Author Topic: Pineapple - Post Harvest  (Read 1945 times)

voyager

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 47
    • Pahoa, HI - USDA 12a/12b
    • View Profile
    • Mike's Photo Gallery - Alaska - Hawai'i & Elsewhere
Pineapple - Post Harvest
« on: August 04, 2017, 05:07:37 PM »
I began planting both yellow and white pineapple tops in the yard about 2 years ago.
I've got upward to about 3 to 4 dozen plants going with more to go in as I get room and time for them.
I have been picking ripe fruit from the plants for the last month or so with many more coming up to be ready in the very near future.

So, my problem:
After picking the fruit, I am getting offsets from the mother plant as well as tops from the fruit to put back into the ground for the next generation of fruit.

I'm thinking of leaving the offsets on the mother plant in place, then just letting them grow there to use the existing root system.
But, I wonder if it might be better to start all the new growths as new plantings.

Anyone knowledgeable on the best  practice for this?



fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Pineapple - Post Harvest
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2017, 05:14:29 PM »
From what I've read, people leave the suckers to grow until they're around a foot before getting them off the mother plant so they will grow faster at that size.

Non-commercial growers will let the plant fruit a 2nd or 3rd time to get smaller and smaller fruits but sooner. I don't know what part of the plant does that. Maybe a new shoot grows out from next to the center.

simon_grow

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6729
  • USA, San Diego, CA, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Pineapple - Post Harvest
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2017, 05:22:30 PM »
I recently got into Pineapples but have been heavily reading up on them for the last year and it would probably be best for you to thin the Slips, suckers and ratoons to just 1-3 so that they will. E larger and then plant them seperately after you have one ratoon crop.

In other words, let your plant fruit but only allow it to have, say one ratoon to fruit the following year and 1-2 other slips or suckers for planting material after you harvest your first fruit. By limiting the number of clones you have, the pineapple fruit may get bigger and your clones will definitely get larger than if you allowed it to keep 10 clones for example.

Simon

LivingParadise

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 679
    • Florida Keys, Zone 11a
    • View Profile
Re: Pineapple - Post Harvest
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2017, 02:06:36 PM »
I have been doing the same thing as OP, and hope to have the same dilemma in a year or so when I start getting reliable fruiting! Not as many, but I think I have like 20-24 pineapples, from 6 different varieties. Can't wait to be able to harvest!
I'm amazed everybody on the forum doesn't seem to grow pineapples... they're easy, cool-looking, taste amazing, and are truly gorgeous when flowering.

Evildeadguy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 377
    • Polk County, FL, Zone 9B
    • View Profile
Re: Pineapple - Post Harvest
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2017, 02:12:06 PM »
I have been doing the same thing as OP, and hope to have the same dilemma in a year or so when I start getting reliable fruiting! Not as many, but I think I have like 20-24 pineapples, from 6 different varieties. Can't wait to be able to harvest!
I'm amazed everybody on the forum doesn't seem to grow pineapples... they're easy, cool-looking, taste amazing, and are truly gorgeous when flowering.

Hi what varieties pineapples do you grow ?
Pineapples i Grow: Natal Queen

voyager

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 47
    • Pahoa, HI - USDA 12a/12b
    • View Profile
    • Mike's Photo Gallery - Alaska - Hawai'i & Elsewhere
Re: Pineapple - Post Harvest
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2017, 08:42:49 PM »
Alright!
I'll Allow 1 or 2 offsets to stay on the mother plants and everything else goes in as a new start.
I'll need to expand my designated pineapple areas.

We moved here from Alaska almost 4 years ago.
I've lived in the norther tier or further north all my life until coming here.
I'm absolutely dumbfound by how fast everything grows around here, especially the weeds.
I guess  year around summertime temps does make a difference.

Since moving into our place here, I've put in:
1. 1x Honey Tangerine
2. 1x Satsuma Tangerine
3. 1x Longan
4. 1x Lychee
5. 1x Rambutan
6. 1x Jaboticaba
7. many x Tall Brazilian Bananas [Hawai'ian Apple Bananas]
8. Many x Pineapples
9. 1x Tahitian Lime
10. 3x Avocados [1 each - Lamb Hass, Ota, & Sharwil]
11. 1x Mulberry
12. 2x Papayas
13. 2x Malabar Chestnuts

Already here put in by the previous owner:
1. 1x Honey Tangerine
2. 1x Unknown Tangerine [probably a Dancy]
3. 1x Dwarf Meyer Lemon
4. 1x Unknown Lemon [probably a Eureka]
5. 1x Sharwil Avacado
6. 1x Valencia Orange [ My Orange Juice Tree]
7. Many x Dwarf Brazilian Bananas [ Hawai'ian Apple Bananas]
8. 1x Lilikoi [Passion Fruit]
EDIT:
9. 4x Coconut Palms [Not old enough to fruit yet]

I did not realize the duplications until well after the fact.
The Rambutan didn't take.
I am looking for a replacement for it.
The new Sharwil also didn't take.
No loss, the Sharwil already here is doing very well.

I'm not sure but, I may have missed some somewhere in that list.
We are fruit faces and we got fruit coming out our ears!

I've had to expand the yard area to get planting space for all the new trees and such.
I've had to build new soil in the new areas.
I'm now hauling mulch from the county green waste facility to build up the new soil.

Some of the new plantings are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies.
The mulch and other additives should help with that.
I haven't worked this hard since I worked for myself, which I guess I'm still doing.






« Last Edit: August 05, 2017, 08:53:30 PM by voyager »

voyager

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 47
    • Pahoa, HI - USDA 12a/12b
    • View Profile
    • Mike's Photo Gallery - Alaska - Hawai'i & Elsewhere
The Pineapple Plan Has Changed ...
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2017, 06:47:20 PM »
22 of the original plants grown from tops produced fruit, 3 have yet to finish ripening.
They ranged in size from as big as a normal sized farmers market type, small by Safeway store standards, pineapple down to about the size of a softball.
The balance of the in-ground plants seem as if they will not be producing fruit this season.

Instead of continuing to grow the pineapples in the same locations, I decided to combine all the plants [tops and those that have not yet fruited] into one group and move the plot to another location where they will get more sun and have better soil conditions.
There are now 64 plants in the one group, with room for a few more tops as they accumulate.



I think the condition of the soil is not as important for them as it would be for other types of plants.
My understanding is that Bromeliads are noted for being foliage feeders, getting most of their nutrients from the organic material that accumulates at the base of the leaves.
And from that, It shouldn't be all that bad to have transplanted the remaining in-ground plants.

After they have  been in their new location for a few days to a couple of weeks, I'll begin to regularly foliage feed them.
My hope is to get more of the larger fruit from them.

Open to thoughts and comments.