Last month I bought a pineapple so sweet and savory that I simply had to try and grow my own!
I knew you could do it by placing the top (aka the crown) in water and letting it take root, but I had my reservations.
What if it rotted before it set roots?
Luckily, it didn’t! Here’s what I observed during the first month.
Prepare The Crown
If you want to propagate a pineapple from its top, you have to take it by the leaves and twist it until it separates from the fruit.
The end will be pointy, which isn’t what we’re going for. You have to cut that part until you expose the tiny dots all around the rim. That’s where the roots will grow from.
Remove the bottom leaves to expose more of the “stem” and prevent them from rotting in water.
Here’s how it should look.
Next, you have to let it form a callus… Or at least, that’s what I did. I left it on a counter for somewhere between 5-7 days until the bottom turned brown-gray. It will root more slowly this way, but the chance of it rotting in water will be much lower.
Place It In Water
The first stage of the pineapple growing phases is planting it. You have two options: placing it in water or soil.
I decided on water propagation because it is much easier to maintain moisture that way. There is a higher chance of rotting, but I thought that leaving the top to form a callus would keep it safe.
Once I placed it in water, I thought that would be it for the next few days, but I was wrong.
The water got murky very quickly, so I had to change it every other day or so. I didn’t know why it happened, but I decided to go along with the process as it was my first time growing pineapples this way.
Therefore, I changed the water frequently and washed the glass every couple of days.
One thing that disheartened me was the smell. It wasn’t very pleasant and I thought the bottom had started to rot. I was discouraged, to say the least, but I decided to go on and continue replacing the water every day until I saw clear signs of rotting.
Keep It In Indirect Sunlight
Since the bottom didn’t rot, but it didn’t grow roots either, I decided to give it more light. I have a west-facing window, so I moved it in the morning to get some light and took it back inside once the sun became too harsh.
I think it worked because on day 19 I noticed tiny roots protruding from the bottom. I couldn’t be sure, so I didn’t get my hopes up.
Roots Appeared
It really was the roots! The pineapple crown didn’t rot… At least I think it didn’t because today’s the 28th day and the roots have become much larger, as you can see in the picture.
The plant still has a way to go before I can put it in the soil, and I hope the roots will continue to grow with the same vigor and velocity.
I do think that it took much longer to root because I left it to form a callus, but I can’t be sure right now. Perhaps I could grow another pineapple without callusing it and compare the results.
What do you think?
I’ll be back soon with more updates on how it goes (even if it doesn’t go well)!