View Full Version : Rooting pineapple
Snarkie
03-09-2017, 05:20 PM
I forgot what thread I was discussing this on, so here's the scoop:
My pineapple top is getting some good roots on it. The longest are close to 1.5". How long should I let the roots get in water, before I plant?
It's been may years since I potted one up from water roots and it mattered so I don't know. What I mean is that I get tops easily here which I've rooted in water and also just stuck in the dirt. I don't think my success rate has so much to do with method but timing--sometimes everyone does well and sometimes none do.
If nobody else chimes in, I'd advise moving your top to good soil now or whenever you want. You know/understand plant propagation techniques/rules so do what you know.
It should be ok to plant... I'm waiting for mine to be a bit longer though...
crazy banana
03-10-2017, 01:42 AM
The plant does not need any roots at all to be planted. It is more important to grow it in the sunniest spot of your yard and in very well draining soil.
I dip slips, suckers or tops in mycorrhizae and plant them directly in well draining soil with perlite or lava rocks added and never had any problems. I am growing at least 20+ Sugarloaf pineapples this year and expect a lot more to fruit this year than the two delicious fruits I harvested last year.
CraigSS
03-10-2017, 06:34 AM
How long from setting tops in ground till they produce edible fruit?
crazy banana
03-10-2017, 12:02 PM
How long from setting tops in ground till they produce edible fruit?
In Southern California "Sugarloaf" variety takes about 2 years. Actually mine are not even in the ground, they are in big pots. I cover the pots with frost cloth from December to February.
Kegas76
03-10-2017, 12:19 PM
How long from setting tops in ground till they produce edible fruit?
I did a top from a store bought pineapple a few years ago. I think it took 2-2.5 years to fruit.
Here it is May of last year.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=59718&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=59718)
And ripe at the end of July
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=60251&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=60251)
Now notice the three slips on the plant. I stuck them in water with rooting compound for a few day then into dirt. Cut to now, two of them have died after trying to put them in the ground, but the third which was has been potted the whole time started blooming last week.
37.667910
03-10-2017, 12:20 PM
I plant mine with 1/2 an inch of root and they grow like weeds. Your's are more then ready.
37.667910
03-10-2017, 12:22 PM
How long from setting tops in ground till they produce edible fruit?
In zone 7 - Never!
In a pot as mentioned, a couple of years.
crazy banana
03-10-2017, 01:21 PM
I did a top from a store bought pineapple a few years ago. I think it took 2-2.5 years to fruit.
Here it is May of last year.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=59718&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=59718)
And ripe at the end of July
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=60251&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=60251)
Now notice the three slips on the plant. I stuck them in water with rooting compound for a few day then into dirt. Cut to now, two of them have died after trying to put them in the ground, but the third which was has been potted the whole time started blooming last week.
Pineapples can be propagated from tops, suckers, ratoon suckers or slips.
The easiest and fastest to fruit are slips (plantlets growing between the leaves of a growing plant) or suckers (plantlets growing at the base of a maturing fruit on the fruit stalk). My favorites are ratoon suckers that grow from the base of the plant and already have a few tiny roots.
Slips should be 4"-6" before transplanting. Next time put some rooting hormone or mycorrhizae on your transplant without putting them in water and they will all survive.
Last year I have propagated about 30 plants (all Sugarloaf) that way and sold another 50 through CL or our SD Garden Group.
john_ny
03-10-2017, 02:33 PM
They can be grown from seed also. Supposedly, they must be pollinated by a hummingbird. There are no hummingbirds in Hawaii, and it's illegal to bring them in. (They don't want seeds in their pineapples.) However, most of the pineapples we get, here on the East coast, come from Central America, and there are hummingbirds there. The seeds are small and look like sesame seeds, only darker. They are found right under the skin. If you go to my photo gallery, page 43, you can see some pictures. ( I don't remember how to repost them in the current thread.)
