I've never heard that but it may be true for commercial operation. I've

grown many tops over the years and was never fussy about the time of year.

Main problem lately is allowing the fruit to ripen before picking and before

the hungry squirrels start nibbling on them.

Are you saying they are planting tops in January and picking pineapples the same year?

They require two cold seasons, otherwise you lose another year or get very small fruit. Takes 18 months total with two cold seasons.

I’m only relaying what I heard. The speaker is in charge of Dole Pinapple and has been with them for 24 years. He oversees their crops all over the world. He was discussing the proper culture in growing pineapples and their requirements. He pointed out how people keep planting them at the wrong time Winding up with small fruit or no fruit at all. They must have two seasons of temperature drop and all pineapples should be picked at 16-18 months despite the color. Once picked, pineapples do not ripen any further and should be eaten after being picked.

He was on the show for almost an hour and took calls from people. There was so much info, but he stressed over and over, the only time to plant the tops is in Dec and Jan. Any other time is a waste of time.

I think commercial growers pull up and replace all of their plants right after they fruit. That probably plays a role in them needing to plant them at a certain time of the year. Home growers in contrast tend to treat their plants as perennials. At least I do.

Normally after I tear off the ripe fruit off the fruit stalk, the plant just sprouts a new growing tip from between the fruit stalk and it's upper most leaves and just continues on growing. My largest plants had fruit on them the size of an average supermarket pineapple the year before last.

They didn't fruit last year. They just spent it growing so they're even bigger this year so I expect the fruit to be more jumbo in size next time. It seems to be typical for a pineapple plant to skip a year or two between fruiting when you keep it as a perennial.

If the plant is big enough to produce a pineapple, I put Florel in the cup and they fruit when you want them to. That's for people who have them go an extra year.

I personally never attempt to force them to fruit because I fear it will weaken them or make them produce less than ideal fruit. My oldest plant is 6 years old. They can produce fruits several times in their lifespan. The plant can survive until it reaches a maximum size/height basically. But in NY when I had a greenhouse I once pulled up a huge plant that was starting to die of old age and replanted it with the leafless "trunk" under the soil and that completely rejuvinated and invigorated it because it was able to grow lots of new fresh roots from the "trunk" that was now under the soil. Most people probably discard older plants because of the increased possiblity of disease however or the possibility of discreased quality of fruit.

I have a 1-yr old in a container. I'm going to plant it out in March, once the soil warms a bit. Hopefully, it will give me a pineapple this year.