Monday, October 8, 2012

Growing Pineapple: ready to bear fruit.

Pineapple is the name of this fruiting tropical plant. In Malaysia, it is commonly known as nanas or nenas. There are variations over the sound, where it is lanas ( or lanah ) in Kelantan and  in the northern states, people name it nangnaeh.  

So after months of waiting , one plant at the edge of the row decided to bear fruit.  A sweet colour indeed, pinkish red!



The first baby fruit of pineapple
mutiara variety


Pineapple:  mutiara variety, the first baby fruit


Pineapple


Pineapple

Pineapple: just a tiny baby fruit

Pineapple:


Pineapple:  



pineapples: Mutiara Variety,  leaves meeting leaves


pineapples: madu variety



pineapples: the row of madu variety

The leaves are quite spiky. Faizal, Kakdah's brother mentioned about pineapples producing thorns as a sign of stress. Poor soils, prolong drought and congestion are stress factors. I am not too sure which factor really encourage thorns along the leaves with our pineapples. Thorns pose no real problem, except it would be difficult to do weeding around the plants. I remembered the mutiara variety as seedlings, they were almost clean without thorns.

In fact I dont expect the fruit to appear so soon, since the plants are not a year yet. I remembered sometime last month I did spray flower inducement fertiliser, the leftover  for Kakdah's orchids. That probably trigger the flowering or fruiting. The foliar spray has boron micronutrient, necessary for flowering and fruiting .....

It will take about six months for the tiny baby fruit to develop and mature ready for harvest.  Therefore it would be interesting to see how the tiny baby develops through October, November, December, January, February, and March next year. I wonder which one will bear the next baby fruit, among the twenty  plants.




ealier post on pineapples :
growing pineapples not a thorny issue.  25.3.2012



_____________________________________

bangchik and kakdah
pineapple
 pasir gudang johor

23 comments:

  1. Pineapple is one of my favourite fruits - such a pity we can't grow them in the UK although back in Victorian times they apparently managed it in hot beds.

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    1. Sue:.... Even in Malaysia, not many grow pineapples as home gardening item. Thorny leaves, waiting time too long, and the fact that a pineapple plant will generally produce only one fruit, don't make pineapples as favourites for home garden.

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  2. So interesting you can grow pineapples in your garden. I think they are delicious but we cannot grow them here, much too cold and too wet. We import many of them from abroad. In the Netherlands we call them: ananas.

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    1. Janneke..., it's alright, you can import our pineapples as we had been importing apples and grapes.. :)

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  3. Congratulations bangchik almost there..tak lama lagi tuh bolehlah menuai hasil ..btw kena apply any fertilizer along the way for them to produce fruits? i've tried before..sampai brtahun still tak berbuah jgk...

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    1. Ummuaidan.... sebenarnya saya spray lebihan flower inducing spray orkid kakdah. Agak2 saya, bila umur pokok nenas cecah setahun, boleh la cuba kaedah ini. Tapi tiap-tiap bulan jangan lupa beri baja seperti biasa, baja kimia berbutir atau baja organik. Pokok nenas pun nak makan sedap-sedap jugak... :)

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  4. Assalam Tuan...baru dapat tahu tentang blog ni. Sangat menarik!!!Bolehlah saya rujuk bab menanam pokok-pokok yang asyik dok tak hidup-hidup......

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    1. Wassalam.... ct-sue. kalau ada apa2 nak rujuk, search saja ikut label dalam blog ni. Saya bukan expert, yang saya kongsi hanya pengalaman berkebun saja...

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  5. I've tasted an extremely sweet pineapple from Johore which meant for export. My friend gave me the top to plant. I'm still waiting ...

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    1. Stiletto:...... Generally pineapple growers use shoots coming out from the stem or slips which appear just below the fruits. However crowns or the tops are seldom used. As any other plants, pineapples do require nutrients, water, air and sunlight to grow......

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    2. You can sucrssfully grow pineapple from the crown of an eaten fruit. Just scoop out as much of the flesh as possible and plant the top in a wide container filled with soil. Water as required. In a few days you will see new growth. Ofcourse, it will be a long time till you see a fruit appear but its worth the wait.

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    3. I have tried that before, but luck is always not on my side, each time the plant matured, we moved.

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  6. Lovely looking pineapple. Mine hasn't flowered in 2 years!I shall also try the flower inducing fertilizer!

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    1. Lotusleaf:.... to a certain point, we do have to respect the plant choice when to flower... :). Feed them well, they will reward you with lovely fruits a lot sooner. Try flower inducer!!

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  7. Cantik! i heard have to wait for abt one year only they bear fruit right?

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    1. Olive:... yeap, a year. Bagi makan minum cukup2 mungkin pokok akan patuh kehendak kita. Kalau tidak dia akan jadi degil dan sengaja lewat2 berbunga/berbuah.... :)

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  8. bang chik nenas saya hidup segan mati tak mahu saje, mungkin tanah tempat saya tak sesuai kot

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    1. Rasimah:... secara umum saya difahamkan nenas tak bayak ragam dengan tanah. Tanah liat sangat2 yang air bertakung, nenas tak berapa gemar, begitu juga dengan tanah pasir tepi pantai....

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  9. Beautiful pineapple! Flowering in a year sounds good to me. Once I saved the tops off some pineapples and planted them. I was a very negligent gardener then, so they never flowered in the 2 years they were in my garden.

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    1. Mama Pongkey:.... yeap, just be patient with your plants. They probably are planning for a lovely surprise!!!

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  10. Congrats Bangchik!
    Very nice looking pineapple..love the color.
    I'm sure it will taste sweet too especially the 'madu' variety.

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    1. Thanks ash........ The madu variety should be sweet. I hope the little fruit will encourage the other 19 pineapple to bear fruits......

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    2. Thanks ash........ The madu variety should be sweet. I hope the little fruit will encourage the other 19 pineapple to bear fruits......

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