Can pineapple grow at home?

Pineapples, which first came to Europe in the 16th century, quickly fell in love with the local nobility. Traveling in that era was extremely expensive and lengthy, so plants native to the Brazilian highlands began to be grown in greenhouses and greenhouses. Russia did not lag behind the European powers. Here, for more than a century, outlandish "bumps" have grown practically on an industrial scale in St. Petersburg and even further north, on Solovki. But the steamships that appeared in the 19th century changed the situation, and juicy fruits began to be brought from South America.

This is the case today, but still the interest in growing pineapples at home does not wane. Despite the overseas nature, the plant turned out to be rather picky, and a viable and fruiting bush can be obtained even from a tuft cut from a fresh fruit.

In nature, the culture grows up to 60–80 cm and consists of a small stem, studded with sharp long leaves, a fibrous root and infructescence formed at the top of the main shoot elongating after flowering. It is thanks to this compound fruit, which hides the juicy pulp under the keratinized peel, that the plant has become one of the most valuable agricultural crops not only on the South American continent, but also in Africa and Southeast Asia.

In a warm tropical climate, the rosette of pineapple leaves can reach a diameter of two meters. In an apartment it will not be possible to achieve such a plant size, but after 2-4 years, with proper attention and care, an edible fragrant fruit will grow on the pineapple at home. And although you will have to be patient to achieve success, the unusual development of the plant is well worth the effort and time.

To grow pineapple, you can use seeds or cuttings that form on the stem of an adult plant. But the easiest way is to grow pineapple at home from the top, cut from ripe fresh seedlings.

How to grow pineapple from seeds at home

Seed propagation is considered the most difficult and time-consuming method. Firstly, you can get seedlings only from purchased seeds. In the fruits sold in supermarkets, there are no seeds at all, or you can only find their whitish immature rudiments.

The seed of a pineapple suitable for germination has a somewhat flattened semicircular shape, reaches 3-4 mm in length and is colored with a brownish or reddish shade of brown.

Before planting, the seeds are placed between layers of a damp cloth for 18-24 hours and, covered, placed in a warm place. Then, when they swell a little, they plant them in a wet mixture of peat and sand. In order for small seeds to sprout without difficulty, they are buried no more than 1-2 cm.

Containers must be covered with foil or glass and placed in a warm place. It is on the temperature provided to the seeds that their germination and the timing of the appearance of the first shoots will depend:

• At normal room temperature, germination can take from 3-4 weeks to one and a half months.
• If the seeds are kept 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 feeding the seedlings. To do this, with an interval of 15–20 days, the crops are fertilized with complex formulations, including the main nutrients and microelements.

When several leaves appear on young rosettes, they are dived, transferring a lump together with a small earthlings into the soil for adult plants. Such soil can be made independently by mixing peat, humus, garden soil and sand in equal proportions. To give structure and a kind of protection against infections, crushed charcoal is added to the soil up to 5% of the volume. And part of the sand can be replaced with perlite.

How to grow pineapple from the top at home

If you cannot find the seeds of an exotic culture always and not everywhere, then it is quite possible to grow pineapple at home from the top of a fruit purchased in a store, even without special knowledge. True, it is worth approaching the choice of a delicacy that is destined to be given planting material with full responsibility. Pineapple should be fresh, with a green elastic rosette of foliage, without traces of spoilage, cold damage or wilting. When examining, you need to pay attention to the point of growth of the outlet, if it is rotten, withered or simply absent, it will be extremely difficult to get a new plant.

At home, when growing pineapple, the top of the fruit is cut off with a sharp clean knife, capturing not only the leafy rosette, but the area of ​​the fruit three centimeters lower. If the pineapple is completely ripe, you can carefully unscrew the outlet, holding the tuft tightly with one hand, and the stem with the other.

When the future planting material is received, all remnants of juicy pulp, which can become a source of rot, are carefully removed from the outlet. The short lower leaves are removed to obtain a cylindrical stalk up to 3 centimeters long.

Slices must be treated with a saturated solution of potassium permanganate, crushed charcoal or, which will speed up the appearance of roots, with an epin solution.

