Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Growing your Pineapple Tops

Maybe it's our tropical climate but growing pineapples seems easier than what I had read about on various websites, dedicated to gardening in the temperate climates.
Fresh pineapple is one of those things that will spoil you by living here. I don't think I'll ever eat canned pineapple again as long as I can help it. The canned version sucks up so much of the tin flavor you can hardly recognize the pineapple.
Anyway, every time I get a fresh pineapple, I simply slice across the tip top of the main fruit just below the fountain spray of leaves out of the top. I've left it sitting next to the sink for a few days, mostly because I forget to take it outside. This lets it dry out a little. Drying is supposed to help it from rotting. Next I stick it in a shallow hole, cover the bottom well and press it down, just like planting any other seedling.
After a month, the bottom most leaves die off and you can start to see a little new growth coming in the center of the leaves. But I haven't been doing this long enough to count the months until a new fruit comes along. Everyone tells me it averages 2 years. We'll see and we'll post when it comes time.
Try it and tell us how it goes.

1 comment:

  1. You'll know that the planted pineapple top has taken in the soil, when you start seeing new little leaves coming up in the middle/center of the tall leaves of the former top.

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