When it comes to growing your own pineapples, you’ve got two main options: the vegetative route or the generative (seed) route. Both have their pros and cons, especially when you look at how much work you’ll need to put in to get results.
Growing from Seeds (Generative Propagation)
If you want to try growing a pineapple from seeds, you’ll usually have to harvest them from the fruit yourself. You won’t find pineapple seeds in your local garden center very often because growing from seed is a bit of a gamble—you never quite know what the resulting plant or fruit will look like. Since there are so many different hybrids out there these days, the fruit quality, color, and yield can vary wildly from the parent.
In professional farming, they almost never use seeds because the results are too unpredictable. Plus, it takes several years before a seed-grown plant even thinks about flowering.
If you’re up for the challenge, pack your patience! You’ll need to keep the seeds between 77-86°F (25-30°C) with a humidity level of around 80%. Under these perfect conditions, they’ll sprout in about eight to twelve weeks. Once they’ve popped up, you can move the seedlings to a slightly cooler spot to help them grow nice and sturdy.
Growing from Offshoots (Vegetative Propagation)
Vegetative propagation is the go-to method for commercial growers. This involves using “pups” or offshoots that grow from the leaf axils or directly from the roots.
Root suckers are super easy to deal with. Just keep an eye on the base of your plant to see if any new little plants are peeking out of the soil. If you see some, gently dig down a bit to see if they’ve developed their own roots yet. As soon as they have a root system, you can snip them away from the mother plant and pot your new pineapple in its own home.
For offshoots growing from the leaf axils, wait until they are at least 8 inches (20 cm) long. Strip off the bottom row of leaves and pop the base into a glass of water to root. Pro tip: Change that water every single day! If you don’t, nasty bacteria can move in and cause your little plant to rot before it even gets started.
