When to harvest pineapple?

[Kim]

This might be a white pineapple -- well, I hope it's a white pineapple. How can I tell when it's ready to harvest?

And will those little pineapple tops below the fruit develop fruit? This is all new to me.

[epicure3]

Hey Kim. The pieapple should have a yellowish hue to the skin near the base of the fruit. It should also smell sweet if you put your shnoz next to it. If it has no smell it probably needs more time. Good looking fruit, by the way.

[MattyB]

That's a real nice looking fruit! I can smell the colors from here. Oh wait, that's the LSD kicking in. I've gotta slowwwing dowwwwwwnnnnnnn fishhhhh eyeesssss oh sparkles

[Really full garden]

Kim, let the fruit ripen as long as possible before removing it .It will get sweeter.Smell is the main indicator.Pineapples do not ripen after picking they just begin to decompose.The commercial varieties are gassed to induce ripening.

Those little sprouts will produce more fruit.

I just picked two from my own patch and made sweet and sour chicken. I have to pick mine a little before pefection or the rat possums get them.

[BS Man about Palms]

Kim, Thats really cool! Do you even live here anymore?

[Kim]

I checked it out closely -- no smell yet. It's still a bit small I think. Any idea how much longer to ripen? A few days? A few weeks?

Bill, I live there and here, here and there.

[bgl]

Kim,

Most white pineapple ripen in July, give or take a month. Based on the size of yours, I'd say it's right on schedule for July. Maybe another 3-4 weeks or so. When you harvest it, remove the top, "rotating" it off, and then plant it. In two years time you'll have another one, but generally somewhat smaller.

Bo-Göran

[Kim]

Thanks! I will do as scottgt says and wait as long as possible for the sweetest fruit -- no rat possums here, I don't think.

[Gonzer]

Kim, I usually wait until they're $2.99 a pound.

[aussiearoids]

3 ways to vegatative propagate these , best is pups from base of plant .

2nd best is tops , and the usual way most get plants .

And the little 'buds' at the base of the fruit will root also .

Ananas Chocolat gives heaps of these and I have a few compots full .

I also have a few enormous variegated bracteatus types , A. Tricolor.

That have not flowered even after 3 years at least in the ground ,they are most lkely getting shaded out.

[Jose Maria]

Some fruit like bananas will ripen after harvest, not so with pineapple! Pineapple does not ripen on the shelf!

Like was already advised: wait until the fruit is ripe on the plant, mostly when the lower part turns yellow.

If you harvest it.... eat it right away, waiting will deteriorate the fruit, instead of ripening , time after harvest will lower the sugar and acid content....flavor is lost. If you harvest too soon,too green , it will burn your tongue. So be patient.

The lower part of the pineapple is always sweeter than the top, since this is an accumulation of small fruits all together, slowly flowering a few each day until the top is reached.The bottom ones are older and therefore riper...

All the shoots can be planted.

To start flowering you con use carbide in water,oldest system that can be used for small scale garden production, in big farms they use compounds that release ethylene.( Can be used to flower all Bromeliads)