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applestar
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Re: Is this pineapple going to be big enough to bloom next y

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Rose bloom
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So jealous :x :P

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I hope yours blooms this year :-()

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Baby Pineapple Update
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Wow! About how big is the pineapple?

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That's about how big mine got. Next time on the offsets from this pineapple more potassium and a little espom salt fed through the leaves. Feed pineapple and bromeliads in the cups they absorb nutrients and water from water collected in the cups and they respond well to foliar feeding on the green parts of the plant.
Be aware that the fertilizer requirements for Hawaii are different than for other soils. Our soils are high in aluminum and that binds phosphorus, so higher applications of phosphorus are usually required.
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/f_n-7.pdf

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Rose Bloom -- Are you asking about the size of the entire plant? I can measure later today. It's a bit difficult to get to because it's still inside with some other plants. The fruit was as shown with ruler next to it back then. I could photo it again today and see if has grown any bigger....

Imafan -- I've been trying to be diligent about putting slightly nutritious liquid in the cup, including putting frozen banana skins in the watering jug, though I don't know if it still helps or if you need to "fatten up" the plant BEFORE it sends up the flower spike. I gave it the water from rinsing some squash seeds for saving the other day. 8) I guess I will give it some Epsom salted water tomorrow. I already watered it today -- from a jug of water with UCG and hard boiled eggshells in it.

It went down to 48°F last night. Do you think it's still too cold to let it go outside?

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Forty eight is colder than it would like, but we do get to 51 in winter and Wahiawa would get into the forties in winter where there used to be pineapple fields. Actually my house was built on an old Dole pineapple field. I don't know if the fruit would like it that cold. Maybe wait a little longer.

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I FINALLY put the baby Pineapple outside today. I have other plants still inside, hanging on, but not happy.

Pineapple will stay here on the layover picnic table in the dense shade of the mulberry and will be acclimated before it will be put somewhere more appropriate.

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Aah I haven't been on HG in forever. And yes, about how big is the entire plant? Mine's about 14 inches tall at the moment.

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I moved it to the (hopefully securely fenced) SF&H -- not full sun here -- good enough for greens, peas, and peppers -- not sunny enough for tomatoes....

By the tape measure, its height from soil surface is 23 inches --
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Here's a close up of the fruit --
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...I'd like to know if it's normal for all the leaves to have sagged like this.... :?:

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After pineapple plants fruit, don't they begin to die? I think perhaps yours might be preparing for the afterlife if you know what I mean.... :|

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Pineapple are bromeliads. As the plant gets older the leaves do sag, but not all of them. Once they bloom they will put out off shoots and they will not bloom again. They usually don't die but they the leaves will fade in color. Since pineapple fields are picked three times and the whole thing is tilled under, I have not seen the fields actually die off by themselves. I lost the plant that bloomed before, but I don't really know what happened to it. Most bromeliads just keep growing in clumps until the old ones are thinned out.

There are many different varieties of pineapple so height varies. Del Monte gold is a compact plant that is barely 18 - 24 inches high. The Dole low acid pineapple is a tall plant with leaves that can be close to 3 ft long. Most of the species in the dole demo plot in Wahiawa have longer leaves and the fruit vary a bit in shape and color.

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Looks like this now. How do I know when it's ready to harvest? ...when SHOULD I harvest before it's too late?

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I've been keeping an eye out for side shoots in case that would be one of the indicators....

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Sorry, these are blurry. I decided to take pics at the last minute and didn't feel like going inside the enclosure so used zoom.

It is yellower than the greener ones they sell in stores now :-() Two views. More yellow on the side that gets more sun?

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it looks like it is ready to pick. The color is uniformly yellow. It should have a sweet tangy smell and if you tap it, it should sound solid not hollow. If you keep it at room temperature it can continue to ripen, but it looks like it is ready to eat.

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Oooh! I will try sniffing it tomorrow! :-() :()

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It's the weirdest thing. I keep tying this upright, and I'm pretty sure this last time, I re-tied the strings quite securely, but it was doing THIS ... again. :roll:

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Your pineapple wants to relax haha it's slouching

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YAY! Here is my 4" pineapple :D

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...I'll post again when we taste it :wink:

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We ate the little pineapple for after dinner treat yesterday. OMG it was soooo sweet and delicious -- it didn't have the astringency of fresh pineapple that we associate with -- not the mouth-burning acid -- and more complex FLAVOR, sweet and tangy and what a real fresh pineapple should taste like. Image

As small as it was ...plus the fact that I trusted the outer surface completely (not something I would do with store-bought pineapple)... I simply pulled the top leaves off, barely cut the top and bottom off, then sliced into wedges for biting and scraping the flesh off the rind like you might with orange or melon. I sliced off the inner core from first wedges but when I offered the core pieces for DD to chew on like we do with store bought pineapples, she said it was not stringy/fibrous at all and while less sweet, completely edible, so I left the core on the rest. (That might have been just because it was such a small sized fruit.) And everybody scraped as much of the inner flesh as they could with their teeth. :wink:

I can't wait until another one produces. I have three other plants of various sizes outside as well as the plant that grew this fruit, looking all limp but maybe it will recover enough to grow the next generation pups/sideshoots for me to grow more with? And OF COURSE I planted the little top from the fruit we ate. :D

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The offsets from this plant should produce a bigger pineapple next time. Pineapples from crowns are usually smaller the first go around. When the offsets are large enough you can remove the parent. It will never bloom again. Feed it with something that has a lot of potassium.

The newer low acid pineapples don't have much of a bite. I actually prefered the older varieties that had some bite, a bit of sweet and sour. To make a pineapple sweeter you can add a little salt or we would add li hing mui.

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Ha! OK... Well, I guess this one must have been one of those newer varieties. I lost the tags I made for them initially but one of them was Delmonte Gold? I have more plants of another variety which declined as a top in the 2nd year and produced 3 or 4 pups, of which 2 or 3 survived.

I've heard that about the offsets -- I really hope this one will produce babies for me to grow from. So far it just looks very sad. I cut the fruit from the very top of the stalk and left the stalk on the plant. I hope that was the right thing to do. -- give it extra potassium NOW? This will encourage it to grow the offsets?


Now that I know flowering will happen eventually even without extraordinary care as long as I give them space to overwinter, I'm just going to keep growing them. hehe I have mostly spineless varieties so they are not too difficult to find room for.

Before, I was ready to give up because they were not producing fruits in the "allotted" time usually given as how long it takes, but it appears to be just a matter of some kind of "growing days" -- I guess it takes longer because it's not ideal growing temperature here for at least 5 months of the year (assuming the other 2 months in the house in the fall and spring are comfortable enough)... unless of course this was a freak lucky accident... :|

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I had to look up "li hing mui". This is different from "umeboshi" right? My Dad used to make umeboshi until their plum tree died. I might have to go to the other more Chinese Asian market and look for it. 8) ...what should I look for?

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After three years, they've finally started to flower! I'll post pictures when it's daytime/if I remember!

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Pineapple takes 18-24 months usually from crown to bloom. I think it may be slower because you are in a colder climate. It likes to be in full sun and because it is a bromeliad, you should water and fertilize it in the cups. Mine doesn't get very big either, but I don't feed mine regularly. I had both the dole and Del Monte Gold varieties. I still have the dole but I am not sure if the Del Monte Gold survived. I thought Del Monte Gold was less bland than Dole. The Dole variety is a very large plant. Del Monte is more compact.

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Yay! Sounds likes it’s your turn this year, @Rose bloom! :clap:



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