Here's a pic of the pineapple. I should have included an item to provide a sense of scale.

John

My fruits have been smallish (but oh so yummy!) as well & I grow them all from tops (& in containers too), not from purchased plants. I've a hunch the fruit of plants grown from tops may be smaller - supposedly, the 1s from 'pups' are more desireable - is that why? Mine are in partial shade & Floridata sez they prefer full sun - could that be why the fruit is smaller, I wonder?

Thinking about putting them in the ground this year, w/ more sun & seeing if that makes a difference...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pineapple @ Floridata.com

Hmmm - just checked EDIS & here their page on growing pineapples - size of container can affect the size of the fruit, apparently...

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Pineapple

Thanks Carol. I think I'll try putting the next batch of pineapple plants directly in the ground and in a sunnier location too.
John

I tend to toss out tops and ignore them. Results are smaller fruits. But my neighbours feed theirs with weak seaweed/fish emulsion fertiliser and they get humungous fruit. And in all out sun.

I have the same problem, small fruit. But mine are in the ground and in full sun. I bet the fertiliser is the answer. Mine too are from the tops that have already produced fruit, so maybe that is it as well.

All my pineapples are small too. They grow inground, full sun and no fert. Sumala use to grow big ones but never said what he did to get such big ones. Could be he grew from seed? Or maybe the fert. I had 3 this year, soo good.

This one is growing in 15 a inch pot from a grocery store top. Seems to be normal sized.

I have given it fertilizer periodically - the kind that you dissolve in water, and poured directly into the cup of the plant. This plant gets about 50% sun.

We harvested two in the past week, one decended from the supermarket and one sugarloaf. What a difference! I have maybe a dozen sugarloaf pups extra, if anyone wants to pick them up in Tampa, close to Kennedy and Dale Mabry.

shuffles - I'd love a sugarloaf pup. But I don't have time to drive over to Tampa in the near future (I'm in Orlando). Would you send me one for postage? Or maybe trade - I could send you a banana pup - I've got dwarf brazilian and ice cream. Send me an email if interested.

Hi Shuffles - Tom! Thanks so much for the pups. We put them in some pots from the other Tom for now...at least until the Orlando trip is over.

Hope the broms and curry leaf do well for you! Still jealous of those absolutely beautiful pond lilies and bananas...

Tina

We ate one of my pineapples this week and it was so sweet, just was small. I am going to try some fertilizer on the rest. :o)

Several years ago I grew one up here from a top, and it turned out about as big as the original pineapple. I had it in a pretty big pot, and fertilized it.

Since it's too cold here for outdoors pineapples in the winter, I had to bring it in and overwinter it in a sunny window. Those are awfully big, spiny plants to have next to your bed (which is where my only South-facing window is located). I quickly learned to be careful getting out of bed in the mornings! Gee, for some reason I just wasn't as motivated to bring that plant inside the winter after it fruited. But if I ever own a greenhouse, I'll almost certainly grow a pineapple again.

I also grow Pineapples. They even survived the cold winter 3 years ago here in W Pasco. Really they just recovered from it! Anyway, the variety has most to do with the size of the fruit. Taking the tops off store bought pineapples should guarantee larger fruit. I have some getting larger now. All of this rain this summer appears to have helped them, too.

I had one of those small pineapples. It came from a box store in a gallon pot. It spent the winter outside in the ground. Maybe the size had something to do with the dogs digging it up several times... but the little fruit was Oh, so sweet. I have 6 pups in pots now. They will stay in the pots so I can bring them in.

I got two clearance pineapples in large pots from a nursery this spring. One has a normal size fruit that is working on ripening, but the other didn't flower. It just got huge. Maybe next spring?

From my very limited experience, the way to go is 5 gal nursery pots, liberal fertilizer and water, and bring them into the garage for the few hours of hard freeze we get.

Larry

Our experience: The plants in partial shade and lots of mulch grow the largest. Occasionally (once every 6 months) we gave them some citrus fertilizer. And it sure helps to not have any hard freezes. Getting normal sized ones this year and a good amount. Not gigantic but nice. Oh and the ones with the sharper leaves don't get eaten by rabbits.

I think some of it might be luck of the draw because I have been planting the tops of my pineapples that we buy at the store/fruit stand and the first one was huge and the second one was less than half the size of the one growing right next to it, but they were both very sweet and some of the best pineapples we have had. Most of mine are planted on the west side of my house under the drip edge, so they get lots of afternoon sun and I don't fertilize them and only water occasionally when it gets kind of dry out. I'll see if I can find some pics and post if your interested.

Thanks shuffles for the sugarloaf pups!

I harvested my store top grown pineapple:

It was awesome! So sweet!

And for what it is worth, I have another one I planted the same summer as this one I just harvested that has yet to try to fruit. It is a different variety, although I'm not quite sure what kind. It was a redder fruit, and the plant is smaller and even the leaves have a bit of a red tinge. Maybe next year that one will fruit!

Angela, that is one beautiful pineapple. Home grown are almost as good as the ones we get in the tropics. The best I ever had was on coastal Honduras.

Thanks shuffles - it was so fun to harvest one from my own yard!

How do you know when they are ready to harvest if the size varies so much?

cynthia, it is not according to size. They start out green. When they are totally or almost totally yellow they are ready - if you can beat the critters to them.

Thanks, shuffles. I'm thinking about trying to grow one, but have never done so before so I have to ask dumb questions. I appreciate your kindness in answering them!

Is this ripe enough to pick? Bout the size of a grapefruit

It looks ripe to me. Not likely to grow any larger.

it does look ripe. Sometimes they will smell like sweet pineapple when ripe too.

I have grown tops for many years and I’ve learned that every time you use the top it makes the pineapple smaller.

pick that pineapple before the raccoon smell it and swipe it. Pineapples will grow MUCH better in ground with rich composted soil and fed regularly, if planted in sunny spot. I have grown pineapples as big and bigger than commercially grown store bought ones. . They used to get whatever fertilized water was leftover from feeding orchids and grew fine.

Takes about 18 months from planted pineapple top to bearing fruit plant. Leave mother plant in ground after picking ripe fruit as it will send up pups (side shoots) and those pups will bear fruit in about 12 months as they have an established plant and root system supporting it.

Nothing sweeter than a properly ripened pineapple that is home grown...

My first pineapple!! Grew indoors though and I think thats why it has ripened so small. Still proud!! Next round are going out front in the wonderful florida sun!!

Giving it as much sun as possible will help it along. That plant will die but should put out suckers so you will end up with more plants. However, it will take a while for those to mature to fruiting stage.