How to Grow Pineapples

by Sherry Nappa

Easy

I have so many pineapples in pots on my back porch that I finally decided to plant them all in an organic raised bed. I started with 20 plants, and 7 of the plants have baby pineapples. Pineapples are naturally sweet and juicy. High in vitamins A and C and manganese, pineapples require very little care and feeding. They don’t require much water and can grow in the sun or shade, and I’ve never had pineapple plants freeze. Pineapples are perfect for growing in the Central Florida climate. Here’s how to grow pineapples in pots or in an organic raised bed from crowns, slips, and suckers.

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Making your own pineapple garden is easy. Pineapples grow in pots or in the ground. Start by planting the crown of a pineapple. As the plant grows, remove and plant any suckers or slips. These will give you new pineapple plants. It takes about 12 months for a pineapple plant to flower, then about 6 more months until the fruit is ripe.

Pineapples grow well in pots. The size of the pot can restrict the size of the pineapple, so a bigger pot will produce a bigger pineapple. I usually start my pineapple plants in pots, sometimes packing a large pot with up to four pineapples before I transfer them to the ground. If you decide to use pots only, don’t leave more than one plant in the pot once the pineapples start to grow. The plants will steal nutrients from each other. This will significantly reduce the size of the pineapples and may prevent more than one plant from flowering.

While the plants are growing, you should check them frequently for slips and suckers. A slip is a new plant growing on the base of the pineapple. Slips are new plants, so make sure you plant them. Suckers grow in between the leaves at the base of the plant. You can remove the slip or sucker and plant it in the pot or the ground.

Pineapples are not a fast growing fruit. Once you plant a crown, slip, or sucker, it takes about 12 months for the first fruit to flower – a red cone. The cone is red for a short time before beautiful blue flowers appear. Once this happens, the fruit begins to grown. Once the pineapple starts growing, it can take up to six months to ripen.

Read more about growing pineapples in a raised garden bed on my blog.

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2 comments

Teri on Apr 27, 2015
Can you grow them in the house? We are so wet and cold here...nothing like Florida weather.

1 Reply
- Sherry Nappa on Jun 17, 2015
  @Teri Pineapples need to grow in temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees. I've never tried to grow one inside. We use air conditioning here most of the year, so it probably wouldn't work out. If you try it, please let me know.
  
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