Author Topic: Pineapple from seed?  (Read 2321 times)

birngerd

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Pineapple from seed?
« on: June 29, 2019, 07:01:31 AM »
Has anyone here grown pineapple from seed to fruiting size? I understand that it takes longer than with slips or tops, but I'm curious to know if anyone has tried it and gotten edible fruit? I'd like to try it, but I don't know if it would produce variable fruit that might end up not tasting good.

Finca La Isla

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2019, 07:32:42 AM »
I haven’t done it but I e seen it done. The fruit should be good. It’s the way to get new varieties.

buddy roo

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2019, 10:05:14 AM »
i have done this several times, they are slow growers in the beginning till they get some size/mass, they grow at the same pace as tissue culture . once the plants get some size to them they grow at the same pace as slips or crowns. the fruit is the same as the parent as far as i can tell. easiest way for me to grow/start them is on a wet paper towel in a baggy after they start to grow just place them on top of a container of soil and keep humid 

So_Cal_Mike

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2019, 08:32:18 PM »
This one I grew form a seed from a store-bought pineapple.
Curiously if you notice, the earlier leaves that came out were toothed, but now as it gets older it is getting less and less teeth.
[size=85]Sunset Zone: 21 • USDA Zone: 10a • AHS Heat Zone: 6-7[/size]

mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2021, 03:33:21 PM »
I had 1 sprout a month ago, but I apparently lost it as I can't find any sign of it in the cup I put it in.  I have 1 more sprout now and want to give it a better chance.  I am guessing the sprout is the top, rather than a root (that's a toothpick to the right).  It's currently embedded in some coir with the sprout exposed.  The pot is covered, but not sure how much light to give it.  Looking for any tips?



cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2021, 09:21:35 PM »
I know what you mean about losing them. They grow so slowly on a heat mat. I had six Pink Glow seeds sprout, and then I put them on 1/2" soil blocks. I forgot about them, and then planted some other seeds in the soil blocks. Fortunately, one grew enough for me to notice along side one of my pepper seedlings, so now it is on its own soil block.

I grew about 25 Hawaiian Gold seeds last year, and for the most part, the plants are still small. There are two plants that are much larger than the rest. In my experience, they look fuller than tissue culture plants I have received. My plants spent the winter on a heat mat and under a humidity dome, and I just put them outside. I had them in trays next to my seedlings, so they have been getting around 16 hours under LEDs There is also a tissue culture plant I received in the same time frame nearby (inside), and it is still about the same size as when I got it, but one of the seed plants has caught up to it.  I don't have a greenhouse, so all this has been in the main house, where the winter temperatures have been in the low 60s most of the time.

I have a few Kauai Sugarloaf seeds that are a little smaller than yours that I sprouted on a paper towel in a plastic bag on a heat mat. I haven't tried sprouting them in coir, although I have some cinnamon seeds in a coir/sphagnum mix right next to them, just to say that I've been trying different seed sprouting methods, and haven't noticed much difference.

Edit: I just checked my sprouts, and yes, that is the top, but the plant will start rooting right at the base of that top opposite where it is pointing up, rather than anything more emerging from the seed husk. I plan to transfer them to the seed blocks now, so the roots don't grow into the paper towel.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2021, 09:47:00 PM by cen »

mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2021, 10:36:03 PM »
Thanks for the info!  These are also Pinkglows.  I didn't find them overly taste worthy, but since they want to be stingy with the tops, I take it as a personal challenge to get it to grow :P. I just put them in a paper towel, put it in a ziploc, and left it on top of the fridge for 3 months. I check them every other week or so.

For your TC plants, did you remove them from the peat plug they might have come on?  I got some also last year, as well as some offsets, just to compare.  The TCs came in the 1" peat plugs and most had 2 plants in them, so I wanted to separate them since I thought it would be easiest while they're small.  After soaking the plugs and working them apart, I noticed the roots were only growing on the outside of the plug.  There was only 1 plug with a single bigger plant in it, so I didn't remove the plug and just potted it whole.  These all have been sitting in a cold frame outside. The separated plants had a rough start withe the manhandling, but are catching up with the offsets.  Whereas the 1 plant I left in the plug didn't make it, although 2 children sprouted from its base.  I was hoping the roots would just grow outwards, but should have realized the peat would just rot out the base.  Which reminds to repot that pair this weekend.



cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2021, 10:50:58 PM »
Thanks for the information! No, I didn't remove the peat plug.  No wonder I've never had much luck with tissue culture plants.

mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2021, 01:43:48 AM »
Top ones are TC, bottom are pups.  I just pulled the biggest and smallest of each set, both acquired this past Oct.  Pots are 6".  The pups' original sizes can be seen roughly from the base leaves, so they were pretty small to start with.  The TCs were certainly initially tiny, but not as small as the the one on the right.  They're just so fragile that the original leaves have been consumed by new growth.  I'm just not diligent enough to feed as often as I probably should at this age.


