The mother plant has a new branch,
called a "slip" that is growing off the
stem just below where the fruit was. We
hope it will produce another
pineapple. It also has three babies at
the base of the stem which are called
"shoots". We've already planted one but
will probably leave the other two
until springtime when we can cut
them off, pot them and
put them outside.
May 2002
Our Newest Pineapple
We had four pineapples this year!!!!
May - July 2003
Several Pictures of This Year's Pineapple
We had five pineapples this year!!!!
Growing a
Pineapple
We've finally eaten our
treasure and now
it's time to plant the "crown" and grow
another one. I'll keep this page updated
with a step by step discription, along
with pictures, of what we're doing and
how the plant is growing.
Jan.12,1999
The first thing we did
after cutting off
the crown,and eating our delicious
pineapple, was to cut off the pulp
that
was still on it to prevent it from
rotting and spreading to the crown. Then
we hung the crown,upside down,for
several days to let it dry out some.
Next we put it in a shallow pan of water
for a few days, with the crown
up.
Jan.22,1999
First we prepared the
soil for potting.
We started with a good potting soil, the
kind you buy for african violets. We
added some compost of manure,dried
leaves, and coffee grounds. It sat in an
eight inch clay pot for several
days and we
kept it moist
with a mild mixture of "Miracle Grow"
and water.
Now it was time to plant the crown.We
cut off just enough leaves so that the
plant would sit in the soil. Since it's
still to early to put it outside, we
have it under a plant light to simulate
sunlight. Now we watch it
GROW.
Apr.9,1999
It's springtime and the time for frost
has passed, so it's time to put the
plant outside. We make sure it gets
plenty of light, but not too much direct
sun. The plant hasn't grown much, but it
it's still healthy and should grow some
during the summer.
We have also put the mother plant
outside.Most of the bottom leaves had
died through the winter and we trimmed
them off. The "slip" that grew from the
stalk
is now taller
then the mother plant and looks like it
might be ready to produce another
pineapple--we hope.
 |
We
have also planted
the two shoots that were at the bottom
of the stalk. They
look healthy too, and should do well
outside for the summer. |
Aug 28,1999
|
We finally had to separate the large
slip from the mother plant and put it in a pot by itself. It's now our largest
plant. |
 |
 |
Here is the top that we took off the
first pineapple. It's almost ready for a
bigger pot. |
|
And here is one of the shoots from the
mother plant. We have about 10 of these.
We'll be pineapple farmers after a
while!! |
 |
Our Banana
Plants
Banana plants are also fairly unusual
for South Carolina, although they are
grown here,especiallly near the coast.
We were fortunate to aquire these from a
friend whose parents had raised them for
years. They have passed away and he has
too many to take care of.
The winters here are cold enough that
they have to be pulled up each fall, and
put back out in the spring.They are
supposed to need very little care. We
have just finished putting them in the
ground and I will keep this page updated
as the summer progresses.
April
23
 |
They
don't look
like much now after being dormant for
the winter |
| You
can see the new
growth beginning here |
 |
May
20
 |
These leaves are unfurlng at
the top |
|
These are unfurling at the
bottom |
 |
June
20
 |
They are growing and putting
out new stalks at the bottom |
August
20
| The
first plants are now about 7 ft. tall.
They're not producing bananas, but they
are producing a lot of shoots. |
 |
 |
These are some of the shoots. We have
taken them off and replanted them. We
have about 20 of them. They range from 2
to 4 ft. tall. |
October 20
It's almost time for frost so it's time
to pull the banana plants up. There
seems to be two schools of thought on
this so we are trying two different
things. Most of the plants we pulled up
and stored under the house where it is
dark and dry. The others we cut back to
the ground and covered heavily with
mulch. If the ground doesn't freeze they
should do fine, and this will eliminate
the need to pull all the plants up each
fall. We'll see in the Spring!!
I'll be adding to this page as these two
tropical plants grow.In the meantime you
can see Poo's house plants at A House of Plants
OR You can visit
Poo's Back Yard and see all the
lovely spring flowers.
For those of you who really love plants
I have another page. Our good friend
Marie really has a green thumb and I
made a page especially for her. She's
always doing nice things for others so I
wanted to give something back and show
off some of her work. If you love
African Violets, Christmas Cactus or
just a beautiful yard come on through
the garden gate to "Marie's Little Spot"
on the World Wide Web.
More to Come
As the Garden Grows
My Favorite
Links
Angelfire -
Easiest Free Home Pages
Edwyna's
Wacky World
Camping in South Carolina
Web TV Links
