Pineapple is a fruit native to tropical countries around the world. Its homeland is considered to be South America, but now it is grown commercially in Thailand, the Philippines, Hawaii, Australia, Brazil, India and Mexico.
Features of the growth and development of pineapple
Pineapple is a perennial herb with tough, fleshy, leathery leaves that can store moisture, allowing the plant to tolerate drought quite comfortably. Depending on the variety and age, pineapple can reach 1.5 m in height, but usually the bush is small, about 70 cm.
The plant propagates by seeds and vegetatively, the second method is the most common. The tops of the fruit with a rosette of leaves, the so-called tuft, are planted in the ground.
Although in the first year the pineapple grows very actively, it gives the first fruits only a year after planting, but since it is a perennial, several fruits are obtained from one bush.
From the top, the pineapple produces a spike-shaped inflorescence with many red and purple flowers. From each such flower, a berry develops, in the process of their growth they close and form a fruit. After the first fruit ripens, the pineapple has lateral shoots in the axils of the leaves, which are used for its vegetative propagation.
How pineapple grows at home
You can grow pineapple in the same way indoors. Cut off the top with a little pulp, remove some of the bottom leaves from the tuft and leave for a couple of days. During this time, the cut should dry out.
Choose a ripe pineapple with a healthy tuft in the store, it should not be rotten or frostbitten. In this case, the skin of the fruit should be golden brown.
Then place the top in a glass of water and place in a warm, sunny place. The water in the glass should be changed periodically. After about 3-4 weeks, the roots should appear. Now you can plant the plant in the ground.
Pineapple requires light, sandy soil. Make it up with potting medium, sand and peat in equal proportions, or use specialty potting soil for bromeliads.
Take a small pot. Pour drainage at the bottom, then soil, moisten everything and plant a rooted cutting. The plant will take root for a rather long time, about two months, then new healthy leaves should appear.
Often, when growing pineapple indoors, you may never wait for flowering and fruiting, but if your plant is already old enough and develops well, then you can try to make it bear fruit.
Put a teaspoon of calcium carbide in half a liter of water, cover the jar with a lid and leave the mixture for a day. Then pour the solution into another container, being careful not to get sediment into it. For a week, once a day, pour 50 g of the solution into the base of the leaves. After a similar procedure, after a month and a half, the plant should bloom. Having given fruit, the plant will die, but it will release many side shoots from which new pineapple bushes can be grown.