To protect the stalk from decay, it is advised to leave the pineapple for drying for a day or two before rooting. Moreover, it is better to hang the outlet so that it does not come into contact with any surfaces. A video on how to grow pineapple at home will reveal all the subtleties of the process and clearly show all its stages.

Rooting is carried out by immersing the part of the cuttings cleared of foliage in water. To hold at the desired level, you can use a cardboard wheel or toothpicks, as shown in the photo.

When the first roots appear on the pineapple, the rosette can be planted in the ground, and you should not bury the young plant above the lower tier of leaves. The substrate around the seedling is gently crushed and compacted, trying not to damage the slightly numerical roots.

Further cultivation of pineapple at home takes place under a film at a temperature not lower than 20-22 ° C. If it is possible to achieve warming of the air and soil to 25 ° C, after about a month, new bright leaves will appear in the center of the rosette.

While acclimatization and rooting is in progress, the pineapple plant is important:

• protect from condensation drops falling on the outlet, causing the development of mold and decay of foliage;
• moisten the soil regularly;
• ventilate plantings, avoiding cooling of the plant.

The pineapple plant pot is placed in a lighted place where the outlet will not be threatened by direct sunlight.

Propagation of pineapple by root cuttings

If there is already an adult pineapple plant in the house, you can propagate it using the daughter processes formed in the lower part of the stem or under the seed fruit, which are easy to break out and root. As a planting material, you can use cuttings that have already given several rows of leaves and have reached 15–20 cm in length.

Like a rosette at the top of a pineapple, the stem can be twisted or carefully cut with a sharp blade. The place of the cut must be sprinkled with coal crumbs, and then the handle is done by analogy with growing pineapple from the top at home.

If the root rosette already has root rudiments, it can be immediately planted in light soil from a mixture of peat, perlite and a ready-made substrate for indoor plants.

How to care for pineapple at home?

Homemade pineapple care consists in providing all conditions for the growth and development of the plant.

• For pineapple, it is important to select and maintain a loose, nutritious soil.
• Create acceptable lighting, temperature and humidity conditions.
• Pineapple needs well-organized watering and feeding.

When planting pineapple and caring for it at home, you need to remember that the plant does not have a very powerful superficial root system:

• The soil must be permeable to both moisture and oxygen.
• The pot must provide a decent drainage layer.
• The container itself should not be deep, but pineapple treats wide pots very well.

It is best to grow light-loving southern pineapple at home on southern, western or eastern windows. At the same time, in the summer, when the sun is hottest, it is better to shade pineapples on the southern side, but in winter plants need illumination, which prolongs the daylight hours by 6-8 hours.

In a healthy specimen, young foliage has a bright green tint. And the leaves from the lower rows are not dry and withered, but gray, tight and juicy. With sufficient light, the rosette forms symmetrically.

The lower air temperature limit for pineapple at home is 18 ° C. in such air the plant goes into hibernation. And for active development, the air must be warmer. In spring and summer, the optimum temperature can be between 22 and 30 ° C.

Homemade pineapple care includes regular, infrequent, but plentiful watering, for which they take warm, ambient temperature, settled water.

On hot days, plants are irrigated, but wet foliage on cold days inevitably causes disease and wilting. The same effect should be expected if the pineapple gets cold air from an open window, or if there is a drying effect from a hot battery.

From the middle of spring, when the active growing season begins, and until October, pineapples are fed at home in full swing. The schedule is organized depending on the state of the plant, but more often organic matter and mineral fertilizers are applied once every 1-2 weeks.

In winter, feeding is canceled, watering is reduced, and the temperature of the content is also reduced.

How to make homemade pineapple bloom and care for it?

Fruiting time for pineapples begins 2–4 years after the formation of the rosette. True, even with industrial plantings, fruits are obtained by treating the plants with acetylene or acetic acid using a special technology. At home, growing pineapple, such methods are not very acceptable, but even here you can force the obstinate plant to form an inflorescence.

Regular feeding of the plant with liquid organic fertilizer becomes a good stimulant. If the pineapple receives such a top dressing twice a month during the entire growing season, then after 2-3 months you can wait for flowering. Some experts advise spilling the inside of the outlet with a solution of acetylene obtained from a liter of water and 15 grams of carbide for several days.

