Growwit Blog » pineapple http://blog.growwit.com enjoying people, plants & nature Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:41:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Pineapple Harvest http://blog.growwit.com/2009/07/pineapple-harvest/ http://blog.growwit.com/2009/07/pineapple-harvest/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:45:08 +0000 strangefruit http://blog.growwit.com/?p=50 my pineappleA couple of years ago I inherited a pineapple plant from a friend that was moving away from the island. Her fiance had grown it from the top of a store bought fruit, and the plant had been growing happily for a year or so. He told me he believed that pineapple plants were gendered, and that they would not bear fruit without cross pollination.

So when the pineapple plant later started to blossom, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the flower was followed by a budding fruit! I let the fruit get as ripe and yellow as I dared, worried that if I left it too long it would get too old. When I finally tasted it it was the best pineapple I’ve ever had!

The first fruit on a pineapple plant is called a virgin pineapple fruit, and is supposed to be sweeter than the following fruits. This year the pineapple plant is bearing two fruits and today I harvested the first of them. As the photo shows it is rather small, but ripe and yellow, and it tasted delicious :)

Since I originate from a colder climate I am thrilled when being able to grow tropical plants and fruits. To grow pineapples from fruits you cut off the green top, immerse it in water, and wait until it develop roots. Pineapple plants can grow for a long time in just water, but should probably be transferred to pots if you want them to blossom and bear fruits.

pineapple fruit on plantpineapple cut-offpineapple with roots

Above are some pineapple plants at different stages that I am growing from fruit cut-offs. You can learn more about how to do this here.

]]> http://blog.growwit.com/2009/07/pineapple-harvest/feed/ 126