Container Pineapple!

It was SO satisfying to pull this bad boy off! :pineapple::star_struck:

Anyone else growing pineapple in containers?

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I’ve got one growing for 6 months … no fruit. Haven’t decided if I’m going to try and get it through the cold months or just forget it.

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I’ve got 3. 2 of them are from 2 years ago and one is from this past summer. Never fruited one…probably need to get them under lights.

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From my understanding it will take around 4 years to really get 1 pineapple from a pot. It can be down in colder climates but it is a question of is it worth it. Pineapple costs two dollars at the store.

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This is very true. I think they are even cheaper lately. Last time i was at grocery store they had them 2 for 3 and you can also buy cheap bags of frozen pineapple and canned pineapple. Can you imagine what farmers must get paid per fruit if they can sell them for that little (considering you need to ship them/truck them/plus mark up by store).

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Did you purchase or start from a pineapple top?

I have 2 that I started from tops that I started 3 years ago that still haven’t fruited. It can definitely be a waiting game

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Pineapples are definitely not for the impatient or those with limited space for sure. This one was a purchased plant that produced right away but I have 2 that I started first as an experiment from tops mostly to see if it worked and also to see if I could pull it off. It was mostly just an enjoyable thing to do with my kids and now that it’s been so long, we’re too invested to stop now. :blush:

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If you have several maybe plant one in ground and just see what they do. Most likely death, but you never know. When I lived in VA beach there were people growing banana wrapping them for the winter.

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Yep They are to cheep at the store to grow out of zone

We have one started from a scrap pineapple. Two years old and it still has not fruited. Just gets treated as a house plant for the time being. There is a gentleman a few towns away from me that wraps banana trees by his house every winter. One of the local papers ran a story on him because he actually got a decent crop this year.

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Started from pineapple top about end of April.
(I had one bear a fruit during time I spent in Florida more than a decade ago…I don’t have heated space to keep this one, and probably end up giving it to somebody or letting it freeze.)

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Interesting! I have a dwarf cavendish that always produces pups. I may just have to try my luck and plant one in ground and protect/wrap it and just see what happens.

Our little pineapple tops make great houseplants too! They’re such low maintenance plants and I enjoy the way bromeliads look. They go in decorative clay pots in the summer outside with flower and then come in for winter

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Nice! I wonder what the shortest season pineapple is, or the one that does the best in potted or cool season greenhouse settings. Ive read that the rough leaf type(aka Queen Victoria I believe) is cooler hardy. They are my favorite taste(i have friends in australia that grow them)

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That’s a good question! I’d like to know as well!

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Very nice! I’ve been bumbling along with pineapples for three years, I think. No fruit yet, but I’m not quitting until I get a homegrown pineapple . . . or the plants—or I!–am dead.

These are all “White Jade.” The biggest one is the mother of the rest. They sucker quite a bit, and the suckers grow much more quickly than the mother plant (which is a tissue culture). Given a little natural light, supplemented by a little artificial, they overwinter fine indoors; regular misting helps prevent damage from dry heat inside. I had a “Florida Special” for a couple of years, but it never did well. White Jade has been a lot easier to grow.

Had a few deficiency problems earlier this season—so have been trying to get a feeding schedule ironed out. They’re starting to look slightly better—just in time for cold weather! What I wouldn’t give for a big, heated greenhouse—maybe one of those geothermal jobs!

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Those are some beautiful pineapples! I hope you get to see the fruits of your labor soon! :blush:

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My crown from the store started 10 months ago is 5ft diameter. Others from tiny tissue culture are half that size. 1700 sqft greenhouse and I don’t have room for them. Not sure if I’ll hang on for fruit.

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The leaves on mine looked not so good after spending osme time outdoors all spring/summer…i think the transition from in to outside is rough on them. I didn’t fertilize at all over summer. They are simple houseplants…but i think if you want fruit you need to keep it warm and lots of light.

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I think you’re right. Last year they were all right—because I reintroduced them to the outdoors gradually—but this year I didn’t really harden them off sufficiently before putting them back in the unfiltered sunshine, and they were not happy campers for a couple of months. I’m looking into some more intensive indoors lighting for them—and some potted citrus—this winter.

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