A similar effect is obtained by setting a jar with a small amount of water and a piece of steaming carbide next to the pot.During the procedure, it is better to cover the pot with a bag or put it in a greenhouse. Ordinary apples, which release ethylene during storage, can also provoke the plant. For this, fresh apples are laid out next to the pot in the greenhouse for several days.

Most often, to activate flowering, flower growers use fumigation of the plant with ordinary smoke. This procedure should last 10-15 minutes and be repeated 2-3 times in a week.

2-3 months after processing, with proper care of pineapple at home, first the inflorescence appears, and then, after 30 days, the ovary. Fruit ripening lasts from 4 to 6 months, after which you can taste pineapple grown with your own hands.

How to grow pineapple at home - video

Pineapple has not only a pleasant taste, but also a significant number of useful properties. It is believed that this fruit contains all the minerals and vitamins. It is not surprising that many have a desire to grow it on their own. But not everyone decides on such an experiment due to the tropical origin of the fruit. If you still decide to grow pineapple from the top of the house, then read the planting rules and care recommendations.

Is it possible to grow pineapple at home

Growing pineapple at home is troublesome, but worth it

Pineapple is a herbaceous perennial plant in the Bromeliaceae family. It grows in equatorial and tropical areas. The leaders in cultivation are the Philippines, Thailand, the United States and Latin America. Today, there are 9 varieties of this culture. The most common is the large-crested pineapple (Ananas comosus).

It is possible to grow a plant in Europe only when greenhouse conditions are created. You don't need a special room for this, an ordinary apartment will do. The fruits of the plant obtained in this way are slightly inferior in size to the fruits that are transported from the tropical zones. But this does not affect the aroma and taste of pineapple.

Required tools and materials

To grow this exotic fruit, prepare:

• a pineapple;
• water;
• Cup;
• manganese potassium;
• priming;
• knife;
• expanded clay;
• a pot with a diameter of 15–20 cm or more;
• plastic film.

Step-by-step instructions for growing pineapple from the top

Pineapple is grown in several ways. The most effective of these is the use of the tops.

The choice of planting material

Choosing a healthy pineapple for breeding is the key to success

One of the conditions for the successful cultivation of pineapple is the correct choice of fruit. In order not to be mistaken, be guided by the following rules:

1. Pay attention to the leaves. In a quality pineapple, they have a rich green color and a firm structure. If you find fruit with yellow or brown leaves, it is not worth purchasing.
2. The color of the peel should be golden yellow.
3. A healthy fruit is moderately firm. Don't choose too tough pineapple. But if the fruit is too loose, then this is also an indicator of its poor quality.
4. It is recommended to purchase pineapple for home cultivation in late August or early September. If you buy the fruit in the winter, make sure that it is not frozen. It will not be possible to obtain a healthy plant from such planting material.
5. The presence of gray spots on the peel is unacceptable.

Top preparation

1. Grasp the top with your hand and turn it out with a slow, gentle movement. The inner stem should separate with the leaves.

You can unscrew the top with your hands or with a knife.

2. If the fruit is not ripe, difficulties may arise during this procedure. Then use a knife and use it to remove the leaves and root. Stay at a 45 ° angle when cutting. Do not place the knife horizontally.

If using a knife, keep it at a 45 degree angle

3.Remove the pulp that remains on the stem, otherwise the planting material will start to rot. From here the pineapple root system will develop.
4. Step back 3 cm from the tuft and cut off the top along with the leaves. As a result, you should get a cutting with a crown. We also remove the lower leaves. Make sure that the kidneys are not damaged.
5. The next stage of preparation is preliminary germination. Pour settled water at room temperature into a glass and lower the stalk there. He should plunge 3-4 cm.
6. Place the glass in a warm, well-lit place with a stable temperature. Change the water every 2-3 days.

We germinate the top and plant in a pot

7. After 3 weeks, roots will appear at the top, after which it can be transplanted into the ground.

There is also an alternative preparatory treatment. The handle is suspended on a rope in an upright position with the crown down. The plant dries out for 2-3 weeks. It is believed that after such a procedure, the tip takes root better.

