Mine set these fruit in mid-late summer and ripened feb-apr. Be careful of varmits. A possum got my #3 one. Next time I'll surround with chicken wire.
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Cool. So I'm thinking mine will be ready sometime in early to mid fall then. Houstonpat I can't believe your pineapples made it through the winter. Any frost? Only thing I've had to worry about so far is ants but I got those under control. But once the animals can start smelling my fruits I may have more problems.

Of course frost is an issue here in Houston. Around Thanksgiving I set them next to the side of my cheapy greenhouse and throw clear sheet plastic loosly over the top. I recommend supporting the fruit, cuz if it gets heavy it will break the stem early.

I agree, do support your pineapple because the one I grew here fruited in the spring after 1 yr in a pot and keeping overwinter in the unheated garage. It grew to about a little over softball size and then grew a really huge green top on it. It got so heavy that it broke the stem. So now its sitting on the table unripe.

A question... will this ever ripen? There is some gold color on one side of the fruit but no smell (like ripe pineapple smell). It feels fairly hard.
I dont know what variety it is but was started from a supermarket pineapple that said 'from mexico' on the sticker.

It should ripen. Some cultivars of Pineapple are resistant to darkening, others aren't; so with this first one you'll see. Your parent plant should be well cared for and should produce various forms of offsets which will likely be more robust than your original plant, producing better fruit.

I am in zone 10 in southwest florida. I find that it typically takes 5 1/2 to six months from first sign of inflorescense to picking the fruit. I normally see first signs of inflorescense in late January and usually start picking by early July.

Tarvus! I know you! and I know Chuck and The Yard Dogs! and I'm friends with Deb!!
Small world
Barb

Hey Barb! Small world indeed! :)
Yard Dogs friends are everywhere!
Tarvus

My pineapples flowered in mid March. They grew for a while then slowed down. Now they're growing bigger again. It's been about 5 months. 1 is softball size the other is about 1/2 the size of a 2 liter of coke in height but about that wide. Both have large crowns. Neither have been tipping over yet. So when should I add support to them? Also the softball size pineapple is starting to get a little gold on the back side. Both still feel firm.

I'll try and post some pics shortly.

Here's a few pics of my pineapples.

Pineapple #1
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Pineapple #1
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Pineapple #2
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Pineapple #2
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Gotta brag :)
Pair of 8 pounders...

Oh yeah! Good job sumala. Nothin beats the flavor of ripened on the plant.

Man! I am swooning over those big pineapples! WOW.
Did you feed them?

I feed mine with half strength miracle grow or fish emulsion. I have no regular feeding schedule, just whenever I think about it.

I actually planted these for erosion control on the side of a very sandy bank next to a pine tree stump. I never really expected them to do much :)

Here is a photo of them while still on the plants...

Were those from store bough fruit tops? I have one in a pot outside that i'll bring in soon for the winter. Its grown nicely and the roots are poking out of the bottom of the pot, but i don't think i'll replant until next spring.

Mine were kinda store bought. I dug the original tops out of a dumpster about 15 years ago and have been replanting from them ever since.

Living in south Florida has it's advantages. I have about 50 of them planted here and there kinda helter-skelter and no frost worries.

I'm curious if these plants will stay alive year after year and bear fruit as well? I puchased two this weekend at a local grocery store floral area....they both have small pineapples on them one the size of a baseball, the other is a bit larger (since they do have fruit growing on them is this indicating that they are at least several years old?)

rjinga, the original root system will live a long time and continue putting out new plants. I have some that may be 10-15 years old. I'm not sure just how old they are. All I really know is I planted them there a long time ago and every year I still get a coupla small fruits from them.

I get my best fruits and largest plants from newly planted tops. For me, they start falling in size after the second or third growth cycle.

Gary, wish I could grow my buddy or corona. It would save me a fortune :(

Hi
When I visited Costa Rica I toured a commercial pineapple farm. They were growing them on hills in rows at mid altitude. Plants were about 4 feet tall and they regularly produced 10 pond fruit!! The soil was volcanic and very rich looking. I wanted to ask so many questions but my Spanish stinks lol.
Anyway they were growing some types that produced red fleshed fruit . Incredibly sweet fruit and they sold them for 50 cents lol. Anyone know about these types?? There was also a wwhite variety Have never been able to locate either one or even find the names?? gary

Hi, I was reading about the ant problem, can you tell me how to deal with the ants in mine? been growing my pineapple for a year now and put out on the deck in the spring, now its full of ants...any advice? Also have another one that's a year old too and hasn't grown much at all compared to the other one....thanks for any help.

Zozo13...Chef Mitch here...For ants I just use a fire ant killer sprinkled on the soil keepIng

it off the leaves. Pineapples receive water and nutrients through their leaves and not so much the roots so as long as you keep it off the plants you should be fine. If you want a more natural approach I have had success with boiling the leaves, stems and dried blooms of marigolds, let it steep like tea till cool then spray the plants and pour into the soil around the plant. works wonders for me. All bugs and ants seem to hate the marigold tea. This is a natural remedy handed down from my great-grandmother that she used before chemical insecticides were readily available. I've also had great success with pouring my used soapy dishwater on the plants, doesn't harm the plants... but the insects and ants hate it.

My pineapple is bright yellow for about a week now in North East Florida when do I pick

I pick them when I detect a sweet fragrance. In any case, the animals notice the smell of the fruit very fast and soon get into it if you don't beat them to it.

I've had pineapple for about 2 years, started from a market pineapple. I take it in for winter, out for summer. Blew me away when it started to produce actual fruit. I don't know how long it takes to mature and would like some input. Attached a current photo.

All my friends are jealous because they've tried and failed to produce fruit.

It all depends on where you are, but they do take a long time to ripen.

I have found something that works great for the ants. Ant traps you buy just about anywhere. They infested my grape vine, and I stuck one right next to the plants base, and 2 on the outer sides of the plant. Within a few days, completely gone. My pineapple plant is in that plot so they never had a chance at getting to it. They come in packs of 6 or 8. Break them apart and stick them around the plot. I bought mine at Walmart.