I usually grow my Pineapples in pots. I let the base dry out and then just stick it into the soil for it to root. I've only gotten one to produce fruit and it took over 2 years. I actually had forgotten about it and discovered it one day:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2843/32520401114_77b86a4445_z.jpg
Snarkie
03-10-2017, 03:31 PM
I'm waiting for mine to be a bit longer though...Aren't we all? :2719:
Snarkie
03-10-2017, 03:37 PM
Thanks for all the replies and useful info. I'm doing this because my dad told me it wouldn't work. We do this sometimes; he says I can't build or invent something and I do it just to spite him. It started back in 1994, when I bet him $10 I could build an accessory to make a pair of Ruger 10/22s fire up to 32 rounds a second. He paid up. :p
Snarkie
03-10-2017, 03:42 PM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=59718&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=59718)No fair! You got Yoda to use the Force on it!
beam2050
03-10-2017, 07:48 PM
Thanks for all the replies and useful info. I'm doing this because my dad told me it wouldn't work. We do this sometimes; he says I can't build or invent something and I do it just to spite him. It started back in 1994, when I bet him $10 I could build an accessory to make a pair of Ruger 10/22s fire up to 32 rounds a second. He paid up. :p
your a lucky man to have a father like that.
Snarkie
03-11-2017, 02:44 PM
your a lucky man to have a father like that.You bet. I have the father that every man wishes he had.
I came to live with my dad in 1981, at the age of 12. Didn't really know him but we were stuck with each other. I had to learn how to cook, and not only that, the apartment we had was so nasty I wouldn't use the oven, so I learned how to cook in a toaster oven! We moved soon after, and I got a real stove to use! Over the years, I f'd up a couple of times, but my dad was always behind me. Even as an adult, he always stood by me, even when I got into politics. I will never forget the day that two federal agents were standing in the driveway, and Dad said, "Whatever Doug is into, I'm into." They didn't know how to handle it.
The years have come and gone, and I have been married and divorced, but I always had a place to call home. We always helped each other out. When Dad was 67, he fell off the roof of my cabin. I rushed around to see him alive and kicking. Literally kicking. He had fractured his heel in the 11 foot fall and was trying to stand up. I asked if he was okay and my dad replied, "Don't just stand there looking at me! Help me off my ass!"
67 years old, and is only concern was that he was laying on his ass.
Couple weeks ago, he fell off someone else's roof. This time, he was 83. He's got a fractured T-11 lumbar and a torn ligament. He's doing well though. He cracks jokes and makes the best of it. Even with a broken back, he's in better shape than a lot people half his age.
Yeah, I have the coolest dad in the world. And one of the toughest as well.
I have had the rare opportunity to spend the greater part of the last 50 years, with my dad. I have the relationship with my father, that most of you reading this, wish you had with yours.
I hope your dad gets better soon.
Please keep him off roofs in the future!
Snarkie
03-11-2017, 05:58 PM
He learned his lesson, JP. Thanks.
Hi Crazy, are your pineapple plants in pots or in the ground?
Susan:nanadrink:
crazy banana
03-13-2017, 12:37 AM
Hi Crazy, are your pineapple plants in pots or in the ground?
Susan:nanadrink:
Hi Susan,
Good to see you back on here.
All my pineapple plants are in big pots. Absolutely love the "Sugarloaf" variety - very sweet and edible core.
sputinc7
03-17-2017, 11:07 AM
Mine came from a store bought one and after two years I am happy to say it's making me a baby... It started about a month ago and other than a couple light frosts turning the leaves yellowish, it's doing fine.
I twist the top off and cut off all the yellow and pull off some leaflets before putting it in water for a couple weeks to start roots, then into the ground it goes. So far, only one failed to make it but that was over two months after I planted it. The center was dead and it sprouted out the side before I planted it.
kaczercat
04-03-2017, 05:48 PM
Watch out! you'll start collecting them and soon you'll have a little pineapple patch. The oldest two were started last May or June.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3857/33694782321_3124a97b87_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/TkuySM)[url=https://flic.kr/p/TkuySM]
Snarkie
04-04-2017, 04:10 PM
Okay, so for a container-grown plant, how big should the container be to handle this?
edwmax
04-04-2017, 04:33 PM
Does anyone have the Florida pineapple? ... Over the years my wife would root the pineapple tops. But we never had one to produce.
