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Pineapples, first caught in Europe in the XVI century, quickly relished the taste of local nobility. Travels in that era were extremely expensive and long-lasting, so plants originally from the Brazilian highlands began to be grown in greenhouses and greenhouses. Russia has not lagged behind the European powers either. Here, for more than a century, outlandish “bumps” grew practically on an industrial scale in St. Petersburg and further north, on the Solovki. But steamers that appeared in the 19th century changed the situation, and juicy fruits began to be brought from South America.
This is still happening today, but still the interest in growing pineapples at home is not waning. Despite the overseas nature, the plant turned out to be quite picky, and a viable and fruit-bearing shrub can be obtained even from a tuft cut from a fresh fruit.
In nature, the culture grows to 60–80 cm and consists of a small stalk, studded with sharp long leaves, a fibrous root, and stems that form at the top of the main shoot that elongates after flowering. It is thanks to this seed, under the cornified skin that hides the juicy flesh, the plant has become one of the most valuable crops not only in the South American continent, but also in Africa and Southeast Asia.
In warm tropical climates, pineapple leaflets can reach a diameter of two meters. It will not work in an apartment to achieve a similar size of plant, but in 2-4 years, with proper attention and care, and at home on the pineapple an edible fragrant fruit will grow. And although success will have to be patient, the unusual development of the plant is worth the effort and time.
To grow pineapple, you can use seeds or cuttings formed on the stem of an adult plant. But the easiest way to grow at home is to grow a pineapple from the top, cut from ripe fresh seedlings.
How to grow a pineapple from
seeds at home As the most difficult and time-consuming method, consider reproduction by seed. First, it is possible to receive shoots only from purchased seeds. In the fruits of seeds sold in supermarkets or not at all, or only their whitish, immature rudiments can be found.
Pineapple seed suitable for germination has a slightly flattened semicircular shape, reaches a length of 3–4 mm and is colored with a brown or reddish brown tinge.
Before planting, the seeds are placed between 18–24 hours between layers of a damp napkin and, covered, put in a warm place. Then, when they swell a little, they land in a wet mixture of purified peat and sand. To make small seeds easily grow, they are submerged by no more than 1-2 cm.
- At normal room temperature, germination can take from 3-4 weeks to one and a half months.
- If, on the other hand, the seeds remain at a temperature of about 30–32 ° C, the sprouts can be seen in 2–3 weeks.
It is important to maintain not only the temperature regime, but also to moisten the soil in time, and also not to forget about seedlings feeding. To do this, at intervals of 15–20 days, crops are fertilized with complex formulations, including basic nutrients and trace elements.
When several leaves appear on young rosettes, they dive, transferring a lump together with a small earthlings into the ground for adult plants. Such a soil can be made independently by mixing in equal parts peat, humus, garden soil and sand. To give structure and a peculiar protection against infections, crushed charcoal is added to the soil up to 5% of the volume. And some of the sand can be replaced with perlite.
How to grow a pineapple from the top at home
If you can’t find the seeds of an exotic crop, not always and not everywhere, then you can grow a pineapple at home from the top of a store-bought fruit, even without special knowledge. However, to approach the choice of delicacy, which is destined to give the planting material, it is necessary to approach with full responsibility. Pineapple should be fresh, with a green elastic rosette of foliage, without any signs of spoilage, cold damage or fading. When inspecting you need to pay attention to the growth point of the outlet, if it is rotten, withered or simply missing, it will be extremely difficult to get a new plant.
At home, when growing pineapple near the seed, use a sharp, clean knife to cut off the upper part, grabbing not only a leafy rosette, but a section of the fruit three centimeters lower. If the pineapple is completely ripe, you can gently unscrew the outlet, holding the tuft firmly with one hand and the fruit stem with the other.
When the future planting material is obtained, all residues of juicy pulp that may become a source of rot are carefully removed from the outlet. Short lower leaves are removed to get a cylindrical stalk up to 3 centimeters long.
Sections are necessarily treated with a saturated solution of potassium permanganate, crushed charcoal or, which will allow to accelerate the appearance of the roots, with the solution of epin.
To protect the cutting from rotting, it is advised to leave the pineapple dry for a day or two before rooting. And it is better to hang the socket so that it does not come into contact with any surfaces. A video on how to grow pineapple at home will reveal all the details of the process and clearly show all its stages.
Rooting is carried out by submerging the foliage-free part of the cutting in water. To hold it at the right level, you can use a cardboard circle or toothpicks, as shown in the photo.
