Author Topic: pineapple top planting  (Read 4240 times)

gnappi

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pineapple top planting
« on: June 29, 2018, 02:55:40 AM »
Sorry in advance for the long post :-)

I've been planting pineapple tops after rooting in water for 10 years or so with great success and have slowly increased the size of my patch from one to nearly 20 producing 7-8 pineapples each summer. This time of year I start to replant the few slips and suckers from my pineapple plants to replace the plants that will be pulled after fruiting. I want to grow my pineapple patch by more than double and will need over 20 new plants to do it. 

To that end a local market that sells bagged, peeled and sliced pineapple and they let me take tops when I go there while they are cutting them. I read somewhere that if the center leaves pull out easily, the plant is dead and will not root so I throw those away and root the rest in water. Yes I know some folks plant them directly in the ground without rooting first but every one I planted directly either died outright or was severely stunted compared to those I rooted in a glass of water.

Of the tops the store lets me take, most will have the center leaves pull out easily making my 20+ new plants an elusive target. 

If they are not dead with the leaves being pulled easily I could quickly increase the size of my patch. BTW... sometimes they get white jade samples in but so far only one of the few I got was "viable" according to lore I read, Funny all of the white jade they got in were VERY GREEN on the outside, the fruit was very hard and acidic and not edible compared to my deep yellow to orange store bought tops. I'm guessing the were harvested way too early.

So the question is, are the tops really dead if leaves pull out easily?
Regards,

   Gary

Rannman

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2018, 04:33:06 AM »
Why not try to root a few in water and find out for sure, instead of throwing them out? Most shop bought pineapples have loose centre leaves and they have grown fine for me.

mike rule

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2018, 06:57:31 AM »
Gary.....If  the  center  leaves are easily pulled out just shows that the pineapple is ready to eat....... Use all of these tops you will have success...... Mike

pineislander

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2018, 07:13:45 AM »
I think the stores keep pineapples far too cold and for too long which rots them out. Below 7C (45F) causes chilling injury, most US stores set their coolers to 40F)
I also rooted them.

However, I only get about 50% success the rest of them rot completely. I don't use water I put them in a shade house into potting soil in pots and water sparingly. About 1/2 of the ones which sprout produce side shoots the other half re-sprout from the center. Sometimes there are up to 3 side shoots but those are much smaller propagules. When I see active growth I move to full sun and water like crazy they speed up quickly. I'm up to about 100 plants now.


« Last Edit: June 29, 2018, 07:35:15 AM by pineislander »

Orly

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2018, 07:32:25 AM »
Whats a good spacing for pineapple planting?  I have a few slips I'm about to replant.

pineislander

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2018, 07:43:23 AM »
I set 18-24 inches apart. Larger spacing obtains bigger fruit and commercial plantations plant much closer but use intensive foliar feeding. I expect plant population to increase in the ratoon crop.

Here are the experts doing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpJHgXaPzFA

baccarat0809

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2018, 01:23:05 PM »
I've got over 50 pineapples growing in my front yard (nicely hidden by the shrub so hopefully when they start blooming no thievery).

I have close to a 90% success rate just by sticking the tops in the soil.  All of these in this picture were just twisted off and put into the ground.



If they don't grow in the middle (and of the 90% take rate almost 90% of those grow in the middle even if the leaves easily pull out), then they throw off 1, 2 or 3 shoots from the sides like this.



Heck, i've even taken pineapple tops that i cut into quarters and got the quarters to grow.  The ones that i quartered are the smaller ones in the picture.

I started putting the tops in the ground last May - so the bigger plants in the picture are around a year old and as you look into the picture the further down the row you get the younger the plants are.

There's a fancy fruit market in our area that normally sells them for $2.00 or $2.50 each and I pick up one a week.  If the price is more than $2.50 I pass.  A few weeks ago Save-A-Lot was selling them for 99 cents so i bought 4 of them that week.  I will keep adding by putting the tops in the ground until production on my home ones start then I just use those to grow new ones.

That being said, if i could get my hands on another 50 or 100 tops for free then i'll put them in the garden between the tree rows very similar to the way pineislander is doing it between his DF's.

And pineislander, may i add that picture looks fantastic.

Evildeadguy

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2018, 02:23:05 PM »
The Pineapple Crown can still be grown even if the center leaves are pulled out it won't produce a pineapple but it will grow suckers that you can regrow from that will produce pineapples but it will take longer doing it this way.....for it to work the crown still needs to be a great shape and has no signs of rot 
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Orly

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2018, 03:58:29 PM »
I set 18-24 inches apart. Larger spacing obtains bigger fruit and commercial plantations plant much closer but use intensive foliar feeding. I expect plant population to increase in the ratoon crop.

Here are the experts doing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpJHgXaPzFA

I'll try 18" spacing.  Thx

FamilyJ

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2018, 04:07:56 PM »
should try the Kaui Sugarloaf pineapple, so far out of all the pineapples i had that was the best

gnappi

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2018, 05:07:36 PM »
The Pineapple Crown can still be grown even if the center leaves are pulled out it won't produce a pineapple but it will grow suckers that you can regrow from that will produce pineapples but it will take longer doing it this way.....for it to work the crown still needs to be a great shape and has no signs of rot

THAT is what I needed to know! THANKS!!!

