Pineapple:

Fruit of good fortune

New Straits Times, Jul 3, 2010 | by Elaine Yim

Pineapple is a plant you can salvage from the garbage bin and grow easily in your garden, writes ELAINE YIM
TODAY I am going to show you how you can grow a garden plant from a piece of garbage.
After this, you will think twice before you throw away unwanted stumps and leftover uncooked vegetables. Among them may be precious little “babies” waiting to come to life when placed in soil and given some water.
Quite often, when we skin a pineapple, we lop off the top (crown) and throw it away as only the flesh is edible. But why not use the crown to grow a healthy plant that will eventually bloom and bear fruit? Even when not in bloom, the pineapple plant has evergreen and starry leaves that will add an exotic touch to your tropical garden.
My late father taught me this method of growing pineapple plants. The Fujien word for pineapple is ong lai (meaning the arrival of good fortune), so the pineapple is considered an auspicious fruit.
The happiest moment is when the plant starts to bloom. This signifies that our hard work is paying off, especially when the flower turns to fruit. Then the fruit ripens and harvesting it signifies the attainment of good luck and prosperity.
I have been carrying on this family tradition, a simple legacy handed down from Dad. The whole family is ecstatic when my pineapple plants start to bloom and I will tie a red string around the fruit to enhance the good luck. And it seems to work too as each time it happened, good luck and prosperity came my way.
Pineapple
The word pineapple refers to the plant as well as the fruit. Pineapples do not grow from pine trees. Nor do they look like apples. So have you ever wondered how they came to get this strange name?
Long before the arrival of the Europeans, pineapples, which are native to Brazil and Paraguay, were already being grown by South American Indians who introduced it to Central America and the West Indies.
Christopher Columbus first saw the pineapple in Guadeloupe, an island in the West Indies and presented it to Queen Isabella of Spain in 1493.
The Spanish named it “pina” due to its resemblance to a pine cone while the English called it “apple” because the fruit was tasty like the apple, so the name “pineapple”. Later, the Spaniards and Portuguese introduced the pineapple to Hawaii, the Philippines and other parts of the world in the early 16th Century. In Malaysia, the cultivation of pineapples as an export-oriented agro-based crop dates back to 1888.
The pineapple is the only plant in the bromeliad family that has edible fruit. Unlike other bromeliads which are mostly epiphytes that grow on tree branches, the pineapple is a terrestrial bromeliad that grows on the ground. Pineapple plants grow from a thick crown close to the soil surface. It can reach a height of 1.5m with a spread of 1.2m wide.
Plant profile
Scientific name: Ananas comosus
Common names: Pineapple, Nenas
Family: Bromeliaceae
Native plant of: Brazil and Paraguay
Category: Herbaceous perennial plant
The genus name ananas is derived from the word nana, the name that native South Americans called this plant. The species name comosus is from the Latin word meaning “tufted”.
How to grow
Growing pineapples is easy. You can start by getting some suckers or slips from someone who grows pineapple. Or you can use the crown or top of any fruit. Pineapples are never grown from seeds.
If you can find a sunny spot in your garden, then half the battle is won. The challenge is to get the pineapple to root. Once it does, it will grow on its own without much care and attention. It is important that you select an area with enough space of about 1.2m for the pineapple to grow into a mature plant.
When grown in a container, the diameter should be around 0.5m. The roots do not need much space but the leaves will spread out over a larger area. I don’t recommend repotting later as the spiky leaves make it difficult to do so.
If you plan to buy a pineapple to grow the plant, this is how it’s done:
1. Get a pineapple that is neither too ripe nor too green.
2. Prepare the crown. Either twist or cut off the crown. If you cut it off, make sure you remove all the flesh near the crown or that part may rot. Use a knife to cut horizontally at the bottom of the crown until you see root buds that appears as dots on the surface.
Next, remove some of the outer leaves, leaving 2.5cm of exposed stalk. Roots will grow from the stalk. Let the crown dry for a day or so to allow the cut end to heal and to prevent rot.
