I got a cool pineapple from a shop today but the crown is cut off, only a few small leaves are still on it. Is it possible to grow still?
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is it one of the new pink ones? I think they are cutting them off so keep us from trying to grow them. Not much you can do with out a good piece of the crown.
It’s possible with even just a few leaves, but not likely to succeed. I’ve successively gotten tops to sprout new pups from the side when they killed the “heart” with lasers or whatever they do to try to prevent people from propagating.
If it’s patented, be careful about posting specifics of the cultivar online. If they are going to those lengths (cutting tops) then they might also have lawyers scouring the Internet to send cease and desist letters.
Check carefully for seeds. It won’t be identical and will take a longer time to get to fruiting size, but might be pretty similar.
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It’s probably patented, I’m assuming it is because of the cut off tops and price they’re selling the fruits for. Which is why I’m not naming anything about it xD I don’t plan to sell plants or anything, just personal garden use alongside my other pineapple varieties. I’ll see if it can get it to sprout pups!
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Germinating the seeds is also pretty easy, I’ve done it a couple times but never followed through and ended up killing them by neglect when they were still pretty tiny.
As I live in z6, I’ve not researched pineapple propagation a lot, which leads me to my question - How does one locate a pineapple seed and what would you be looking for?
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They are small, flattened, pointy oval black or brown dots inside the fruit near the skin at the center of the circular indentations on the outside. They don’t always have seeds, but often they are full of them.
Edit: I have a pineapple at home I’m planning to cut tonight, so if it has seeds I’ll post photos
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I have friends who grow pineapple farm and they grow 3 types.
I have travelled to their farm and they have shown us how it is done.
Yes here are the 3 main ways of propagation:
- plant the top. This way takes 18 to 24 months to produce a fruit. It is the only way I have done personally.
- plant those seeds. Seeds are all over in the pineapple, in those “eyes” on the skin. This method takes around 4 years to grow fruit, and the fruit will be more diverse but similar to the mother.
- pups or suckers start shooting up from a plant around the time it makes fruit and can be separated and planted, these are similar time as the top in bearing fruit in about 18 to 24 months.
Also, when a plant makes fruit, the first fruit will be the biggest. Then it will make a second fruit that is smaller after about 12 to 20 months. Then that much longer a 3rd much smaller fruit is possible but really after the 2nd fruit my farm friends rip out the plants and save all the pups or suckers to make it into new plants. It should make some suckers every year beginning 2nd year.
My favorite type that our friends grow are the rough leaf type but I do not know if they are in the US or I would grow them!
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I’ve heard that the Hawaii GRIN repository still sends plants to individuals even without a bona fide research purpose, as long as the variety isn’t available in the nursery trade. Here’s their policy (my emphasis) from their website:
The USDA, ARS, Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research (TPGRDR) unit at the Daniel K. Inouye Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC), Hilo, HI distributes small quantities of tropical fruit and nut crop germplasm to scientists, educators, producers and other bona fide research and education entities. Germplasm, if available, may be provided in small amounts and infrequently to private individuals, and students on conditions that the requested materials are not available commercially such as in grocery stores, nurseries, orchards, university and botanical gardens. We encourage the public to check with their local sources before requesting materials from the USDA/ARS/ National Plant Germplasm System.
Here’s their collection with photos (click on the link for the accession to view the photo):
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Finally cut open this badly underripe pineapple, it only had a few seeds I could find, and these look flattened and probably aren’t viable, but should give an idea of the size and appearance of the seeds:
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As many pineapples as I’ve eaten over the years, I don’t think I have ever noticed seeds like that. I’ll check next time.
They are close enough to the skin that usually they are discarded with it. Sometimes there don’t seem to be any at all, though. Not sure if it’s when farms have only clones of a single cultivar, or in areas without a sufficient pollinator, or some combination. Costa Rican grown fruit seem to have the most seeds, but that’s just my anecdotal small sample size.
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I was so disappointed by that unripe pineapple that I went out to the store to get a ripe one (from Costa Rica). It was full of seeds, I collected just the ones that I noticed while cutting, without rooting around for more:
I’ll try my hand at germinating them again and try to follow through this time and not let them die of neglect.
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