Grow Your Own

Introduction: Growing Pineapples

I’ve been living in Singapore for just over 5 years now and growing pineapples for 3 of those years; taking 3 all the way through to harvest (2 from tops one from a slip).

I currently have 7 Golden Pineapples and 2 Honey Pineapples growing with harvests all due later this year or early 2021.

There are two clear methods that are used to grow pineapples – Method 1 involves growing the pineapple plant from the top. Method 2 involves using the smaller slips and suckers that grow from a plant. Whilst the ratoon plants generally grow quicker, they produce much smaller fruit upon harvest.

Method 1: Growing the Pineapple from the Top

Once the top of the pineapple is cut from the fruit, set it to one side and allow it to dry. Remove excess leaves from the base to reveal the roots.

Choose a well-draining soil and fill either a medium-sized or large-sized planter pot and fill almost to the top with the soil. Ensure also that the pot is not enclosed so that water can escape.

Dig a suitably sized hole the matches the base of the pineapple root and plant the top firmly within. Ensure a solid watering through the very top of the pineapple, so that the leaves are holding the water – it will take care of itself at this point.

Place the plant in a sunny spot, where it will capture a good degree of direct sunlight as this helps with the plants growth

Revisit within a couple of days to see if the plant needs water and once again water down the centre as pineapples are bromyliads and will retain water in their central cup.

Method 2: Growing the Pineapple from Slips & Suckers

There’s two options here – you can let the sucker grow from the existing plant roots (if you’ve already harvested the pineapple) or you can harvest the slip or sucker and plant it by itself.

Option 1: Using the Existing Root Base

This is the simplest of the 2 methods as it allows you to basically just use a harvested pineapple plant to grow a sucker that is already attached to the plant roots.

There isn’t much to do here but cut back the leaves of the harvested plant, and give the sucker room to catch sunlight and spread it’s sword leaves to boost growth.

What you need to be careful of is the space in the pot. As sometimes you’ll have the sucker plant pushed out by its growth and it can end up dying if it gets too big and is fully pushed out of the pot.

Eventually the existing plant should die back and allow the new plant growth to envelop it, and continue the circle of life.

Option 2: Harvesting the Ratoon to Grow in a Pot

Firstly you’ll need to harvest a slip or a sucker from an existing pineapple plant. You can simply twist these from the plant, and once again expose the roots by removing the base leaves.

A pineapple slip is a smaller plant that will grow from the base of the fruit stem. Whereas a pineapple sucker (also known as ratoons or pups) is a smaller plant that grows in between the leaves of a growing pineapple or from the base itself.

Because these ratoons are much smaller than a pineapple top, they will in effect grow a much smaller pineapple. As a result I suggest planting them in either a small-sized or medium-sized pot. Whilst it is still quite fun to grow the pups they really do produce a much smaller pineapple than from a top – so they can be disappointing in the end.

The only real upside of growing the slips & suckers is that they tend to grow about 3-months faster than the top, but only when you deploy option 1. So I personally suggest growing from the top, as in method 1.

Pineapple Plant Care: General Growing Tips

Once the plant is established, ensure that it is getting a lot of water, and direct sunlight. The plants thrive in tropical climates, which is why they grow so well in Singapore.

Tip: It is important that the soil is well drained as pineapples do not like soggy soil, despite liking plenty of water – yellow leaves indicate over-watering and can lead to root rot, which could prevent flowering or kill a flowering pineapple.

As the plant grows, you will notice smaller ratoon plantlets growing either from the base of the pineapple fruit (if the pineapple has been produced) or from the base of the plant itself. The first type is known as a slip whilst the second is called a sucker.

Tip: When you see a slip or sucker growing from the plant, before a pineapple is produced, or whilst a pineapple is growing, it is best to remove the slip/sucker with a twist, as they will feed on the plant and absorb some of the nutrients that would otherwise have gone into the pineapple.

Once the pineapple has grown, and is ripening, it is OK to leave any slips and suckers that grow, as once you harvest the pineapple, these ratoon plantlets can grow from the established root base.

Pineapples are known for the vibrant dark-green sword-like leaves they produce. These can expand out from the plant wider than your arm wing-span, so it is important for pineapple plants to have plenty of space and to be planted away from walls and other plants. The leaves also have burrs on them, so if they come into contact with other plant leaves (or human skin) they can injure (both you and the other plants).

Tip: The bigger the pot you plant the pineapple in, and the more sunlight and water it is fed, the bigger the plant will become. Whilst this might not have a direct effect on the size of the pineapple produced, my biggest plant to date produced the largest pineapple by far – it’s bigger than the original whose top it grew from.

The health of the pineapple plant itself can be determined by the vibrancy of the green leaves, they should also be firm and strong. As stated before yellow leaves indicate that you have over-watered or that the soil is not draining as it should.

Tip: If you want to boost growth – It’s good to use a flower/leaves fertiliser mix around once every 2-3 months, around the base of the main plant, and then water in well to ensure absorption into the roots.

As Pineapples belong to the Bromelia family, they are adept at capturing and storing water in the central cup of the plant – The wide wingspan of their leaves ensures they collect a lot of water when it rains. However, I still find it best to ensure that the centre cup has water, in times of consecutive hot sunny days, as this ensures the flower is supple when it produces its crown in the centre cup. I’ve had one pineapple flower die as it grew the plant out side ways, and the cup constantly drained water instead of holding it – and thus dried out and died as a result.

Flowering: Ruby Red & Deep Purple Pineapple Flowers

When the pineapple plant has reached maturity (in 12-15 months) it will produce a flowering crown from the centre of the plant. Over the coming weeks this crown will emerge from the plant transforming into a vibrant purple flower that closely resembles the shape of a pineapple.

As it continues to bloom, the flower becomes a vibrant ruby red or deep purple (or a mixture of both), and begins to form the shell that will become the actual pineapple. It slowly darkens and begins to resemble the tortoise shell colour and shape that pineapples are known for.

From here the pineapple is in growth mode, and will continue to absorb nutrients through the stem of the plant, some gentle fertilising and daily watering is vital for a healthy, large pineapple to grow.

Harvesting: Method to Harvest the Pineapple

When the pineapple begins to gain a golden hue it is ready to remove from the plant. Although it can be cut from the plant using a sharp knife, I’ve found it easiest to use a simple twisting method to release the pineapple from the plant.

By grabbing the pineapple around the middle firmly and twisting in one clear direction, you’ll separate the stem from the base of the pineapple and it will pull clear.

If you’ve harvested early enough, then there will be 1-2 weeks of additional ripening time available OFF the vine. It is important to leave the pineapple on till it reaches the golden hue, and is as close to ripe as possible, because the stem will have been providing the nutrients that make the pineapple sweet this entire time.

Once you’ve decided to use the pineapple it’s best to slice up the entire pineapple, and use within the next couple of days. Be sure to seal and refrigerate any unused fruit. It makes for a tasty sweet treat on a hot day straight from the fridge.

Remember to set aside the top, so you can grow another pineapple!

Post Harvest: Cut Back The Pineapple Plant

Once the pineapple has been harvested from the plant, it won’t produce another pineapple, so it is best to do a hard cut back all of the sword-like leaves – keeping the established root base intact.

If there is already a slip or sucker established this will grow using the existing root-base and will save much growth time as it will tap into the established nutrients and continue to grow.