Pineapple Roots?

[TheWaterbug]

I know pineapples are supposed to have shallow root systems, but this one looks pretty robust. I planted the crown from a store-bought pineapple about 3 years ago, and then in February of 2015 I harvested my first fruit:

 

It was pretty good! I twisted off the slips and suckers and left the ratoon shoot to grow.

6 months later the mother plant still hadn't died back much, but the ratoon plant was pretty big, so I figured it needed a bigger pot. I pulled it out, and here it is:



That's a size 11 shoe there, for scale. Yes, the pot was very undersized for the plant, but that's a lot of roots! Moreover, I'd been noticing recently that, when watering this plant, the pot would hold almost no water. Whatever I poured in the top started leaking almost immediately out the bottom.

So I frayed the rootball a bit and put it in a 19" pot from Home Depot with some fresh cactus mix. We'll see how it does!

edit: added YouTube link

[fyliu]

Nice pineapple! I'm not sure what the roots should look like. I didn't try to take my plant out of the pot after harvest. I used a 3 gal black nursery pot. My pineapple and top was bigger but your ratoon and suckers are bigger.

I harvested mine a few weeks ago. I heard they're best right before they turn completely yellow, so that's when I snapped it off. Due to uneven ripening, one side tasted very sweet and the other side was more watered down. It was right after that big storm so that might have contributed to it.

I'm wondering if you would harvest earlier next time or at the same time as this one?

[TheWaterbug]

That first photo is from 6 months ago. I'll call that fruit from Plant #1, since that was my first harvested pineapple, ever. That fruit was pretty good, but slightly acid, and perhaps a bit under-ripe.

Yesterday I picked a fruit from a Plant #3, and it was of similar color:



It's hard to tell from that photo, but the fruit is misshapen. The top is nice rounded out and cylindrical, but the bottom undulates in and out, as you'd expect for a poorly-pollinated fruit. But I thought pineapples normally don't get pollinated?!??

The flavor is pretty good, but it's also uneven. Some parts are much sweeter than others, but none of it is very acidic. I think I'll keep at least one of the suckers to plant again, and the ratoon.

I'm thinking of temporarily pulling this Plant #3 out of its pot, too, for science. It's been in a 19" pot since it was first put in soil ~2 years ago, and I'm curious to see how big the root ball is, and whether it's root-bound. But I'm terrified of tearing it off its roots if I try to extract it. Then again it's for science, and I've already harvested the fruit and 2 big suckers, so if I I tear the ratoon off its root ball I probably cost myself 6 months of growing, or less. And I have a dozen other plants to play with.

[fyliu]

Thanks for sharing. I only grew one top and so I'll have to wait a while for the next fruit. Maybe I'll let it get more yellow. My one fruit want acidic though.