The first step is to get a pineapple that is nice and ripe, it should smell very sweet. The leaves may be a bit sharp so be careful, you can wrap them in a kitchen towel if you need to. Grasp the pineapple fruit in one hand and the leaves of the pineapple in the other hand and twist until they separate from one another, it will take some force. You will be left with a little nub of fruit and you may even see some teeny roots.
To prepare the crown for planting you will need to remove some of the leaves around the bottom. As you do this you will notice that you are exposing more tiny roots that were hidden between the leaves. Once you stop seeing roots you can stop tearing off the leaves and plant it.
If you don’t have soil handy, you can set it near a sunny window in a container filled with slightly warm water. It can stay like that for a few days until you get a pot and some potting soil suitable for tropical plants. Once it is planted, tend the plant and make sure the soil stays moist, but not wet. When it is established in the pot you can let the soil dry out just a little between the time you water it.
It may look a bit trashed at first and some of it’s leaves around the outside may die, but with a little time fresh new blades will grow from the centre and you’ll have a healthy tropical plant, with more care and patience it may even produce pineapples.
I hope my pineapple turns into a healthy plant, I’ll keep you updated on it’s progress. I think I’ll try growing a mango next.
