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The pineapple is an exotic fruit. The fruit is the visual highlight of the pineapple plant and the culmination of cultivation in the living room at home. It forms in the heart of the plant on a stalk and can grow up to 30 cm high. Good quality commercially available plants are often relatively expensive. But how about pineapple from your own harvest? Cultivation is easy, even for beginners.
conditions for planting
Not every fruit is suitable for growing a new plant. When buying, you should primarily concentrate on the tuft of leaves or stalk, because it is needed for cultivation. The most important thing is an intact, green heart with lush green leaf tips. The state of ripeness of the fruit plays only a minor role when growing a pineapple.
- Tufts of leaves should be large and bushy, with fresh green, unblemished leaves
- Flesh should be golden yellow and not too soft
- Fruit is unsuitable if it has been exposed to low temperatures
- The cutting point on the severed tuft should be neither brown nor mushy
- Evenly white-yellow color, similar to a ripe banana optimal
- Fruits with rotten or bruised areas are unsuitable
- The best time to grow a pineapple is at the start of the season in March/April.
A 'flying pineapple' is particularly suitable for growing a young plant. It is harvested when ripe and only has one short journey behind. Once the perfect fruit has been found, you can choose between three different methods of growing a pineapple plant.
methods
Cultivation from leaf tuft
Prepare leaf tuft for planting
Growing from a tuft of leaves is easy and uncomplicated. All you need is a fresh, healthy pineapple, a sharp knife, a planter, a glass of water and well-drained, lightly fertilized soil, preferably coconut soil. You also need charcoal for disinfecting. What you should definitely have is a lot patience, because it can take up to three years for the plant to flower for the first time. It then takes another six months or more for a mature pineapple to develop. Cultivation takes place in several steps.
cut off the stalk
In order to grow a pineapple from a tuft of leaves, it must first be separated from the fruit. It can be cut off or gently twisted out by holding the fruit with one hand and twisting out the stalk with the other.
- When cutting, leave 3-5 cm of flesh on the leaf tuft and cut off underneath
- Then cut away the pulp around the hard stalk
- Remove the bottom 2-3 rows of leaves from the stalk
- Pull leaves downwards, do not cut
- Plants of roots sit between the leaves
- When cutting, they could be removed with
- If necessary, remove the lower fibrous part of the stalk
In the last step, you dip the still moist stalk with the cut surface in charcoal powder and then let it dry for a few hours in the air or in the sun. In this way, cuts can close, which counteracts the formation of rot and mold. If the lower area feels dry, the head cutting is optimally prepared and ready for rooting.
tip: The more thoroughly and carefully you remove remains of the pulp and leaves from the stalk, the lower the risk of rot and mold formation after planting.
rooting
A little patience is required when rooting a pineapple, because it can take several weeks or even months. And far from every attempt to root a pineapple is successful. A second plant is not needed for pollination because pineapple plants are self-fertile. The rooting of the leaf tuft can take place in a water glass, dry or directly.
In the water glass
Put the prepared tuft of leaves with the charcoal powder in a glass of warm water, ideally lime-free water. It should be in the water up to the lower edge of the lower leaf crown, i.e. the water should reach the rooting points, but not exceed them. The water has to be changed every 2-3 days and water has to be refilled if necessary. The jar should be placed in a bright and warm place until rooting. Once roots have formed and they are at least one centimeter long, you can plant the cuttings.
Dry
With this method, too, the head cutting is placed in a warm, dry and bright place after defoliation. Unlike the water glass method, the tuft is now regularly sprayed with lime-free, room-warm water to provide it with moisture. Alternatively, you can put it in a translucent foil bag and seal it well. The whole thing should then also be placed in a bright place without direct sunlight. In the sun, evaporation would be many times higher, the cutting would dry up.
Direct
With the direct method, rooting takes place directly in the ground. First you dip the cutting with the cut surface in charcoal powder and then let it dry in the air. If the lower part has dried well, you can plant it directly in a suitable substrate and place it in a warm and bright place.