I do not want to waste the space on sucker donors. I'll plant viable store tops and suckers / slips from existing plants from now on.
Regards,

   Gary

mangaba

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2018, 05:23:47 PM »
Planting a pineapple top depends a lot on the source of the pineapple. Here in northeast of Brazil which is a pineapple producing area if you buy a fresh nice pineapple in the city market,  eat the fruit and plant the top it will grow but  will take 18- 24 months to fruit . Rooting is accelerated if you remove  some of the lower leaves and keep this part bare in contact with soil.  Planting a slip or a sucker,  fruits in 12-15 months. Have about 200  "Pernambuco" variety in my garden.

TheWaterbug

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2018, 05:06:36 PM »
If the center leaves are easily pulled out just shows that the pineapple is ready to eat.

I haven't observed any relationship at all between center leaf health and fruit quality. For pineapples I grow myself I let them ripen on the plant until the entire fruit has changed color. They're wonderful to eat, and the center leaves are firmly anchored in the whorl.

I've purchased pineapples from the store with loose center leaves, and some of those have been literally too acidic to eat.

I'm of the opinion that center leaf health is a function of time in storage and quality of storage conditions, rather than of fruit ripeness.

But, further to the OP's actual question, center leaf health is 100% correlated (in my experience) with rootability. Fresh crowns with bright, firm leaves root nearly 100% of the time on my counter. Old crowns with loose leaves or rotting whorls root infrequently, and with less vigor. And for those that do, the new leaves come out the side, which means far longer to fruiting. Sometimes you don't have a choice, such as with a hard-to-obtain variety. But when you do have a choice, choose the freshest crowns for propagation.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2018, 07:27:26 PM by TheWaterbug »
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Coach62

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2018, 06:46:04 PM »
The Pineapple Crown can still be grown even if the center leaves are pulled out it won't produce a pineapple but it will grow suckers that you can regrow from that will produce pineapples but it will take longer doing it this way.....for it to work the crown still needs to be a great shape and has no signs of rot

THAT is what I needed to know! THANKS!!!

I do not want to waste the space on sucker donors. I'll plant viable store tops and suckers / slips from existing plants from now on.

I disagree with the bold statement. To be honest I can’t ever remember planting one that didn’t root and I’ve done it both ways.

One thing I do different is I pluck several of the smaller leaves from the very bottom. This exposes several nodes that end up turning into roots pretty quickly. I try to expose about 1/2 inch of the core at the very bottom. 
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Bruce

Evildeadguy

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2018, 05:16:50 PM »
The Pineapple Crown can still be grown even if the center leaves are pulled out it won't produce a pineapple but it will grow suckers that you can regrow from that will produce pineapples but it will take longer doing it this way.....for it to work the crown still needs to be a great shape and has no signs of rot

THAT is what I needed to know! THANKS!!!

I do not want to waste the space on sucker donors. I'll plant viable store tops and suckers / slips from existing plants from now on.

I disagree with the bold statement. To be honest I can’t ever remember planting one that didn’t root and I’ve done it both ways.

One thing I do different is I pluck several of the smaller leaves from the very bottom. This exposes several nodes that end up turning into roots pretty quickly. I try to expose about 1/2 inch of the core at the very bottom.

This has nothing to do with getting one to root....it has to do with a pineapple plant meaning the  crown being damaged to the point it wont grow a pineapple but if that crown is left to keep growing it will end up growing suckers and from that you can grow a pineapple
Pineapples i Grow: Natal Queen

TheWaterbug

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2018, 05:35:24 PM »
This has nothing to do with getting one to root....it has to do with a pineapple plant meaning the  crown being damaged to the point it wont grow a pineapple but if that crown is left to keep growing it will end up growing suckers and from that you can grow a pineapple


I think that's true as written, but slightly misleading. A damaged crown won't grow a pineapple from its center whorl, but if it roots, one or more suckers will emerge from the side. If they're left to grow, a pineapple will emerge from one of them. You don't have to pinch them off and re-plant them. You can just let one of them grow from the side of the damaged crown.


As the sucker grows bigger and bigger the damaged crown will whither away, and after a year it will look like the original crown never existed. I have grown at least 2 pineapples this way.


So the net result is that you can plant a damaged crown and get a pineapple, eventually. But it will take longer than with an undamaged crown.
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Galka

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #16 on: September 28, 2018, 04:08:25 AM »
You can leave two growing and they will fruit at the same time. I had three fruits in one container. 

TheWaterbug

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #17 on: October 11, 2018, 11:18:05 AM »
A damaged crown won't grow a pineapple from its center whorl . . .


And sometimes a crown will surprise you! I brought 3 Maui Gold pineapples back from Maui (in the USDA-approved tourist gift box), but one of the crowns looked terrible. The guy who packed the box just crushed it to get it into the box  >:( . The center whorl looked dead, with no visible leaflets emerging, but I planted it anyway:




8 weeks later, and lookie here!





So don't give up on them!
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FamilyJ

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #18 on: October 11, 2018, 01:10:49 PM »
Pineapples are the easiest plant in florida, they can easily get revived if not looking great

spaugh

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #19 on: October 11, 2018, 02:50:49 PM »
What kind of fertilizer does everyone use?  Mostly feeding via the roots or you are foliar feeding or both?
Brad Spaugh

FamilyJ

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Re: pineapple top planting
« Reply #20 on: October 11, 2018, 03:08:50 PM »
What kind of fertilizer does everyone use?  Mostly feeding via the roots or you are foliar feeding or both?
u do both but i find they like the foliar feeding better