I'm afraid your plant will die after you harvest the fruit. It will have nothing to do with your technique. You may be lucky enough to get ratoons - babies - to produce new plants and fruit, just like other broms.

I've had success in rooting the crown of a grocery store pineapple and enjoying the small fruit it produced. But alas, I did not get any suckers. So when it died, it died.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pineapple plant after harvest

I agree with what the others have said. I've got about 5 fruiting pineapples now. The mother plant will die when the fruit ripens, or whenever the fruit is taken off. It's normal for a lot of people to just take the top off the fruit, put it in soil and with only an occasional watering you'll get a plant out of it. The base of the mother plant should produce a few suckers which should also develop into mature plants.

When the fruit smells sweet it's fully ripened. Commercially they're picked earlier so that they travel better. Giving them occasional doses of weak fertiliser produces a better/larger fruit, although that's too late for yours now.

naoh123 - Thank you, I wasn't clear. After blooming and producing fruit, the mother plant will eventually die. So go ahead and enjoy the fruit. Mine was small, but very sweet and juicy.

Hello everyone! Thank you for your responses. They were all very helpful and I am now coming to terms with what I have to do (harvest the pineapple)! I might as well enjoy the fruit now and look into planting the crown. Thank you again! P.S. Crenda---your pineapple is beautiful!

I had same issue. Mone ripened and started to rot. I knew I needed to cut it off. The plant is still alive but I'm crushed to have had to cut it off.