Important! Treat the cutting with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, this will help prevent rotting.

Video: apex preparation technique

Landing

General scheme for planting pineapple

1. Prepare the pot. In size, it should not be inferior to a pineapple cut at a tuft. Since the plant will have to be transplanted into a larger space as it grows, you can immediately use a pot with a diameter of 30–35 cm. But if this is not possible, at this stage a container of 15 cm will do. The presence of a drainage hole is mandatory, this will avoid stagnation of excess moisture. It is recommended to plant pineapple in a pot with low sides, but with a large diameter. This is due to the peculiarities of the development of the root system, which is located in the upper layer of the soil.

2. At the bottom of the container, pour a layer of expanded clay 2-3 cm thick.

3. Fill the pot with soil. The soil can be purchased from flower shops or prepared by yourself. 2 days before planting, it must be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water. There are several options for soil composition for pineapple:

• mix peat and river sand in equal proportions;
• combine sod and leafy soil, peat, birch sawdust and coarse sand in a ratio of 3: 2: 2: 2: 1;
• mix leaf humus, turf, sand and peat (2: 1: 1: 1).

4. In the middle of the container, make a hole 3 cm deep, place the top with the roots down and cover it with soil to the level of the leaves.

5. Use your fingers to compact the soil slightly.

6. Water the plant with a little water. The soil should be slightly damp.

7. Place the pot in a warm place with adequate lighting. If you started planting in cold weather, cover the seedling with plastic wrap, this will create the necessary microclimate.

8. For the plant to take root, the room temperature must be 25–27 ° C. This process takes 1.5–2 months. Do not leave pineapple in direct sunlight.

9. When the first leaves appear, remove the film.

Plant follow-up

In order for the plant to fully develop, it is necessary to provide a certain temperature level for it, regular watering, feeding and lighting.

Temperature

1. In the room where the pineapple grows, keep the temperature at 22–25 ° C.
2. In winter, lower it to 16–18 ° С.
3. If the temperature does not correspond to the required indicator and the room is too cool, use heating devices.
4. If the plant is on a windowsill, it must be protected from drafts and frostbite.
5. In the cold season, it is better to rearrange the culture in a warmer area of ​​the apartment.

Watering

Culture does not tolerate excess moisture

Pineapple should not be watered too abundantly. Its natural habitat is a tropical climate, where the plant does not receive water for several months.Twice a week will be enough; in winter, reduce the frequency of watering to once every 7 days.

Focus on the condition of the soil and plant. If the soil is dry or the leaves begin to wither, this indicates that the pineapple needs moisture. It needs to be watered into a rosette of leaves, which is filled by 2/3 of the volume. Use only settled or filtered water at room temperature. You can add a few drops of lemon juice to the liquid.

Important! Excessive moisture will cause the plant to rot.

Lighting

Pineapple is a light-loving culture. But exposure to direct ultraviolet rays is highly undesirable. The most suitable place for him would be the east or west side. It is not recommended to place the plant on the south window.

Do not turn it. Pineapple thrives on one-sided lighting. In late autumn and winter, the plant needs an additional light source. Place a fluorescent lamp next to it at a distance of 20 cm. Light the pineapple for 8-10 hours a day.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are applied during the growing season

From the end of February, the growing season begins, which lasts until September. At this time, the pineapple needs to be systematically fed. Fertilizers are applied every 10-15 days. The process itself has the following features:

1. Pineapple is fed with horse or cow dung. Prepare a bucket and fill it 1/3 full with organic fertilizer, top up the remaining volume with warm water.
2. Stir the mixture periodically for 3-5 days.
3. After that, the solution should be infused for a week.
4. Then dilute it with water at a ratio of 1:10. 1 liter of soil requires 50 ml of fertilizer.
5. Spray the pineapple with a solution of ferrous sulfate 1-2 times a month (1 g of the preparation per 1 liter of water).

Important! Do not feed the pineapple with alkaline fertilizers such as wood ash or lime.

Transfer

The first transplant is carried out after 2 months. By this time, the pineapple will root well and will be able to actively consume nutrients and moisture from the soil. In the future, it is transplanted every year.

