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How long does it take togrow a pineapple?
Once a rooted crown is planted it begins to grow within two to three weeks in either location.
Getting started is the easy part.
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Waiting for your plant to do something besides get bigger requires a long-term commitment.
One advantage of a potted plant is greater control over the growing environment.
you’re free to move it outdoors during warmer weather.
Or, try an ornamental pineapple plant, also abromeliad, to grow indoors or out.
Even if you live in zone 9 or higher, temperatures need to remain consistent.
Pineapples are not propagated from seed.
A ratoon crop (second fruiting) also can develop on some pineapple varieties.
Fruit characteristics depend on variety and growing conditions but most plants are short-lived and die back after three years.
Your plant is entering into the fruiting stage.
Flowerbuds appear surrounded by smaller, tighter leaves, called bracts.
Encouraging flowering can be a little tricky and you want as many flowers to develop as possible.
A slight drop in temperature helps initiate this phase.
“Commercial growers use similar hormones or chemical solutions to hasten flowering.
The bloom is an inflorescence of up to 200 individual self-sterile flowers that produce fruit without pollination.
Sucker Growth Phase
The parent or original plant does not, technically, produce a second fruit.
However, slips or suckers can develop and produce a second fruiting in about 18 months.
If allowed to remain on the parent plant, the second fruiting is called a ratoon crop.
Secondary fruits are smaller so this method is not commonly used by commercial growers.
Fleshy fruit and bottom leaves are removed exposing the central stem or core.
The crown is then left in a shaded spot to cure for about a week.
They will grow in soil with the stem planted 3 to 4 inches deep.
The size of the pot often determines the size of the fruit.
A planted crown moves into the flowering stage in about 24 months depending on conditions.
Both are small plantlets that develop as the parent plant matures.
Suckers continue to develop in the leaf axils of the parent plant.
Both slips and suckers are easily twisted or pulled off and immediately transplanted.
Fruit development takes about 14 months producing a smaller fruit that is often sweeter.
All other pups can be removed from the original plant to direct energy into the second crop.
If more are left on the parent plant, multiple smaller fruits develop.
A ratoon crop can be ready to harvest about one year after the initial harvest.
Each plant produces one pineapple in the middle.
The plant will die after producing the fruit but will have produced multiple pups.
A pineapple plant can live between three and seven years, depending on when it produces its fruit.
A pineapple plant does not necessarily grow back every year.
Instead, it completes its lifecycle, which ends after it produces a fruit and pups.
University of Florida Extension.
Ethylene and the Regulation of Fruit Ripening.University of Maryland Extension.
Pineapple.Univeristy of Florida Extension.
