We mainly associate pineapple with summer holidays, but since it can be found in stores all year round, there is no problem indulging in this delicacy in December, for example. And just like that, we can successfully start growing it. How to really enjoy it?
You may have already seen a pineapple in a flower pot, but you just don’t know how to make it grow like this in your home. The good news is that you don’t have to buy such a plant at all. Just buy a ripe fruit and you can take care of everything else yourself at home. It’s not difficult, you just need a little patience and following the basic procedure.
Pineapple is at home in quite different areas:
The key is choosing the right piece
The basis of everything is the choice of really high-quality fruit. This time, don’t just think about the taste, but also about how its crown looks, i.e. the green rosette of leaves at the top. We will need it here as a basis for the future plant. The crown must be healthy without yellow, brown or even rotten leavesshould also not be obviously attacked by insects or otherwise damaged. Selected? In that case we can continue.
Separate the leaf rosette
Now the crown will need to be properly separated from the rest of the fruit. There are two ways to go about this, the first being probably more common: simply take a knife and cut just below where the leaves touch the rest of the pineapple. The second option looks a bit more aggressive, but believe me, it is also correct – grab the body of the fetus with one hand and the crown with the other hand, which you then separate by violently turning and tearing off. Don’t worry, nothing should happen to her, it’s basically a way closer to nature.
The lower leaves have to go
Once the leaf rosette is separated, remove the lower few leaves to expose approx 3 centimeters of “stem”. A light brown cylindrical formation will appear, from which roots will later grow. At the same time, it is necessary to remove all the remaining pulp, which could soon begin to rot.
Give the pineapple time
This is how you prepare the foundation he likes to rest for approximately two days in a warm, dry, but at the same time sufficiently airy placeto dry properly. It is important for the healing of the wound and as a prevention against rot, which could quickly and irreversibly ruin the entire effort to root the germ of a new plant.
We can get down to it
At this point, everything is already ready and the pineapple can be . Again, we have two options to choose from without breaking anything. We can choose either water or substrate. Let’s first look at working with water, when we put the dried crown in a glass of water so that only the part of it that we have removed the leaves is submerged. The remaining green part must not come into contact with the liquid. The glass should then be placed in a bright place with diffused light in a room where the temperature does not fall below 18 degrees Celsius. After all, it is a tropical plant. Change the water regularly (ideally daily) so that unwanted bacteria cannot multiply in it. After two to three weeks, you can look forward to the roots, and as soon as they are strong enough, the right time will come to plant them in the substrate.
Try planting it directly
The second option is to skip the “water phase”. Simply plant the prepared crown directly in permeable material, ideally in a mixture of perlite, peat and substrate for succulents. The entire exposed part of the stem must be covered. After planting, water the future pineapple and always offer it additional water only after the substrate dries out slightly.
Special requirements for watering
A peculiarity compared to many other plants is the requirement of pineapple to be watered in the center of the leaf rosette. This is because it absorbs water both through the roots and the basal parts of the leaves. If we want to see a flower and then a fruit, it will be necessary to wait two to three years. The fruit will be smaller than the one from the store, but the joy from it will be incomparable. Even if the fruit does not appear in the end, the pineapple tree will still be a very attractive and robust decoration of your apartment.