Tytaylor77
04-04-2017, 04:54 PM
Does anyone have the Florida pineapple? ... Over the years my wife would root the pineapple tops. But we never had one to produce.
Seal the potted pineapple in a big clear bag with a couple apples. Leave it Sealed in the shade with apples for a week. Then remove the bag and apples and put the plant back in the sun. It will make it flower a few weeks later! It works. The ethylene gas makes it flower/fruit. It's better to wait till the plant is a couple years old.
I've seen alot also fruit in the fall. Not sure if playing with temps/light cycles could work. Not sure.
kaczercat
04-04-2017, 05:07 PM
Okay, so for a container-grown plant, how big should the container be to handle this?
you can grow them in 7 or 15 gallon container. Bigger pot-bigger plant - bigger pineapples is what I have seen and believe to be true.
Snarkie
04-04-2017, 05:52 PM
Awesome; thanks. I have a few very large containers, so I'll dedicate one to the pineapple, once it gets established.
sputinc7
04-05-2017, 08:00 AM
Remember you will need to bring them in where you live, Snark... They absolutely hate cold.
37.667910
04-05-2017, 09:45 AM
Remember you will need to bring them in where you live, Snark... They absolutely hate cold.
This is good advice. Let's just say I know from first hand experience ;)
Snarkie
04-05-2017, 10:47 AM
Remember you will need to bring them in where you live, Snark... They absolutely hate cold.Yeah, that's why I'm going to container grow it. I'll have to make a dolly or something to roll it in and out of the cat room.
gnappi
05-02-2017, 01:19 AM
Egads, such different results.
I have 30+ plants, six from tissue cultures, the rest from store bought pineapple tops. I rooted them all in water, and planted them when roots were 2-3" and every one took 2+ years to fruit. I have 7 or 8 with fruit on them now.
Today I planted two new slips directly in ground to see what they do.
At my last house my neighbor had hundreds of pineapples in 3 gallon pots many producing fruit. She built stair stepped terraces all around her house to hold them.
Here's my little grove in 2015. It's nearly full today.
https://s13.postimg.org/tkg1p3dxz/pineapple_grove_new.jpg
edwmax
05-02-2017, 05:16 AM
Because of this thread, I now have 5 pineapple plants started in water. 2 were potted last week and 2 more are ready to be potted.
gnappi
05-02-2017, 11:17 AM
Because of this thread, I now have 5 pineapple plants started in water. 2 were potted last week and 2 more are ready to be potted.
There are differing opinions on this, but when they start to give fruit I let them get as ripe as possible before harvesting because I have a dog that the vermin don't want any part of. If you have fruit stealing vermin (2 and 4 legged) you will have to pick them in a "best guess" mode. Too soon and they are not going to ripen, too mature and you risk losing them to thieves.
Enjoy, pineapples are one of my most rewarding fruits to grow.
Kegas76
06-30-2017, 05:38 PM
So here is last year's (which was over 2 years old when it fruited) on the left vs this year's (11 months) on the right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=61948&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=61948)
No idea why it fruited so early, I never had a chance to transplant it up to a pot the size of the original one. So sad.
Snarkie
07-01-2017, 01:06 PM
So you got a fruit to germinate?!
kaczercat
12-18-2017, 06:47 PM
Andy those are some massive crowns! Nice job for z9a.
Here are a few of mine
[url=https://flic.kr/p/21yqBjs]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4594/38435621914_fe6a940a04_z.jpg
The newest planted at the end of Aug 12/18/17
[url=https://flic.kr/p/CZMxpF]
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4739/24282769617_6c9063c100_z.jpg
Snarkie
12-18-2017, 07:56 PM
Looking good!!!
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