Question about my pineapple plants

travisa1989 · Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:23 pm

Hey guys, it's me again. I posted once a few months back about a pineapple crown that I had gotten to root, and two plants started growing off the side of it. Out of fear of killing them both, I did not split them, and I'm starting to regret it. I want to do it, but now I'm afraid it's too late to do so. Also, the leaves have started to turn yellow, I think because it has been raining a lot here in the DC area. I brought them inside tonight as it looks like it's going to rain, and I have a CFL shining on them right now.

I thought about setting them on top the the clothes dryer, with something between the plant's container and the actual surface of the machine so that the plant's soil and roots don't become too hot and die as a result. I think it's probably not a good idea to heat the soil from the bottom up that way, though.

So I have two questions:

1) Is it safe to split the plants and put them in separate pots at this point, or do you think they will die? I need to repot these guys anyway, as I think they are getting too large for this container. I plan to do that this weekend. If I don't split them, then I plan on getting a really huge container to put them in.

And should I just let the soil dry out naturally (in the sun) and bring it back inside if it looks like it's going to rain? Or should I try to dry the soil out by setting them up in a warm place (like over the clothes dryer, or possibly next to a really warm lamp)?

Here are some photos that I just took about an hour ago. Not sure why the photos appear sideways and upside down when I preview the post...

imafan26 · Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:35 am

If you take it out of the pot and you can pull the dirt aside and enough to see if there is a bridge between them you should be able to take them apart. If you have enough of a stem on them it should be fine. Pineapples are bromeliads. The roots are mainly for support. You feed and water them in the cups.

travisa1989 · Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:29 am

Thanks for the advice! I did just that, and it worked. I now have two healthy, pineapple plants that have shown little signs of stress from the transplant. In fact, they look better than ever. I placed them each in pots that were about triple their previous size and keep them in full sunlight for most of the day.