in the center instead of watering it into the root system? I have 2, two year old plants in big pots that I'd like to try that on. One is just a top from a grocery store pineapple and the other one is a sugar loaf that I'm dying to get a fruit from! Never tasted one before!

Deb

The main growth point is in the center of the plant. BTW, I got my calcium carbide on e-Bay for about half the price that I could find it anywhere else. If you get 'miner's lamp grade' it should be about the perfect size pieces (pea size).

NANAMAN
03-10-2010, 10:45 PM
Updated photo
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=30094&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=30094)

jasonlotp
03-11-2010, 02:03 PM
Anywhere else that you can easily buy calcium carbide? Looks like an easy source of fruit ripening power.

NANAMAN
05-03-2010, 07:49 PM
Updated photo:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=31292&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=31292)

Patty in Wisc
05-06-2010, 10:55 AM
I was using chunks of apple in center & wrapping plant in plastic bag for a few days. Doesn't that produce the same acetylene gas?

NANAMAN
05-07-2010, 12:43 AM
It's supposed to, but I've never tried the apple method.

Caloosamusa
05-07-2010, 07:09 AM
Patty,

Its ethylene gas, used often by shippers to ripen fruit. :2239:

mango_kush
05-07-2010, 10:22 AM
i hear the gas from rotting apple peels does the same thing.

i throw all my old apples in my pineapple beds.