activity 11: Growing a Pineapple plant from a Pineapple You will need: A fresh pineapple complete with leaves on top Some rooting hormone containing a mild fungicide (available in all good garden centres) Bromeliad potting mix (if unavailable mix 2 parts ericaceous compost with 1 part perlite) A 15cm pot What to do: Holding the pineapple firmly twist the leaves at the top to remove the stalk. Be careful they can be quite spiky you might want to wrap a tea-towel round them before you grab them. Leave this leafy top to dry out - it will take around 5 days. Once the leafy stalk is dry remove around 15-20 of the bottom leaves by pulling them downward. They should come off in a spiral. Gently dust the now be bare stalk where the leaves were removed with the rooting hormone. Leave the stalk for another couple of days to dry. Small rootlets may begin to form. Take care not to damage these. Pot the stalk up using the ericaceous compost ensuring the soil does not cover the remaining upper leaves of the stalk. Keep the plant in good indirect light. Water so the soil it is moist. Never let it become water logged. If the plant sits in soggy soil it will rot. Do not let the soil dry out completely either. You will need to re-pot, using a mixture with less perlite, at a later stage when the plant is well established. It can then be placed in as much direct sunlight as possible. Be patient! The Planet Science office Pineapple took 5 months to show any signs of life but it is now thriving - so keep watering it, don't lose faith! What is happening! The pineapple is producing a new plant asexually. Plants have an amazing ability to reproduce asexually by vegetative means rather than by sexual reproduction involving pollination, fertilisation and seed production. Vegetative reproduction can occur from stems, leaves, corms or tubers - the vegetative reproductive organ of the potato. Rooting hormone contains auxin a plant growth substance that encourages root development when applied to a cut stem. The fungicide prevents growth of fungi, which will rot the pineapple. If you let the soil become waterlogged oxygen is unable to reach the roots and they die. Ultimately this leads to death of the whole plant.
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