Pineapples

[kevin8715]

Anyone else growing pineapples? Currently I have two white jades, 2 seedlings, and the once commercial grown Pernambuco pineapple in transit. Pernambuco pineapple is a yellow, whitish flesh and renowned for its taste. It fell out of favor since it is too soft to ship well. Unfortunately, sources for this plant are nearly non existent except GRIN. Anyway I plan I when getting all these to size to cross them and the plant the seeds. Looking for one that will grow more vigorous in the winter. Pineapples overwinter here easily but grow so slow in that time. Another trait I want also is the edible core and soft flesh for better fresh eating.

[kevin8715]

Joseph Lofthouse billw and any other people experience with plant science. How do I take care of this plant?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

kevin8715: That looks fun! Never having dealt with a plant like that before... I'd take it out of the test tube, rinse off the agar, and plant it in potting soil, and cover it for a few days to allow it to get used to lower humidity.

[kevin8715]

Oct 8, 2014 20:53:16 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

kevin8715: That looks fun! Never having dealt with a plant like that before... I'd take it out of the test tube, rinse off the agar, and plant it in potting soil, and cover it for a few days to allow it to get used to lower humidity.

Sounds like a good plan. Though I will wait for Bill to post since he offers micro propagation on his shop, so will know what to do. I probably won't get another opportunity to grow this variety again.

[philagardener]

Yes, start with sterile medium (I'd try 50% peat moss and 50% perlite) and definitely keep it humid (it has been in 100% humidity in that tube).  Harden off slowly as it gets established. Very much like transferring orchid plantlets from tissue culture. Good luck!

You might find this page helpful - http:/www.plantbiotech.com.au/store/transplanting-and-caring-for-tissue-culture-bromeliads.html .  (I don't know anything about the source; it just seemed relevant).

[billw]

Yep, good advice already given. Soak in water and then gently rinse to remove the gel. You want to get all of the gel off, since it may have sugar and other nutrients in it that will cause problems in an uncontrolled environment. Transplant to sterilized potting soil. Put it in a pot that you can cover to keep the environment as humid as possible and keep it out of direct sunlight. I remove the cover for one hour the first day, and double every other day thereafter until the plantlet is acclimated. (So, 1,2,4,8,16 hours off and in ten days, you're done with the cover.)

[kazedwards]

Very interesting topic! I have a pineapple that is the top off a store bought one that I got to root! It took forever and from the little that I have read will take awhile to grow. I will be following this topic with a lot of interest! Thanks for starting it.

[reed]

My grandmother used to do that, plant the tops I mean. I don't think she ever got a pineapple from it but they grew. I have no idea how or time of year she  started them. I think it might be pretty easy, just plant the tops and they sprout. I bet it was around Christmas because that was the only time we had that kind of thing.  Pineapples, tangerines, and candy. 
She must have planted them in pots and put outside when it warmed up. Or maybe saved them in the cellar or something and then planted, don't know. She wouldn't have messed with it though if it was a lot of trouble, she had plenty other stuff to do.
I still love the taste of tangerines and chocolate.

[kazedwards]

From what I have read it takes two years...ish for the tops to form a fruit. It was pretty easy to root. I just had it in water like a cutting until it started forming roots then planted in a pot. It did take a while though.

[homesteaderjeff]

18-24 months is what I have read as well on getting fruits from the tops. Took about 3-4 weeks before I finally saw roots but once I did I transplanted it and its growing very well now. If I'm lucky I will have my first homegrown pineapple in the spring of 2016.. I bought this one on sale for 50 cents so after 18-24 months if I get a fruit it cuts my cost down to 25 cents. Of course it will probably cost me 20 bucks by the time I finish growing it but its all for fun anyway .

[hortusbrambonii]

What's the minimum temperature of pineapple plants? As a bromeliad I suppose it to be (sub)tropical?

[jondear]

From what I understand, calcium carbide can help to "force" them a little quicker.

[homesteaderjeff]

I think 50 is about the minimum temp they will tolerate. I keep mine indoors through the winter.

[hortusbrambonii]

Seems like even freezing point can be tolerated briefly: homeguides.sfgate.com/temperature-pineapple-plant-freezes-53857.html
I thought they were way more tropical. Still not suited for outside in Belgium though.

(Are there any cold-hardy Bromeliads at all?)

My trick for getting Bromeliads to flower is to put in a plastic bag together with very ripe apples. The ethylene gas that ripens the apple works to induce flowering. I haven't heard about this species, but I do know that ethylene is used commercially too to force decorative bromeliads into flowering stage.

[philagardener]

Yes, ethylene treatment (directly or by application of chemicals that stimulate its production) is how commercial growers trigger blooming in pineapple fields.

You can mimic that on a small scale with @hortusbranbonii 's very ripe apples or jondear 's calcium carbide.

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/citrus/pineapple.htm has a quick overview.