3. Plant the crown in the soil. Dip the crown in some rooting powder. Push back the soil and stick the crown in. Firm up the soil again so that the crown will not topple over. Pineapples do not have a big root system, so they do not need much soil. But the soil should be well drained and not soggy.
4. Pineapples do not need a lot of water. Water only when the soil is dry. During watering, let some water collect between the leaves. The plant will grow very slowly during the first year and more rapidly during the next.
5. Pineapples need very little fertiliser. You don’t need to apply fertiliser in the first few months. Do not use concentrated granular fertilisers as this may burn the leaves. Use liquid fertiliser such as fish emulsion or seaweed extract, organic chicken manure pellets or Japanese humus. Sprinkle sparingly near the roots and let a little bit fall into the bottom of the leaves.
Leaves
The leaves are spiky, waxy and look like long-pointed straps. They may be all green or variously striped with red, yellow or ivory down the middle or near the edge. Pineapples get water and nutrition through the leaves. The leaves are very tough and very little water is lost through evaporation.
Flowers
Pineapples grown from crowns take about two years to flower, suckers take about 18 months and slips may flower within a year. At blooming time, the stem elongates and enlarges near the apex. You will find a head of small purple or red flowers, each accompanied by a single red, yellowish or green bract. The stem will continue to grow and acquire at its apex a compact tuft of stiff, short leaves called the “crown” or “top”.
Commercial growers use ethylene, a plant hormone to induce flowering. At home, when my plants fail to flower after a year or so, I will use this method and it works. I also place some ripe apple peel at the base of the leaves. The ethylene gas released will induce flowering.
A plant flowers and produces only one fruit but before it dies, it produces “offspring” in the form of suckers and slips.
Fruit
A single fruit is developed from the flowers that join together to form a cone-shaped compound fruit. The tough, waxy outer rind is made up of hexagonal units which may be dark green, yellow, orange- yellow or reddish when the fruit is ripe.
Pineapple flowers are pollinated by humming birds. If the flowers are pollinated, there will be small, hard seeds that affect the quality of the fruit. In commercial cultivation, pollination is prevented, so no seeds are formed.
It takes about six months for the fruit to mature and it is ready to be picked when it starts to turn yellow.
Propagation
There are four methods:
1. Suckers: These are shoots that appear from the base of the plant at ground level
2. Slips: These are shoots that appear from the stalk below the fruit
3. Crown: These are shoots that grow from the top of the fruit
4. Ratoons: These are shoots that come out from beneath the soil
Tips
Other vegetables that can be salvaged from the garbage and grown in the garden and in containers:
1. Chili: When preparing chili for cooking, retain some seeds and sow them directly onto the soil. The seeds will germinate in about two weeks time.
2. Sweet leaf: (Sauropus androgynus) or sayur manis, cekur manis, katuk, asin-asin in Malay. Stick leftover stems into the soil and they will grow into little bushes.
3. Papaya: When you chance on a sweet and delicious papaya, keep some seeds from the middle portion. Sow them and they will germinate in 2-3 weeks time.
4. Onions: Excess onion bulbs can be used to grow spring onions. When planted in the soil, they will germinate in 8-10 days time. The easiest to grow is red onions (also called shallots or bawang merah).
5. Calamansi or limau kasturi: Plant the seeds to grow a citrus plant. They will germinate in 2-3 weeks time.
6. Lemongrass: Don’t throw away excess lemongrass stems that have been left in the fridge for some time. Root them in a pot of water before you plant them.
7. Gingers: Ginger, galangal (lengkuas) and turmeric (kunyit) can be grown by placing the rhizomes partially covered in the soil.
8. Kangkung: Leftover stems can be planted in soil. New shoots will appear and you can harvest the plant in less than a month.
9. Mint: After plucking out all the mint leaves for cooking, keep the stems. Stick them into soil and shoots and new leaves will appear very quickly.
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