Strong growth of the root system should not be allowed. For each new transplant, use a pot that is 2-3 liters larger than the previous one. Move the plant along with a clod of earth. The procedure is carried out in the same sequence as the landing. A similar soil composition is used.

Video: the process of transplanting pineapple

Flowering stimulation

Flowering can be stimulated in several ways, such as with calcium carbide.

When grown at home, pineapple begins to bloom after 3-4 years. If it doesn't, try one of the following tips:

1. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of calcium carbide in 500 ml of water, leave to infuse for 24 hours. Then drain the liquid, leaving impurities and sediment. Pour 50 ml of this composition daily into the middle of the outlet for a week. Flowering begins in 1–1, 5 months.
2. Cover the plant with a plastic bag. Place some steaming coals near the pot. The pineapple will bloom after 2–2.5 months. But such a procedure should be carried out 2-3 times with a break for a week. When the coals stop smoking, remove them and remove the plastic from the pineapple.
3. Place the pot in a large bag with 3-4 tomatoes or apples. When the fruits start to deteriorate, replace them with new ones.

Fruiting

The crop will appear 6-7 months after flowering. When grown at home, pineapple weighs 0.3–1.5 kg. You can identify ripe fruits by their sweetish smell. During this period, it is not recommended to use mineral fertilizers, feed the plant only with organic substances.

After the end of fruiting, new shoots will appear on the pineapple within 2-3 years. Then the plant dies. Children can be re-seated. They land in the same way as the top.

Pineapple can grow successfully at home. If you follow the above recommendations, in a few years you will taste the fruits grown on your own. And if you wish, you can organize a whole plantation. Good luck!

Breeding pineapple at home is very simple. It is enough to buy this fruit in the store and root its top correctly. The plant looks very attractive, so even before the first fruits appear, it will undoubtedly be a wonderful home decoration.

Is it possible to grow it at home and how to grow pineapple at home from the top step by step, how to root it correctly - we will tell you in this article. Pineapple belongs to the bromeliad family and has the same appearance and requirements as other plants in this family. The size of the fruit depends on the method of cultivation and the place of origin, as well as on the conditions prevailing there.

There are fruits on sale, the weight of which is about 1 to 2 kg, however, on plantations, some samples reach a weight of five or more kilograms. In Brazil, the plant grows up to 1.5 m in height, while in other conditions it can be much more compact.

The largest plantations are located in China, Mexico, Hawaii and the Philippines.

The fruit grown in a pot is usually small (just over 50 cm in height). It forms a rosette of long leaves arranged in a spiral. When grown properly, you can get a fairly large plant that can bloom and even bear fruit.

At home and in greenhouses, three forms of pineapple are grown.

1. The A. comosus variety is characterized by green, narrow leaves and bears fruit well.
2. A.comosus Variegatus has shorter and wider striped leaves. This plant looks very beautiful in the interior, decorating it, but rarely bears fruit.
3. A. bracteatus Striatus is the largest plant in comparison with the above. It is characterized by green-yellow leaves.

Growing pineapple - step by step, instructions with photos and videos

To grow this beautiful plant with a tasty fruit on your own, first of all, you should buy the fruit along with a rosette of leaves located on the top of the fruit. This outlet is relatively easy to root. We will explain below how to do this, starting with the purchase of the fruit.

Buying fruit

First you need to choose the right pineapple in the store. It should be noted whether it has a full rosette of leaves along with the center. It is important to choose the fruit that is ripe and healthy, with beautifully colored green leaves. The plant should not have a brown top. A flower sprout should protrude from the outlet - this will give us a guarantee that the plant will bloom.

How to root it correctly?

To germinate the roots, it is important to properly prepare the tail for planting so that the plant grows roots. First, cut off the rosette of leaves at the top, leaving 1-2 cm of fruit near the outlet, a photo of the correct cut is shown below.

A fragment of the fruit must be peeled with a knife in the form of a slightly rounded heel. Then we cut off the remnants of the pulp with a knife so that the fibrous part remains. It is important to remove all the pulp when preparing the seedlings, otherwise it will begin to rot. If white dots are visible on the cut, these are root nodules; it is advisable not to damage them during cleaning.

