Simply twist off the top. Peel back the little dried brown stubby leaves to reveal the roots.

May 17th

You'll notice not much happened between August and April, but one it flowered, pineapple growth is pretty rapid. Once it developed a cup in the center, I fertilized with VERY diluted Dyna-Gro 7-9-5 right into the cup. It's all I have on hand for my Desert Roses.

Very nice

Awesome keep up the good work once you grow your own pineapple you will never go back to store bought pineapples again

Wow, that is awesome!! I've tried growing them in the ground with limited success. Going to try growing in the pot. Do you use special soil?

No, just regular Miracle Grow potting soil. I didn't fertilize until months later when it flowered because the potting soil already has fertilizer in it.

My daddy gave me a pineapple he started from a top. I am not sure if it is getting enough sun daily. I hope mine does as well as yours.

Wow! Super impressive. Thinking I need to up my fertilizing game. My pineapples are usually about half that size.

How awesome it looks! I have a pineapple that I rescued from root rot under a dripping outdoor faucet at my son's house, it was a kid's class project since abandoned. Brought it home with me a couple years ago, but the poor thing barely gets better treatment here. Not sure that I will ever see a pineapple on it.

That was very cool! I've never seen (or noticed?) roots under the leaves - now I will be looking for them as I select my pineapple in the market! I had no idea you could get fruit within a year - even if that is faster than normal. I thought it was always 2-3 years. Thanks for the pics - that is so helpful.

Carol in Jacksonville

You're welcome. I think I got a fruit so fast because of the leaves being peeled away from the roots allowing immediate contact with soil. The guy on YouTube said it was foolproof and it looks like it was. I'm going to see if I can find that video.

I always remove the lower leaves from pineapple tops before planting, but do not always find those baby roots. Thinking it has something to do w/ the variety - or maybe culture?

It could be, Carol. I'm going to try and repeat this but starting now. I want to see how the timing of planting affects it. I'm going to poke around the pineapples at Publix to see the difference in roots and pick the best one.

Purchased a delicious pineapple yesterday at Aldi's - $1.99 - not too shabby. I looked through them all and none had visible roots at the crown like yours did, HWT. So I just took the biggest one (right?!). The fruit tastes great so definitely one worth taking the time to grow. According to the label, tagged to a leaf, I got an MD2 hybrid pineapple from Chestnut Hill Farms.

After reading a couple of how-to sites and watching some YouTube videos, I cut the crown much higher than in the past, so that no fruit flesh remained on the stem at all. Then I peeled off the lower leaves (much easier to peel off once all of the fruit is cut off the base of the stem). As the leaves were peeled off, roots and root nubs were exposed. Yay!

Some websites show to soak and root in water for a couple of weeks. I didn't see any point in that. Hot and sunny enough here, I think/hope to go directly into the soil since roots were exposed. Potted it up and put it in semi-shady spot. In a week or so, I will move into full sun. I'll update as the plant warrants.

Thanks again, HWT. :)

Carol in Jacksonville

Hi not all crowns will show roots when you take them off the pineapple. Long as the crown is healthy it will root within a few weeks you can do the water method or just put the crown in soil both ways work. I grow many different verity of pineapple plants that can't be found in stores. But my first two pineapple plants were started from store bought pineapples photo of them below. when you first take the crown off the pineapple don't just plant it let it sit for about a week to air dry in a safe spot this will help it from going into shock when trying to root it

beautiful. I planted mine 4 mo ago and its huge, well way bigger than the top I planted. they make cool , free plants if nothing else

very interesting thread. I learned something :-)

I have a pineapple that should be ready soon. I am afraid that the animals will find it first. I am checking it often for color change but it is still green. A nice large one too. I will be pissed if lose it.

Well, the frond tips on my pineapple sure did get sunburned - badly! I put it in a semi-sun, semi-shade spot. Not so good, I guess. Moved it to a shadier location until it roots better. Also guess these need to be introduced to sun more slowly. I wouldn't have guessed because they're grown in full sun. Another lesson learned. :)

Carol in Jacksonville

if you started it from a crown the leaves on the crown don't matter as much its in the middle of the crown where new growth will start that matters the most. Most Pineapple Plantation growers cut the tips off like you see in the photo below what you see in the photo are suckers or slips they would be next seasons crop planting Material and they plant it in full sun

Yeah, EDG, last week, I watched the Dole Growing Pineapples video which shows them harvesting suckers and slips ("seed selection") and how they plant them. Like you said, they do not use old pineapple crowns; they primarily use suckers. They cut the mother plants' leaves down low so that they will sucker more freely.

For anyone who wants to cut right to the chase, skip ahead to 1:51.

Carol