Costa Rica grows three-fourths of all the pineapples exported to Europe and it is not without an environmental and human-rights cost. Immense amounts of pesticides are used , affecting the soil and air quality and biodiversity in the region. There are studies that link these pesticides to carcinogens and possible birth defects as well. Additionally, workers are paid extremely low wages. Now that you know a bit more about how pineapples grow and where they come from, do you feel differently about this fruit?
Pineapple Botany Pineapple, or Ananas comosus , is a tropical, edible fruit. Pineapple Pollination In cultivation, pineapple plants form from the offset of the fruit. History of the Pineapple Native to South America, indigenous groups of southern Brazil and Paraguay domesticated the fruit plant and spread it throughout the continent, into the Carribean and Central America. Awareness of Pineapple Production Today, the Philippines remain as one of the largest exporters of the fruit.
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Newly discovered antibody may prevent future coronavirus pandemic. Each pineapple plant bears exactly one pineapple. So where did pineapple come from in the first place? Most of us think of pineapples as coming from Hawaii, but that's not the case. Pineapples are a member of the bromeliad family, which is indigenous to the Americas mostly South America , but has been found in Africa as well.
By far the most famous plant in the bromeliad family, pineapples were first brought over to Spain by Christopher Columbus in The pineapple — which is no relation to pine trees or apples — got its name through the combination of the Spanish "pina" so named because it reminded them of a pine cone and the English "apple" so named because of its sweet taste. Back in Europe in the 17th century, pineapples were grown in greenhouses and were a symbol of opulence and wealth , only adorning the banquet tables of the very rich.
Fast-forward to today, and pineapples are everywhere. How did it make this transition? A tropical fruit, pineapples symbolized the exotic world, and would often be brought home to North America by sailors from their South American journeys. But even into the s, a pineapple was still a novelty to most Americans. Side shoots that form mid-way up the stalk will usually stay attached, and they can sometimes flower and produce a smaller fruit than the original pineapple which grew at the top of the central stalk.
But if any side-shoots form very low down on the stalk, near soil level, those side shoots can grow their own set of roots into the soil, and if that happens that shoot can then grow as big as the original plant was, and can produce another full-size pineapple fruit. So for a pineapple plant to be able to regenerate itself, it needs to produce side-shoots suckers low enough that they can put their own roots into the ground. In a patch of pineapples, after fruiting, more than half of the plants only produce side-shoots that emerge too high to send their own roots into the ground.
And for the plants which do regenerate themselves by making a low side-shoot that roots itself, that often leads to only a single new cycle of growth — once that new crown has fruited, it often fails to produce any low-growing side-shoots.
The result of this growth pattern is that after planting a bed of pineapples, in my observations the best production happens in about the second to third year Some of the plants produce fruit the second year, some fruit the third year.
Overall production from the patch declines, and many of the fruits are smaller, because they grew on side-shoots that emerged too low to root themselves into the ground. After a few years, many of the plants have multiple tiers, with side-shoots growing out of side-shoots growing out side-shoots, each new crop a bit smaller than the last.
So commercial growers regularly start new plantings by breaking off suckers from already-fruited plants, and sticking those suckers into fresh soil, where they can grow into full-sized plants, resulting in full-sized fruits a year or two later. You might be wondering: what about seeds? Before humans came along, nobody was breaking the side-shoots off from spent pineapple plants and sticking them into fresh soil, so how did these plants reproduce?
The answer is: ancestral pineapple plants did produce seeds — and modern varieties still can. Unlike bananas, where humans took an original seedy fruit and selected seedless variants, modern commercial pineapple varieties are still capable of producing seed-filled pineapples. And those seeds can grow into new pineapple plants. Without this pollination, pineapples make seedless fruits, which is what happens about The seeds are so small you would barely notice them in your mouth when eating the fruit, but they do make the fruits look less appealing to some eyes at least.
I wonder if that characteristic was originally present in pineapples, but has been bred out of commercial varieties of this crop. Or maybe the trait never was present in Ananas comosus. If it could be re introduced into this species, we could have true perennial pineapples. If you have any knowledge about this, or if you know of pineapple varieties which do have a more perennial growth habit, please leave a comment.
Interesting and informative article. I do have a variety which I got from Asia that is currently producing a ground level shoot from root stem. Like Liked by 1 person. Like Like. I find many informative messages from this site. Thank You for your very informative and interesting article. I have around 30 and really love growing them. Neat plants and thanks again. Thanks for the positive feedback.
Thanks for commenting. We have just relocated from Canada to the Azores and I have several pineapples growing. One way is to use the plantlets that grow between the leaves of the pineapple, known as suckers. The suckers contain roots that hang from the bottom that will be replanted. Another way is using the slip, which is grown on the stem of the fruit. You can also grow a pineapple from the crown, however, that takes much longer.
To regenerate new plants, growers go through a seed selection process. Before seed selection can begin, the long leaves from the harvested plants are cut down to encourage the suckers to grow and be removed easily. They are then harvested by hand. Once the fields are prepped properly, they are planted by hand using a spade-type tool. A skilled grower can plant over 5, plants a day, which is nearly a quarter of an acre. Depending on the region, it can take 13 to 16 months to produce fully ripe fruit.
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