Growing fruit from their tail, photo

Leaves should be torn off from the bottom of the outlet in an area of ​​about 2 cm. To avoid damage to the roots sprouting from under the leaves, clean the trunk from the leaves, tearing them off perpendicular to the trunk. On some pineapples, after removing the leaves, already at this stage we can see small sprouted roots.

Germination and planting

The planting material obtained in this way is soaked in water to half a fragment of torn leaves. After about 1-2 weeks, they start to take root.When the roots are several centimeters long, remove the seedling from the water and place it on a paper towel. Let it dry for 2-3 hours. After drying, the seedlings are planted in soil intended for growing palm trees. The soil in the pot should not be too wet, but only slightly damp. It is necessary to bury the entire section of the stem without leaves in the ground.

Growing pineapple - video

Of course, our little palm tree needs proper care.

• Pot for this exotic plant, it should be large enough so that after planting the seedlings, about 2 cm of soil remains around the plant to the edge. Usually pots with a diameter of 12 to 14 centimeters are suitable. When new leaves appear in the center of the rosette, it means that a well-rooted plant is starting to grow. After that, you should put the pot in the sunniest place in the apartment. Pineapple is transplanted once a year, it is better to do this in early summer. It is imperative to select the diameter of the pot so that it is about 2 cm from the plant to its edge.
• The soil: It is easy to buy special soil made for palm trees in garden stores. The plant is quite tolerant of the ground, so a universal soil can also be used. A drainage layer should be created at the bottom of the pot to minimize the risk of flooding and thereby reduce the risk of root rot. This soil is fertile enough for pineapple, so it does not require additional feeding.
• Bloom: The first flowers begin to appear about 1.5-2 years after planting. In very sunny places, fruits develop from flowers.
• Temperature:pineapples feel comfortable at room temperature - 25 ° C in summer and 20 ° C in winter.
• Watering: the seedling does not need constantly moist soil. In summer, pineapple grown in pots is watered 2-3 times a week, in the cold season at a temperature of about 20 degrees, the plant should be watered no more than once a week. Water can be poured into the socket. Before watering, tap water should be prepared - filtered or at least defended so that it does not contain harmful salts and chlorine. The plant loves regular spraying.

Diseases and their symptoms

• Pale leaves: This means the plant is not getting enough light. It should be moved to a lighter position.
• No bloom: should help the plant a little. Some pineapples flower after 18 or even 30 months. Such a long period on an industrial scale is not economically justified. However, people have learned to speed up this process. Wise scientists have noticed that pineapple blooms much faster if it is treated with ethylene gas. This gas is released, including some fruits. At home, we can get it using apples. To do this, cut the apple in half, place one half of the fruit flat on the ground (cut to the soil), place the other half on a leaf outlet. Cover the entire plant with a plastic bag and leave for 2 to 4 weeks. At this time, the apple will begin to release ethylene, which, going to the roots, will stimulate the appearance of flowers. When we see the first flowers, we should remove the bag and remove the apple pieces.
• The lower leaves dry out, wrinkle and curl: this usually means that the plant is standing in a draft. Move it to a place that is more protected from drafts.
• Dust on the leaves: Leaves should be wiped with a damp cloth.
• Leaves are wrinkled and dying: this always happens after fruiting. Pineapple dies after fruiting, but new plants can be grown from the outlet.
• Slow growth: may indicate that there is a lack of trace elements in the soil. The plant should be fed with fertilizer for flowering plants.
• Dying leaves usually appear if the plant is in too hot and dry place. It should be watered and moved to a cooler place.
• Yellow spots on the leaves usually associated with the fact that our exotic plant was attacked by scale insects. This is manifested as follows - brown spots begin to appear on the underside under the sheet. Pests can be removed with a cotton swab or cotton swab soaked in soap.
  

Beneficial features

This fruit is prized for its delicious, juicy and highly aromatic fruits that are eaten both raw and cooked. We can buy it canned, in jams, compotes, juices and many other types. A very important feature is that pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which facilitates digestion and helps to lose weight. Fresh fruits contain the most vitamins. Canned fruits lose some of their beneficial properties during processing.

