What to Do With a Pineapple Top? Plant it, of Course!

Pineapples.

Pineapples!

PINEAPPLES!!!

Sorry... I get a little excited when I talk about those delicious fruits.  I don't eat them very often, since they're not particularly green.  At least, not when you live in the continental U.S.  There are all those food miles to think about.

I bought one the other day, however, because my daughter is going through an I-want-pineapple-and-all-other-foods-can-shrivel-up-and-die phase.  Well, that... and pineapples were on sale for $1.88 each.

Unfortunately, after twisting off the top, cutting it up, and storing it in glass containers, I was left with a long stem covered with a bunch of leaves.

That looked like way too much waste, to me.

I thought about grabbing a fallen branch from one of the black walnut trees outside, and spearing the central leaf stem with it, thereby creating a spiked club,

...but that idea didn't seem very useful.

Suddenly, I thought about all those pineapple plants I'd seen while in Hawaii.  I began to wonder if the stem could be replanted.

So, naturally... I googled it.

Sure enough, a new pineapple can grow from the stem of an old one.

Sweet!

One problem, though:  Every site that I looked at seemed to have their own tried and true method.  Some sites demanded that you remove all excess fruit

from the bottom of the stem, or you'll risk causing the plant to rot before it's even begun to re-grow.  Others insist that you can leave the whole top of the fruit on the leaf stem.

So which one is right, you ask?

Heck, I don't know.  This is my first attempt.  What I do know, however, is that there are a few things that all sites I looked at could agree on:

• Roots grow from the stem.
• Direct light during the rooting process is a bad idea.
• temperatures should be somewhere between 50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit... so no frosts and no heat waves allowed.
• Only a small amount of water should be used, and it should be changed every three days.
• It'll take 2-3 years to produce a new pineapple.

I elected to use a Howcast video that I found, and follow their directions... mainly because the looks on the face of the woman that planted the pineapple were absolutely priceless.

First, I sliced all of the remaining fruit off of the leaf stem.  The result was a clean and healthy cut.

Next, I removed all but the  innermost leaves.

I poured a small amount of water (about one half inch in height) into a small cup, and placed the groomed pineapple leaf stem inside, then set it on the window sill - in light, but not direct light.

That's it!  All you do now is wait while it goes through the rooting process... which will take around 3 weeks.  Once roots grow to be around an inch long, you can plant it inside a pot and wait for it to grow... again.

Is it just me, or is there a lot of waiting involved with the really good stuff?

All that was left was to figure out what in the world to do with all of that leaf waste.

So I took the prettiest of the leaves and used them to turn my fall window decor into spring decor,

And then placed the rest of them in a safe place to dry.

Why dry them?  Because evidently, you can do things like create thread or make paper using pineapple leaves!  Pineapple is the fruit that keeps on giving, I think.

No wonder pineapple was once called the fruit of kings!

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***Update, 8:16 PM:  Ok... This has been up long enough that I can admit it:  The Howcast video, for those of you that may have clicked on the link, was placed here as an April Fools prank.  Pineapples do not, I repeat, not form in-ground.  They grow out from the top.

You can, however, follow the directions I gave you.  As a plus, you don't have to peal off quite so many leaves.  Just remove them until you see the itty-bitty root buds.  ;-)