I thought I could separate the one that I thought was dead.  As expected, it hadn't rooted out at all and the plug was just too damp.  Rather than separate, I just removed the peat and found 1 root left, so just potted it back without the peat and will check back when the pups make new roots.



cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2021, 01:54:10 AM »
I'll try to have pictures tomorrow. My most active plants from seed resemble the growth of those pups rather than the tissue culture starts.

I moved my germinated Sugarloaf seeds to soil today. I dropped one, searched for it, found it, and tried to pick it up with tweezers this time. That didn't work at all and I lost it for good! I moved the Pink Glow a couple of days ago, and I might be seeing things, but it looks noticeably bigger.

pineislander

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2021, 01:40:31 PM »
That is so cool that you found a way to get the pink pineapple. How many seeds did you get from the pineapple fruit?

cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2021, 04:53:39 PM »
I got six seeds. All sprouted, but I lost track of them among all my other faster growing seedlings (peppers, tomatoes, brassicas). Same germination with Sugarloaf. I found four seeds, and all sprouted. With a store bought Hawaiian Gold, I found about 30 seeds, and probably 25 sprouted.

spaugh

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2021, 11:39:49 PM »
for tissue culture plants, it works if you grow them for a while to get 10-12" size plants then take them out and strip off the lower leaves and replant them down deeper.  the roots that form where the leaves were end up being normal roots.  the original TC root system never grows properly and needs this to be done in my experience. 
Brad Spaugh

cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2021, 12:47:47 AM »
These are Hawaiian Gold pineapple seedlings. They are probably almost a year old. The soil blocks are about 2" x 2".



mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2021, 06:16:33 PM »
As far as pink seeds, I took about 10.  I didn't check the whole thing though.  Just got my set and was satisfied.  Probably could have found 20 or so if I checked the rest of the peels.  I don't know how that compares to other varieties since I've never looked for seeds before, but will probably do so for future sugarloafs.

Thanks for the tip Brad.  I've done that inadvertently for any plants that are wobbly.  I normally pull off spent leaves so they don't block out parts of the soil and I repot them a little deeper for stability.  Some neglected ones end up tilted but still root from that side and end up growing up like a J.

Very cool cen!  Are they a little hungry?  I'm anxious to get to a safer size so I don't have to worry as much about smothering.  At least I can make out a leaf now :P


cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2021, 09:59:24 PM »
I haven't noticed that feeding them helps.  Your seedling should form a tiny rosette next.

cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2021, 09:27:48 PM »
This is my PinkGlow seedling. I think I remember we were posting about PinkGlow seeds at the same time, so this one was probably started within a couple of weeks of yours.



Tropical Bay Area

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2021, 12:49:40 PM »
Looks tiny hopefully the pink glow ones will carry the genes... man, why do they have to be so stingy about it when people will abviously try seeds or tissue culture  :blank:
Cheers!

mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2021, 11:29:09 PM »
Looking good!  I'm already seeing some fungus on the pot edges, so hopefully, I can dry out most of the top to contain the spread.  When you said that feeding didn't seem to help, did you try it?  I'm not at the point where I would try it yet, but I'd be scared of overdoing it.  Then again, I haven't burned any of the smaller TCs.  Although, I haven't run a control either to compare fed vs unfed either.  I use DG FP for most of my tropicals as it's pretty much no-fuss.

cen

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #19 on: February 22, 2021, 02:47:31 AM »
I didn't try feeding on this particular plant, but in general, I fertilized all my seedlings (mostly non-tropical) using a foliar spray with micronutrients and general purpose liquid fertilizer (likely kelp/fish based). Even though we're past the point of night time freezing temperatures, I probably have all my plants out too early. The tomato seedling growth slowed noticeably, and the plumerias definitely prefer being inside rather than being outside under a humidity dome.

mbmango

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Re: Pineapple from seed?
« Reply #20 on: February 28, 2021, 01:50:24 PM »
Another leaf!