1. Pineapple is a great fruit for people on a diet because it contains a lot of fiber. Fiber speeds up digestion and removes toxic metabolic products.
2. Bromelain, found in pineapples, promotes weight loss, and also acts as an anti-inflammatory, anti-edema and analgesic to prevent blood clots.
3. The fruit is used supportively in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.
4. The fruits contain disinfectants, and also have the ability to remove dead tissue without damaging new ones, therefore they are used to heal wounds, treat burns, bites, bruises and edema.
5. As an adjuvant, they can be used in the treatment of allergies and respiratory diseases, as well as for digestive problems.
6. Pineapples are also used in cosmetics. Vitamin C contained in the fruit removes age spots and brightens the skin.
7. This fruit strengthens blood vessels. The organic acids and bromelain contained in the fruit gently exfoliate dead skin cells, while minerals nourish it. Pineapples are especially recommended for people with skin pigmentation and acne.
8. Pineapple is often used as an aphrodisiac.

Snoring Assistant

If someone snores a lot in the house, there is a perfect solution. Peaceful sleep will be provided by a pineapple in a pot. Statistics show that the problem of snoring affects one in four adults - usually men.

According to NASA research, pineapple plants produce oxygen and improve air quality throughout the night. Thus, they help you sleep better and quieter. For anyone who has had to run from a bedroom to another room due to their partner's snoring, this discovery can be a godsend.

Plants grow from 21 months to 2 years and eventually give a small fruit. If there is no problem with snoring in the house, they can simply bring a little exotic to the interior.

Pineapple is one of those exotic fruits that we can grow ourselves. It is enough to cut off the top leaf rosette and plant it in a pot. It is very important that this part of the pineapple, which we put in the ground with leaves, is dry, without pulp, otherwise the plant will rot. As a result, we get an ornamental plant that improves the air and can even bear fruit.

Pineapples have been cultivated in greenhouses for a very long time. But it turns out that you can grow them yourself at home if you know how to plant a pineapple from its top. An unpretentious plant will grow even in northern regions with proper care. And decorating the festive table with a fruit grown by your own hands is a real pleasure for everyone.

How to choose the right pineapple?

To get a new one from the cut pineapple top at home, you must choose the right product. That's right - it means buying a ripe, but not overripe fruit.

There are rules to help you make the right choice.

1. Look for fresh pineapple in the store (a product lying on the counter for a long time may not give roots or a weak plant will develop from it).
2. The crest should not be frostbitten.
3. The top when viewed should be firm, not dry, with elastic bright green large leaves. The presence of dark spots, damage, cuts or dry ends on them is unacceptable.
4. The pineapple itself should not be overripe and unripe. Ideally, it should have a golden-green rind, and the fruit itself should be firm.

The optimal time to buy the "right" product for the purpose of subsequent growing at home is considered to be the period from late summer to mid-autumn.

How to prepare for planting

Before planting a purchased pineapple, you should separate the tuft. This can be done using one of the options.

1. Twisting: grasp the leaves with one hand, and with the other, holding the fruit, slowly twist the top out of it.
2. Cutting: with a knife, carefully cut off the top of the fruit, leaving a distance of 4-5 cm to the leaves, while the lower leaves are removed, and the flesh is cut to a root 1.5-2 cm long.

The resulting "sprout" for disinfection is lowered into a weak solution of furacilin or potassium permanganate.

Advice

Instead of solutions, you can use wood ash, crushed activated carbon. Sprinkle the root with one of them or mix them.

Drying of the top is considered an important point. It is wrapped with a cord, rope or wire, and then hung up for 10-14 days. At the same time, its leaves should hang down.

Important!

This procedure will ensure the outflow of all substances important for the plant into the root formation zone and the cut will heal.

Landing

Growing a plant at home takes place in an ordinary flower pot with a volume of up to 0.5 liters with drainage for draining the water. Pebbles are laid out in a small layer on its bottom, and the container is filled with soil (mix garden soil, humus, peat, sand in equal amounts). You can buy ready-made soil (soil is suitable for growing plants from the Bromylium family).

