How to Grow Pineapple Plants from Tops

For me, growing a pineapple at home is more for fun and not really for food, because its takes years for a pineapple plant to actually produce a pineapple that you can eat.

You can easily grow a beautiful houseplant from the leafy tops of store-bought pineapples without leaving your home. Select a fresh pineapple from your local grocery store, cut off the top, and sprout your plant. Choose a pineapple with attractive or variegated foliage for a unique look that you can enjoy year-round.

How to Grow Pineapples from Tops

Rooting and growing pineapple tops is simple. Follow these steps once you have your pineapple:

On your pineapple, grab the green leaves carefully and twist them off the pineapple.
Remove some of the lower leaves until about 1.5cm is exposed, until you see root buds, which look like small, brown bumps around the stem’s edge.
You can let the pineapple top dry for several days to a week before planting to prevent rotting.
OR
You can get a clean jar and fill it with water and stick the pineapple top in there and put it on your kitchen windowsill. Allow the roots to grow this way first before planting it in soil. It will take a couple of weeks. I just put it straight into the water and so far, I have never had a problem.

Planting Pineapple Tops

It’s up to you if you want to try and grow the roots in water first or put it directly into the soil.

Use a light soil mix with perlite and sand. The best to use is a soil made for cacti. If you can get that, use that.
Place the pineapple top in the soil up to the base of its leaves.
Water thoroughly and place it in bright, indirect light.
Keep the soil moist.
If you haven’t started it off in water and have planted into the ground, it should take 6 – 8 weeks for roots to develop.

You can check for rooting by gently pulling on the top to see if roots have formed. Once the roots are well-established, you can gradually increase the light the plant receives.

For me that’s a bit risky and you can’t see what’s going on underground, so I prefer to start mine off in water.

The good thing about cacti soil is that it is very soft, so if you start your pineapple top off in water, the soil is soft enough for these roots.

Growing Pineapple Plants

Have you ever thought about how pineapples grow?

Neither had I until I went on a trip to Malawi in Africa, and we visited a pineapple farm. They are small bushes and the pineapples grow up from the top of the plant.

But it does take 2 – 3 years for a pineapple grow.

Pineapples naturally grow in tropical or sub-tropical regions so try and mimic those conditions.

Your pineapple tops need at least six hours of bright light daily.

Water the plant as needed, allowing the soil to dry out slightly between watering.

Fertilize the plant with a soluble houseplant fertilizer once or twice a month during spring and summer.

If you like, you can move the pineapple plant outdoors to a semi-shaded location in late spring and summer, but bring it back indoors before the first frost. They don’t like the cold.

Pineapples are slow-growing, and it can take two to three years to see blooms, if at all. However, you can encourage flowering by laying the plant on its side between waterings or placing it in a plastic bag with an apple for a few days. Apples emit ethylene gas, which can promote flowering in mature pineapple plants.

Take Care of Your Plant

Now just let it grow. Water and feed it and make sure it’s not exposed to very cold weather.

How to Grow Pineapple Plants from Tops