Plant after rooting
- Coconut soil is ideal for planting a pineapple cutting
- It is particularly loose, permeable and low in nutrients
- Pour coconut earth into a saucepan and do not press down
- Moisten the substrate before planting and let it soak
- In the next step spread a thin layer of charcoal powder on top
- Charcoal can prevent mold growth
- Then loosen the substrate in the middle and plant the cuttings
- Carefully press the tuft of leaves into the substrate
- Press the coconut soil lightly around the cutting
- Plant up to the lower edge of the leaf
- If it sits too deep, there is a risk of rot
In order to give the stalk support after planting or until it roots, you can support it from two sides with wooden sticks, plastic forks or similar by inserting them slightly diagonally into the substrate next to the plant. From now on, keep the substrate slightly moist.
tip: Ideally, the substrate and cuttings should be sprayed regularly. Watering in the conventional way is not recommended.
Optimal conditions after planting
After planting, the pineapple needs temperatures of around 25 degrees. The humidity should also be high, at around 60 percent. A place directly next to a heater is not recommended. In order to ensure optimal humidity, you can cover the cuttings and pot with a translucent film if necessary. However, it should be removed regularly for ventilation to avoid rotting. As soon as a new shoot can be seen in the middle of the leaf tuft, the rooting was successful and the cutting has grown. Now the foil can be removed. However, it still needs sufficient warmth and humidity.
Pull and plant pineapples from Kindeln
The probably safest way pulling a pineapple is beyond kind. A pineapple plant dies after fruiting, which is typical for bromeliads. Small shoots can form at the base of the plant or on the underground part of the trunk. They should be about half the size of the mother plant before you can cut and plant them. The dying mother plant should be preserved for as long as possible because it provides the young children with nutrients.
- Cut children from a size of 20 cm
- To do this, remove the entire plant from the pot
- Shake off loose soil and expose the kindel
- If necessary, remove several sheets
- Pull leaves upwards so as not to injure Kindel
- Cut off exposed pieces with a sharp knife
- Seal cuts with powdered charcoal and plant
When planting, proceed as already described for growing from the leaf tuft. As soon as new shoots appear, the cover is removed and the young plant is cultivated normally.
tip: Both young and older pineapple plants should not be watered easily. These bromeliads are best treated if you spray them and the substrate regularly with lukewarm, lime-free water.
Grow young plants from seed
To grow a pineapple plant, you can plant a tuft of leaves or individual children, or you can try sowing, which can be very tedious. Corresponding seeds are rarely or not at all offered in the trade. If you find a fruit that still contains seeds, you almost own a rarity, because they have almost been bred away by breeding, so that many pineapple fruits now contain hardly any seeds. In addition, it can take several months for the seeds to germinate.
Harvest seeds and prepare for sowing
The chances of finding some of the approximately 1 mm wide and 2 mm long seeds under the skin of the fruit are greatest on large, fully ripened fruits. But they are not that easy to find there. They sit about 1 cm behind the 'warts' visible from the outside and are reddish-brown in colour.
If you have discovered the seeds in the pulp, you remove them and free them from adhering pulp. For example, you can put them in a fine sieve and rinse them under clear water. So that the seeds do not germinate prematurely, they are naturally equipped with a hard shell. In order to be able to grow a plant from the seeds, the germination inhibition must be lifted. To do this, soak them in lukewarm water for about 24 hours before sowing. Then you can sow.
sowing and germination
- Fill small pots with coconut soil
- Moisten the substrate with lime-free water
- Scatter seeds on top and cover about 1 cm with soil
- Cover with translucent film or glass
- Keep substrate slightly moist during germination
- Put in a warm and bright place
- Germination temperatures of at least 20 °C and a maximum of 30 °C are required
- Humidity high, but not over 80%
- Germination after two months at the earliest
Once the seedlings have reached a size of about 5 cm, you can separate them. No matter which type of cultivation you ultimately choose, not every newly grown pineapple plant flowers and develops fruit. For whatever reason, there is often no flowering and therefore no fruiting at all. But nothing stands in the way of a second or third attempt.