When the first roots appeared on the pineapple, the socket can be planted in the ground, and the young plant should not be buried above the lower tier of the leaves. The substrate around the seedling gently, trying not to damage a few numerical roots, crushed and compacted.
Further cultivation of pineapple at home takes place under the film at a temperature not lower than 20–22 ° C.If it is possible to achieve warming of air and soil up to 25 ° C, after about a month, new bright leaves will appear in the center of the outlet.
While the pineapple plant is acclimatizing and rooting, it is important: to protect
- from dropping condensate droplets on the outlet, which causes mold and foliage to rot;
- regularly moisten the primer;
- air planting, preventing cooling plants.
A pot with a pineapple plant is placed in a lighted place where the socket will not be threatened by the direct rays of the sun.
Pineapple reproduction by root cuttings
If the house already has an adult pineapple plant, it can be propagated using the daughter sprouts that form at the bottom of the stem or under the stem, which can be easily broken and rooted. As a planting material, cuttings can be used, which have already produced several rows of leaves and are 15–20 cm long.
Like the socket from the top of the pineapple, the cutting can be unscrewed or neatly cut off with a sharp blade. Place the cut to sprinkle with coal powder, and then with the handle come in by analogy with the cultivation of pineapple in the home from the top.
If the basal rosette already has the rudiments of the roots, it can immediately be planted in a light soil from a mixture of peat, perlite and a ready substrate for indoor plants.
How to care for pineapple at home?
Care for homemade pineapple is to provide all the conditions for the growth and development of the plant.
- For pineapple, it is important to select and maintain loose nutrient soil.
- Create acceptable lighting, temperature and humidity conditions.
- Pineapple needs well-organized watering and feeding.
When planting pineapple and taking care of it at home, you need to remember that the plant has a not very powerful root system of the surface type:
- Soil must be permeable to both moisture and oxygen.
- In a pot must provide a decent layer of drainage.
- The capacity itself should not be deep, but the pineapple is very good for wide pots.
It is best to grow a light-colored southern pineapple at home in the southern, western or eastern windows. At the same time, in summertime, when the sun is the hottest, pineapples are best shaded on the south side, but in winter plants need light that prolongs the daylight hours by 6–8 hours.
In a healthy specimen, young foliage has a bright green shade. And the leaves from the lower rows are not dry and withered, but gray, taut and juicy. With a sufficient level of light, the socket is formed symmetrically.
The home temperature limit for pineapple at home is 18 ° C.in such an air, the plant goes into hibernation. And for the active development of the air should be warmer. In spring and summer, the optimum temperature can be between 22 and 30 ° C.
Home pineapple care includes regular, infrequent, but abundant watering, for which warm, ambient air temperature, settled water is taken.
On hot days, plants irrigate, but wet foliage on cold days inevitably causes disease and wilt. The same effect should be expected if the pineapple gets cold air from an open window, or there is a drying effect of a hot battery.
From mid-spring, when the active growing season begins, pineapples are fed at home in the whole span of care until October. The schedule is organized depending on the state of the plant, but more often organic and mineral fertilizers are applied every 1-2 weeks.
In winter, top dressing is canceled, watering reduces, reduces the temperature of the content.
How to make homemade pineapple blossom and care for it?
Pineapple fruiting season begins 2–4 years after the rosette is formed. However, even with industrial plantings, fruits are obtained by treating plants with acetylene or acetic acid using a special technology. At home, growing pineapple, such methods are not very acceptable, but here you can make a stubborn plant to form an inflorescence.
Regular feeding of the plant with liquid organic fertilizer becomes a good stimulant. If pineapple twice a month during the entire growing season receives such feeding, then in 2-3 months you can wait for flowering. Some experts advise in a few days to spill the inside of the outlet with an acetylene solution obtained from a liter of water and 15 grams of carbide.
A similar effect is given by staging near the pot a jar with a small amount of water and a piece of steaming carbide. During the procedure, it is better to cover the pot with a bag or place it in a greenhouse. The plant can also be triggered by ordinary apples, which produce ethylene during storage. To do this, next to a pot in a hothouse, fresh apples are laid out for several days.
Most often, flower growers use fumigating plants with ordinary smoke to activate flowering. This procedure should last 10–15 minutes and be repeated 2-3 times in a week.
After 2–3 months after treatment, with proper care for the pineapple at home, an inflorescence appears first, and then, after 30 days, and the ovary. Fruit ripening lasts from 4 to 6 months, after which it will be possible to try the pineapple grown on its own.
