Nothing is more happier than finding one of 3 pineapple crowns I planted in November last year, has finally started blooming!!! YAAAAY!!! Look at that cute pinkish bloom!
How long does it take pineapple to bloom and set fruit if we plant it from the crown? The answer is between 16-24 months, depends on whether you plant it outdoor or indoor. If you plant it outdoor, normally it will start to bloom within a year,
but in my case, only one from 3 crowns has started to bloom.
I'm not sure why, but they are the same variety and planted on
the same day.
I guess the size or depth of the containers used may play a role in the health of the plants, as it provides more space for the roots to develop and thus influence the maturity of the plants. I use
4-gallon pots for each of the two plants and one basin type bucket
for the other one.
I wonder if my hypothesis is right.
Normally pineapple can bear fruit 3 times during their lifetime before we must replace the plant, but indoor potted plant are more likely to produce only one or two fruits during their lifetime because they may not always receive the optimum condition necessary for thorough fruiting.
The mother plant, or the first plant grown, produces a single fruit from the center of the crown. The second and third fruits grow from side shoots off the mother plant, called ratoons. In large containers we can leave these shoots, or suckers, on the mother to continue growing. The suckers are usually removed in smaller pots and transplanted to their own container, where they become a new mother plant. Each ratoon can only flower once, and it itsn't likely to send out its own suckers if left on the mother plant. Although each mother can produce multiple suckers, it's best to remove all but the two strongest. Too many suckers on one plant weakens it and minimizes the chance of fruiting.
