I think the issue with delayed fruiting is that your soil doesn't have enough nutrients for Pineapples which slows their growth cycle down, as well as the cold months with temps below 50 deg, which slows growth to a standstill. I've been growing them in pots in a greenhouse that never drops below 50 deg F, and when conditions are right they grow fast. I made some mistakes the first year which stunted their growth, but now that I've got it figured out my first Pineapple plant is HUGE 3ft tall, still growing and shot out its first pup. It looks like it will fruit anytime now. I'm experimenting with some fun stuff like growing them super high density packed together to see how many I can grow in the smallest space possible, and also experimenting with lower leaf trimming, similar to how Yucca are trimmed to show a visible trunk. I'm curious to see how lower leaf trimming will effect growth, if at all. If it doesn't hinder growth, removing lower leaves will drastically increase light penetration to adjacent Pineapple plants and pups and help alot with high density planting to be able to cram more plants into a small area. Also trimmed Pineapple plants with mini short trunks could look very cool as a landscape pieces. I'm also making some fired clay pots that are sculpted to look like tree trunks to grow pineapples and other Bromeliads in to give the appearance of having a large trunk like Yuccas. Lots of fun stuff, I love Pineapples!
Yes for sure- we basically have sand instead of soil. There are parts of our property closer to the river where we have richer, dark soil, but up by our house and towards the road it becomes almost straight up sand! We do get some temps in the 40's in winter but no frost here for at least 5 years.
Pineapples bloom every other year. The ones that bloomed last year won’t bloom this year. You have to offset plant them to have blooms every year. They are the sweetest if you grow them yourself!
I have an idea I want to try.....after my Mother Pineapple fruits and harvested, and a replacement pup is growing, I'm going to cut off all the leaves of the Mother plant so they can't take energy from the root and see if that gives a quicker boost to the growing pup, rather than letting the Mother slowly die. Not sure how this will work, if at all, but I'm curious.
Its funny- I was leaving them on some hoping the older leaves would still be beneficial (more leaves photosynthesizing). It would be fun to do a side by side comparison with both methods!
From what I've read, leaving the Mother leaves would provide extra photosynthesis, but they also draw energy, nutrients, and moisture from the roots. Leaves take quite a bit to maintain in exchange for photosynthesis, so it will be interesting to see what removing the Mothers leaves does. Might actually be better to cut off the entire Mother plant above the roots , be use cutting off just the leaves might use energy to regrow more pups from the Mother stem. Going to try all these different ideas and compare.
I think the issue with delayed fruiting is that your soil doesn't have enough nutrients for Pineapples which slows their growth cycle down, as well as the cold months with temps below 50 deg, which slows growth to a standstill. I've been growing them in pots in a greenhouse that never drops below 50 deg F, and when conditions are right they grow fast. I made some mistakes the first year which stunted their growth, but now that I've got it figured out my first Pineapple plant is HUGE 3ft tall, still growing and shot out its first pup. It looks like it will fruit anytime now. I'm experimenting with some fun stuff like growing them super high density packed together to see how many I can grow in the smallest space possible, and also experimenting with lower leaf trimming, similar to how Yucca are trimmed to show a visible trunk. I'm curious to see how lower leaf trimming will effect growth, if at all. If it doesn't hinder growth, removing lower leaves will drastically increase light penetration to adjacent Pineapple plants and pups and help alot with high density planting to be able to cram more plants into a small area. Also trimmed Pineapple plants with mini short trunks could look very cool as a landscape pieces. I'm also making some fired clay pots that are sculpted to look like tree trunks to grow pineapples and other Bromeliads in to give the appearance of having a large trunk like Yuccas. Lots of fun stuff, I love Pineapples!
Yes for sure- we basically have sand instead of soil. There are parts of our property closer to the river where we have richer, dark soil, but up by our house and towards the road it becomes almost straight up sand! We do get some temps in the 40's in winter but no frost here for at least 5 years.
I was just wondering about this. I have a bunch planted. Soooo glad you posted this. I’ll go out and look
Now is the time!
Love you guys from Kenya ❤❤😊
I bet you have beautiful gardens in Kenya too, would love to visit one day! Thanks for sending the love :-)
Pineapples bloom every other year. The ones that bloomed last year won’t bloom this year. You have to offset plant them to have blooms every year. They are the sweetest if you grow them yourself!
We love growing them!
I have an idea I want to try.....after my Mother Pineapple fruits and harvested, and a replacement pup is growing, I'm going to cut off all the leaves of the Mother plant so they can't take energy from the root and see if that gives a quicker boost to the growing pup, rather than letting the Mother slowly die. Not sure how this will work, if at all, but I'm curious.
Its funny- I was leaving them on some hoping the older leaves would still be beneficial (more leaves photosynthesizing). It would be fun to do a side by side comparison with both methods!
@@IslandsnHighlands Absolutely! The only way to know is do both side by side. I'll share my results after trying it
From what I've read, leaving the Mother leaves would provide extra photosynthesis, but they also draw energy, nutrients, and moisture from the roots. Leaves take quite a bit to maintain in exchange for photosynthesis, so it will be interesting to see what removing the Mothers leaves does. Might actually be better to cut off the entire Mother plant above the roots , be use cutting off just the leaves might use energy to regrow more pups from the Mother stem. Going to try all these different ideas and compare.
Love your ideas!! I didn’t think about the mother plant producing more pups! Great idea!