I got 7 pineapples this summer from my yard. Here's my story,
I bought a pineapple one year, and threw the top onto the top of my compost pile. It rooted and up-righted itself! I pulled it up, laid it on its side, and it did it again! This happened a third time, so I said to it, "if you want to grow that badly I am gonna let you".
A year and a half later the most gorgeous bromiliad flower came out of the center, and the leaves were about 4 feet in diameter( so give them some room). It grew into a smaller but beautiful fruit. I knew it was ripe when it started to tilt sideways, and became yellow.
Worth, if you let it become totally yellow before you break it off at the joint, it will be likely sweeter than any you have had.
We've just been planting the tops without trimming the leaves, just leaving a little of the top of the actual pineapple with it, and the fibers turn to roots.
if you leave it, another plant will come up from the base and you will have fruit every 1 1/2 years from the same plant. We have 12 now, and you almost can't kill them! I don't even do any special watering and never added any fertilizer.
They are almost as good as my Mangoes which are in high harvest now!
-Marsha
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