Our Pineapples de Puerto Rico
I finished up work today around 5:00. We start Sydney’s dinner/bed routine at 6:00pm, so I was looking for the girls so we could get a solid evening hour of daddy time in before bed. We had a couple solid days of rain last week, but before that storm, we were without rain for about 7 weeks. Everything was turning yellow.
Despite the rain, we still need to water daily. The yard and plants have grown enough that it just takes too long to water everything in one shot. It takes us about 2 hours to water the entire property and neither of us has time to do that every day. To make it easy, we split up the property into 4 watering zones. So, throughout the day (we both work from home) we water different zones.I left the office and hiked up to the top of the hill and found Summer and Sydney (in her sling) watering the plants with the hose. It really is cool to see our plants/trees hit the 2 – 3 year old mark. They aren’t big yet, but they are established little trees. By the time Sydney is ready to climb trees, she’ll be swinging on branches of trees Summer and I planted. It’s awesome.
We didn’t just plant trees. Every time Summer and I eat a pineapple, we cut the top off, put it in water and plant it once the roots start to grow. We have a nice little pineapple garden now with about 7 plants. But, we don’t plan on stopping at 7. We are going to just keep on planting and planting. I am of the opinion that there is no such thing as too much fresh pineapple.We have two flowers coming out of one of the pineapple plants. The colors really are amazing. The plant that is producing this round is the same plant that produced the first round of pineapples we got. The first round had 1 pineapple. We weren’t in town when it ripened so we didn’t get to taste it, but because we never cut off the rotting fruit, the pineapple that grew off of the plant grew into a new pineapple plant. Sweet.
- The English name pineapple came from European explorers that re-discovered due to its resemblance of a pine cone.
- The original name for a pineapple is Tupi, which comes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- The Spanish word for pineapple is piña.
- A pineapple plant can grow to be as big as 5 feet tall and deadly leaves that are 3 and a half feet long. (the leaves are very sharp and spikey, not poisonous)
- Each pineapple plant can produce multiple fruit (pineapples).
- A pineapple is made up of helically arranged flowers that form the fruit. So, it is not actually one fruit, but many combined into one.
- Pineapples are mostly pollinated by hummingbirds (we have a bunch)
- Pineapples and the root are used in traditional Filipino medicine as an anti-inflammatory. It was both eaten and applied topically.
- Pineapples are chill sensitive and should not be stored in the refrigerator.
Pinapple Facts
I did a little research on pineapples and found out a few cool things.Hopefully we will take advantage of our pineapple crop this year, eat them all up and then replant them for pineapples in a few years. This is not a vicious circle.
Tags: Flowers, fruit, Gardening, Pineapple, Plants, sling, Sydney, Yard
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March 13th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Stefan and Summer,
If you travel to Lajas, make sure you get to try the Pina Cabezona (“Bull Head” Pineapple) and save a “seed” to plant in your garden. Its the pineapple variety for which PR is well known worldwide. Here is a good link with more info:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pineapple.html
Enjoy!
H.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Excellent pineapple information! Yum. So… if you eat them all this year, you have to wait a couple of years before another crop? Is there a way to get them every year? Also, I’ve heard you can’t use fresh pineapple in jello, something about the acidity not letting it jell. But there are so many ways to enjoy it! BTW, my abuela said pineapple was used in her day as a cure for intestinal worms. Fran
March 13th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Grilled pineapple with a decadent drizzle (or dip) of Nutela. Our pineapples haven’t done a thing – we have 3 plants that are alive and the rest I think rotted.
March 13th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
H – Thanks for the tip! I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Pina Cabezona! I wish I knew the different varieties of pinas that we currently have growing, but I never took care to note since I wasn’t sure if they would ever produce anything.
Fran & Steve – We have several pinas growing now and only one has fruited (the same one that gave us a pina last April), so maybe if you space out when you plant the pineapple (varying when they reach maturity), perhaps you will get a pina or two every few months? According to the internet, pineapple “season” is March thru July.
Katrina – YUM! It was probably a year and a half before our pineapple gave us fruit. How long have yours been in the ground?
April 5th, 2010 at 7:32 am
We do only one pineapple at a time, grown in a large pot on our patio. We’re on the third round. Thus far, it has taken about 8 mos. from the time we plant the top until we harvest VERY large beautiful (and tasty!) golden pineapples. I’ve noticed nothing “seasonal” about the process. It took 8 mos. for the first one; 8 mos. for the second one.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Interesting Michael… so, if you want a continuous crop you just plant every month and not wait 8 mo and 8 mo? So planting at least 1 every month will guarantee that after the first 8months you get at least 1 pineapple every month (if the seeds make it)
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:41 am
I love pina coladas…especially with real pinas