Regrowing Pineapple: Is It Worth It?

Harvesting Regrown Pineapple — image by author

Pineapples are one of my favorite fruits — usually, I prefer chocolate over fruits, but pineapples challenge me to eat more fruit. Another favorite hobby of mine is gardening — unfortunately, I don’t have a garden, but every small unused section of my apartment and my balconies are covered with plants.

A vice of mine is YouTube addiction. But when I came across videos about regrowing pineapples, I instantly turned off the computer and went to buy a fresh pineapple. The flesh of the pineapple paired perfectly with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream! Before enjoying the fruit, I carefully removed the crown. Then, I removed the lower leaves until I had about a thumb’s thickness of bare stem. In the picture below, you can see where the knife points to the end of the leafless crown — it’s now covered with newly grown roots. Finally, I placed the pineapple crown in a jar of water, making sure most of the bare stem was submerged, while all leaves are above the water. Pineapples are bromeliads, but they are unique. Unlike other bromeliads that need water in their leaf funnels, pineapples can rot if water collects there. Therefore, avoid watering the center of the plant.

Pineapple Crown with New Roots — image by author

Of course, the water in the jar needs to be changed regularly. I made always sure some of the bare stem stayed in the water. Then, it was just a matter of being patient and waiting for roots to form. In one out of four cases, the pineapple rotted instead of rooting — perhaps because it sat too long in my kitchen before processing. However, I think the chances of rooting are quite good. It’s usually clear whether the crown is still viable or starting to rot.

I have to confess, the picture with the roots is from a different pineapple — my latest attempt with a baby pineapple. I’m looking forward to my ski vacation; leaving the pineapple crown in water is easier than giving my plant-watering substitute detailed instructions. Otherwise, I would have planted it in soil weeks ago.

I live in Germany, which isn’t typically known for pineapple plantations. Most of the year, it’s too cold to grow pineapples outside. So, I keep my pineapple as close as possible to a window to get maximum light. I don’t have to worry about too much direct sunlight cooking it. If it gets really hot here — what we call really hot here — I shade the windows for my comfort long before the pineapple minds. In my experience, pineapples are quite resilient to occasional forgetfulness with watering. Their leaves show signs of needing water long before they are in danger of dying.

Now it sits happily on my windowsill and grows. But for me, it has been like watching my children grow — I haven’t really noticed the changes! Unlike my children, when the pot becomes too small, the pineapple just happily stops growing. I think if I had been more careful and timely with repotting, I would have harvested much earlier. Good old AI suggests it takes anywhere between one and four years to grow a new pineapple this way; in my case, I started in February 2018 and harvested — and ate — in August 2023. Of course, I rooted that crown again. And yes, I have been guilty of forgetting to repot again. I’ll do it when I’m back from skiing; maybe I’ll take a picture to compare it with the future state of the plant to get a better feel for the growth…

In March 2023 — when I returned from another ski vacation — I was very excited to find this:

Little Fruit of Pineapple — image by author

And it grew and grew until one morning, I was shocked to see the fruit hanging over the pot downwards. The internet advised stabilizing it because it wasn’t fully ripe yet.

Pineapple with Bad Hangover — image by author

And finally, the moment came: I have harvested my first home-grown pineapple. It was the best pineapple I’ve ever eaten! Even though, I must admit, it was hard to compare since I hadn’t had a fresh pineapple for quite a while.

If you’re about to turn off the computer to get a fresh pineapple, hold on for a well-meant piece of advice: Don’t get a regular pineapple. They get huge! Mine is about 1.5m (5ft) in diameter and a little less in height from the top of the pot. You might consider getting a baby pineapple. And there’s a little aftermath:

After harvesting the pineapple, the plant will die, but very slowly. Now, almost 1.5 years after harvesting, the mother plant is smaller but not significantly. It has produced a child plant, as expected, but the child plant is much smaller than the one from the harvested crown. Maybe they need more fertilizer…

Speaking of fertilizer: Sometimes, when I think about it, I give them a “good portion.” Yes, it’s very irregular and quite rare. So, no advice for fertilizing. My conclusion is that pineapples are very robust plants!

If you search the internet for “regrowing pineapple,” you’ll find endless content. But I couldn’t find much about “harvesting a regrown pineapple” (though it doesn’t mean there isn’t any). So, I thought it might be worth creating some. I hope you enjoyed it.

Have a nice day!