Crown
Crown
Crown is the dooryard pineapple. A pot you can carry inside is how the plant lives through a cold night.
Pineapples are not grown commercially in Florida but are common dooryard yard plants in warm locations throughout the state.
That line is from UF/IFAS Pineapple Growing in the Florida Home Landscape. Read it twice. The grocery fruit is imported. A yard fruit, if you get one, is a project measured in years, not in a Florida season week.
The long clock
The pineapple growing guide puts planting to harvest at 18 to 24 months, depending on cultivar, cultural practices, and temperature. The plant matures at roughly 14 to 18 months depending on whether it started as a crown, a slip, or a sucker. It may then flower on its own after cool weather. From flower to picked fruit is another 5 to 7 months.
The leafy top of a grocery fruit is standard planting material. Twist it off, trim the flesh from the base, and let it air dry in the shade for a day or two. Plant it in clean soil media. Clean media is the paper's main defense against scale. The larger the planting piece, the sooner it fruits. A sucker beats a skinny top.
Bring the pot inside
This is the plant where a container is not a compromise. The paper treats pot and ground as normal. In the ground, plant in full sun in a spot that does not stay wet after summer rain, at least 5 feet from other trees and buildings. Continuously wet soil raises root rot risk and can kill the plant. In a pot, the advantage is that the plant comes inside when a hard night is forecast.
Optimum growth sits between 68°F and 86°F. Plants do not tolerate freezing temperatures below 28°F. Chilling injury from a light frost shows as red and white flecked, scorched upper leaf surfaces and rotting fruit pulp. For the sweetest fruit, harvest when one-third to two-thirds or more of the shell has turned from green toward yellow. You can also cut it at full size but not yet yellow and let it finish at room temperature. Once ripe it holds about a week in the refrigerator. Do not refrigerate immature green fruit.
The fridge magnet is the pineapple body with Orlando on the fruit. Grocery fruit is still imported. If you want a fruit next month, buy one. If you want a plant, start the top and wait.
What stays off the die
Crown stays a pineapple with sunglasses. A person face stays off the die. The grocery fruit is imported. The plant is a pot you can carry inside.