Advice

Before planting (2-3 days), the prepared soil must be spilled with a hot solution of potassium permanganate. This will help protect the culture from bacteria or parasites.

In the soil in the center of the pot, a small depression is made up to 3-5 cm deep, up to 5-7 cm wide (depending on the size of the planted root). To save the plant from rotting, crushed activated carbon can be poured into the recess. The root can rot from waterlogging of the soil or from insufficient drying.

Planting a plant is carried out according to the following rules.

1. The root is located vertically in the recess, covered with earth and slightly compacted.
2. The top is fixed to avoid tilting: sticks (plastic or wooden) are installed along the edges of the container. Threads connect each stick to the top.
3. The soil is slightly moistened (it must not be poured).
4. The plant is covered on top with a transparent container or polyethylene bag.
5. The pot is placed at home in a sufficiently warm and well-lit place without drafts.

After 1-1.5 months, the tip will give roots. This can be determined by the young leaves that appear. The package (container) can be removed only after they appear.

Growing and care rules

Pineapple is a non-capricious and unpretentious plant to grow. It does not require any special care. But there are several conditions that are important to consider.

• Temperature

The plant loves light and warmth. Growing pineapple from its top should take place at a temperature of 23-25 ​​° C. During the winter months, you can maintain the required temperature with a heater or lamp.

If the pot with the plant is on the windowsill, it must be protected from drafts and accidental frostbite.

• Watering

Being a tropical plant, pineapple easily tolerates heat and lack of moisture. The main mistake that flower growers make is frequent and abundant watering. At home, it should be watered abundantly only twice a week, and in winter this should be done even less often.

Important!

An excess of water will lead to root rot and death of the plant.Watering should be done only with warm water and when the soil in the pot is really dry!

It is not only the soil under the crop that should be watered. Water must also be poured into the leaves so that they can accumulate it in themselves.

• Top dressing

When growing pineapple at home, you do not need to often feed it with fertilizers. It is enough to apply any organic or complex fertilizer intended for indoor flowers 2 times a year.

Important!

Do not use alkaline top dressing (lime, ash). Even a small amount of them will lead the plant to death.

In order to prepare the culture for fruiting and enhance vegetative growth, in the third year, every 14 days it should be fed with any organic fertilizer. At home, for this purpose, you can use mullein infusion, which contains all the important trace elements. The infusion is prepared just a bucket of water (10 l) is filled with manure by a third, filled with water and infused for 5-8 days with periodic stirring. When the fermentation of manure is complete, the infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 8.

To stimulate fruiting and improve the quality of the future fetus, it is recommended to carry out one more top dressing. Proved well as a carbide stimulant. A small piece of it (12-15 g) is lowered into a container (1 liter) with water - bubbling and release of acetylene will be observed. After the reaction has subsided, the solution (30 ml) is poured into a leaf funnel, where the growth point is located. The procedure must be repeated again every other day. From a point is simple, a peduncle will appear in 1.5 months.

Advice

Stimulation is recommended during the warm season and when the leaves grow up to 60 cm long and up to 7-10 cm wide at the base.

• Lighting

Growing at home requires the plant to be kept in a sufficiently lit room. On cloudy days or in the autumn-winter season, it is necessary to turn on the lamp installed 20-25 cm from it for 7-10 hours.

An indicator that the culture has enough light are large, wide leaves and a light crimson color of the edges of young leaves.

• Transfer

The growing plant should be transplanted into a new, more voluminous pot in a timely manner. Usually, the transplant is carried out once a year in the spring. For culture, you need to select a low, but fairly wide capacity. Its similar shape corresponds to the peculiarity of pineapple roots - they are in the upper layer of the soil and do not deepen. A wide-diameter dish contributes to good soil aeration - this is very important for the growth of a green pet.

Pineapple is an exotic crop that can be easily grown. But every grower should be patient in order to grow his fruit at home. It usually appears in the fourth year after planting the apex. Growing with all the rules of care allows you to get a fruit weighing up to 1.5 kg. And the fact that this tropical plant grows at home is an outstanding result to work for!