Orlando Pineapple Company
Sets
Crown in a pot, then a corer
Pineapple Growing in the Florida Home Landscape opens by ruling out commercial acreage. Pineapples are not grown commercially in Florida. They are common dooryard plants in warm locations. Time from planting to harvest is 18 to 24 months in the climate section. The pineapple growing guide says the wait runs longer in the subtropics. Read that as yours, not as a grocery clock.
The plant matures at roughly 14 to 18 months depending on crown, slip, or sucker, then may flower after cool weather. Flower to picked fruit is another 5 to 7 months. Flowering can be induced with ripe apple slices in the center because they release ethylene. The pineapple growing guide says not to use calcium carbide.
Corer after pick
A pineapple corer is for fruit you already picked. A corer set is the same job with extra blades. It does not shorten 18 months. Buy it because a ripe fruit is on the counter, not because a cruise magnet looks like a crown.
Core fruit you already picked. Get this.
Same job with extra blades. Get this.
Cloth for a warm location
The pineapple growing guide is a warm-location paper. Frost cloth is the freeze-night object if you are pushing a pot on a listed cold night. It does not make Central Florida a commercial pineapple county. The larger the planting piece, the faster it fruits. A crown is leaves plus the top of the fruit.
Cover a clump you mean to keep on a light freeze. Get this.
A crown magnet is last
A pineapple magnet pack is a fridge souvenir. Cruise door magnets are a different souvenir job, a cabin door, still a magnet. Test the steel at home. Pack the years-not-weeks clock first, then the corer, magnet last.
Stick fruit on a steel door. Get this.
Cabin-door magnets, if that is actually the job. Get this.
Pot, cloth, then a corer
If you are starting a plant, the crown, slip, or sucker is first, and the clock is years. If fruit is ripe on the counter, the corer is first. If a listed freeze is coming and the plant is in a pot, cloth or a garage is first. If the job is a souvenir, test the steel, then the magnet. Do not buy a corer because a cruise magnet looks like a harvest.
The crown is leaves plus the top half to three-quarters of an inch of the fruit. Slips come off the stalk below the fruit and have a curve at the base of their leaves. Hapas sit lower and lack that curve. Suckers come from leaf axils. Ratoons come from underground stem for a second fruit. Larger piece, faster fruit. The pineapple growing guide's climate section says 18 to 24 months planting to harvest. The paper says the wait runs longer in the subtropics. Central Florida is subtropical. Use the longer wait, not a grocery clock.
Do not use calcium carbide to force flowering. Apple slices in the center release ethylene as they ripen. That is the shortcut the paper allows. A corer is not a shortcut. A magnet is not a ratoon.