Juicy, delectable pineapple is a favorite of many people but few know it can be grown indoors as well. The next time you buy a pineapple at the grocery store, don’t discard the top after cutting it off, instead, grow a pineapple in your home!
How to Grow a Pineapple Indoors
The first step to growing pineapple indoors is to save the top of the pineapple fruit.
Prepare the Fruit
Remove any excess pineapple fruit flesh and skin from around the leaves, being careful not to cut into the tough area around the bottom of the leaves. The stem should be dry, bare and clean.
Let is set for a day or two to cure.
Plant the pineapple stem into slightly damp potting soil, combined with sand and vermiculite. Keep the soil damp, but not wet, for another two weeks.
Be careful not to overwater or the new roots that are forming will rot. In the next few weeks, all the outer leaves will die and can be removed, as the new leaves begin to grow. It is best to allow the plant to grow, removing the dead leaves for the next year. During this time the pineapple should be watered no more than once a week.
Pineapples like dry, acidic soil so occasionally add a little excess coffee to your water. During the spring sprinkle a teaspoon of Epsom salt near the base of the plant and continue watering as usual. You can also set the plants outside in a semi-sunny area.
How to Force the Pineapple Plant to Bloom
After approximately a year, you can force your pineapple to bloom by placing the mature plant in a plastic bag with an apple for three days.
The trick is the gas that is produced by the apple and after the plant is removed it should bloom in two to three months.
How to Water a Pineapple Plant
How you water pineapple is also important. The pineapple should be watered from the top so that the cups at the bottom of the plant are filled. It is also healthy for the pineapple plant to wet the leaves as you water.
Pineapple plants actually require very little water. It helps to thickly mulch around the plant to prevent evaporation.
If your plant starts taking on a reddish-purple tinge, as in the photo below, that means your pineapple plant is HUNGRY! Pineapple plants tend to get most of their nutrition from their leaves, so spritz them regularly with a diluted fish emulsion or seaweed extract.
How Many Pineapples?
Pineapple plants only flower one time, producing a single pineapple, then it dies. However, it does produce offspring before it dies. The offspring, known as suckers or pups, grow between the leaves of the mature pineapple.
At this point, you can remove the suckers and start an entirely new pineapple plant!
Once the pineapple is yellowed, it is ripe and can be enjoyed in a variety of delicious recipes, such as this copycat Disney Dole Whip.
that sounds interesting and fun to try. a few years ago i saw pineapple plants at walmart, but i think they were just decorative plants. i would love to try this, but my plants seem to die for some reason in my apartment.
we will give this a try really soon!!! pineapple is my dh favorit fruit! this is cool!
great idea. something fun to do with the kiddo!
i can’t wait to try this! i love fresh pineapple!
i seen this idea on pinterest but a lot of posters had said that it took about 2 years before it actually produced fruit. Still a really neat idea and one i would like to try!
It does take 18 months but we’ll worth it!
other plants can also be started from leftovers that you would normally throw away. i have successfully started several new celery plants by cutting the celery off a couple of inches above the base, leaving the white thicker bottom and where the root was cut off. place this in a shallow tray of water, and watch your celery re-sprout from the center.
look for roots to form from the bottom, and plant into dirt. you could also skip the water part and plant directly into dirt, but make sure to keep the soil moist to encourage root growth. i haven’t tried the epsom salts, or dried tea with the water as described above, but will do so!
i have tried the celery many times with no luck…wish i knew what i was doing wrong..maybe i’ll try again…
i have a pineapple top sitting in a glass next to my sink right now! lol do you get more than 1 pineapple per plant?
First, Do not “cut” the pineapple top off, “twist” it out. Remove the bottom leaves until you have exposed all the short brown roots. I get less rotting if I put it in moist, light soil instead of water.
Yes, one pineapple per plant.
Want more pineapple? Grow more plants — when you have removed the leaves as mentioned above, lay the pineapple top on its side on a cutting board and cut it exactly in half. Then cut each half in half.
Then plant the four parts in moist light soil. Keep the soil moist — not wet. each quarter will produce a pineapple plant.
Pineapple want 70 – 90 degrees to thrive best. Lots of sun.
Enjoy!
i’ve started pineapples in the past by cutting the top off. then i peel the bottom leaves off until i have about an inch or two of the “trunk” and sticking it in a pot with my own garden mix (equal parts vermiculite, peat, and home-made compost).
i’ve had some plants for 3-4 years, bringing them indoors during the cold months. I always assumed Illinois weather and shorter hours of sunlight prevented blooming and fruiting. It never occurred to me to try to “force” the blooming.
Thank you for the idea.
just brought a pineapple and will be trying this
I do remember trying to grow a pineapple top and I found the ponts of the leaves can be sharp. Had to be careful where I let the plants grow and kept away from the children.
I have had a pineapple growing from a top I prepared as instructed above since last summer. They are slow growing so if you want instant pinapple’s you will need to keep buying them for a while.
Yes, they do grow slowly.
What I usually do it prune the suckers and slips that the original plant is growing, and replant them in different containers.
That way I have a stream of pineapples.
It does require some space though.
They do not ripe at the same time which is also nice, so fruit can be picked at different times.
Technically, it is possible to leave the suckers to grow next to the plant but then the plant becomes bigger and less manageable.
thank u my grandson n I just tried planting one. we didn’t do it the right way. guaranteed we will the next time