Growing pineapples hydroponically sounds more exotic than it is. Pineapples are one of the few tropical fruits that can be grown in pots, making it suitable for indoor growing.
However, they do like hot weather and they take forever to fruit in pots, up to 2 years, so this should be taken into consideration when setting up a pineapple hydroponic system.
Pineapple comes in 5 varieties, but Ananas comosus var. comosus is the variety sold in stores and in our case will be the started to grow a new pineapple as you can start a new pineapple plant from rooting the top crown. You can also start a new pineapple plant from a slip, or sucker if you have a friend already growing pineapples.
To start a new pineapple plant from the crown, you need any store bought pineapple that still has the leafy crown on top. You simply twist it to detach the crown from the fruit, then you peal off some of the leafs – and expose the brown base from which your roots will develop. Also, it’s a good idea to cut the remaining fruit at the bottom of the crown as it tends to root.
Small Scale Gardener shows how to start the pineapple roots in water in 1-2 weeks. Twist, peel, cut the remaining fruit and place in a jar with water.
Cornbread Creek Farm doesn’t even wait for the roots to grow in a jar of water – he just puts the crown directly in the dutch bucket hydroponic system:
Of course, as it takes a lot of time to actually have a pineapple fruit, it might be a good idea to grow the pineapple outside to take advantage of the sun an cut the light costs. Pineapple anyways love the sun and heat. Full sun is best or partial shade with at least six hours of sunlight is needed.
Being in a hot torrid Australian region Hoocho shows us how to propagate hydroponic pineapples and build a Hydroponic system for them outside. He actually builds a wick hydroponic system using rain gutters, 3Dprinted parts and regular pots filled in with the growing medium:
If you want to grow more pineapples you can even split the crown in 4 parts as Dr. OBi’s Garden explains:
Of course, as it takes a long time to fruit, it might be a good idea to take the soil path instead of the hydroponics.
EY – Gardening recycles some old tyres and grows pineapples in his back yard in soil. You really can grow them anywhere:
Abdullatif Al Banna, 56, produces more than 4,000 pineapples at four greenhouses using hydroponics in the Dubai desert – he actually needs a cooling greenhouse:
