Cameron - I love growing the pineapples too. I twist off the tops too then peel off several of the botom leaves, you can see the little white roots ready to sprout. I let it dry for a couple days in a cool dark place before placing in soil. Takes about a year to get a pineapple.

Paul

Great job, Paul! You know that you're doing it properly when they start to produce pineapples of their own 😆

Here's one that I've been growing for a few months:

I have another one which is even larger. Some of the leaves are close to 2 feet long!

Cameron,
Yeah notice in my pic the short leaves - I cut mine because they are so long and sharp. I was afraid someone would get hurt.
Paul

God those plants are sexy.

I tried to do it the other week, but when i twisted off the top, i snapped the growth off, above the roots 😯

The new pineapple didn't make it, but my other 2 are still going strong 😆 It was too beat-up at the store before I planted it. If anyone else is going to try this, make sure to get a very green & healthy looking pineapple!

I havnt tried a pinneaple, since i ripped the top of wrong last time. At least you have 2 others. They can take 2 or 3 years to fruit though.....

Im trying some bosc pear seeds. I know they wont grow true from seed, but the parents of the bosc ) european pear, and another, are good pears in themselves. SHould be interesting to see what I get...

Nothing from apricots, hazlenuts or peaches...... I should get those to work eventualy LOL

The avocado started this winter is really growing, with part of the stem turning quite woody.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/5771720253/" title="DSC04732 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC04732"></a>

Repotting it today; outgrown its yoghurt cup.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/5771720235/" title="DSC04733 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC04733"></a>

Barb

wow.... I didnt think they grew that fast 😯

Im now on numbers 5 and 6 ( number of avacado pits ive gone through). Now im trying it your way barb, i should get one of these to sprout 😀

The peaches havnt sprouted, neither did my apricots.....

THe peaches apperantly need a MINIMUM of 3 months stratification, while apricots need around 30 days. SO just to make sure I dont throw away good seed, I put em in the fridge. I also bought 2 more apricots the other day, and 3 more today to try ( i payed less then 2 bucks for all 6). Im also trying some more peaches ( yellow and white flesh).

My pear seesd sprouted a few weeks back, their leaves are wicked ( they have a sort of trident leaf) Im going to espiliar it ( somewhere), and graft some domestic varieties to it. I think the common pear is hardy to zone 5, so i have a great great chance to get it to survive, especialy flat against a wall!.

My apple tree i grew is planted now. Im going to do the same, and graft some desierable apples to it ( you never know what you get from seed of pears and apples). The best thing, the "wild" apple is really hardy, I think i read zone 3 or 4 ( perfect for here). Im hoping to get some spartan cuttings for that baby ( next year or the year after.

I finally decided to get a grapefruit today, and guess what, no seeds . This seedless plant thing is getting on my nerves 👿

trying it your way barb

I've tried the toothpick in seed suspended over a glass of water method.
Bombed.
Just stick the cleaned seed halfway (lengthwise) in soil, baggie over it tied with tape, put it in a shady (not full sun) warmspot, don't even look at it for 3 or 4 weeks.
Presto...plant.

As to your other peaches, apricots, etc. etc., grafting won't do you a mess of good unless you have a good rootstock grafted to the stem.
Remember I used to have a 1100-tree apple orchard? 😉
Just buy a properly root-grafted fruit tree, and then you can graft several varieties to the top branches.
Rootstock is one of the most important aspects of a successful over wintering fruit tree.

Barb

Thats pretty much what I did. Although the one got a bit of fuzz on it in the bag, which has stopped growing ( i took it outta the bag), apperanlty didnt clean it good enough 👿

As for grafting.... I wont graft till i know that the root half will survive here, other wise its just a waste!! Im just trying to cram as many fruit trees here as I can! The best way is a few normaly grown trees, and a some espalier trees ( apples and plums and apricots are all I know to be reliably hardy here. Pears are iffy apperantly ( they arent widly planted)). I may be able to espalier a sweet cherry, But I wont know till I try.

Apperantly apples , and pears tend to revert to the more wild form. In these cases they tend to be more hardy if im not mistakin ( then again you could get the next big thing, lots of apples are random seedlings that sprouted)..

ITs all just chance isnt it? Thats the best part of this! If the tree is reliably hardy, but the fruit isnt that desirable, I can just graft onto it, increasing pollination, yeild and appealing to my taste buds 😀

The new pineapple actually DID make it, here's a pic of a new pup growing:

I've got 2 other small pineapples started now, we'll see if those ones make it too 😆

Here's a pic of one of my older pineapples (I have another one which is about 1.5 times this size):

I still havnt had any luck with those 👿 grats dude

I haven't had any luck either Cameron and Jesse.

Mine rotted and got mold all over the soil where they were attached.

Yucky.

Congrats on yours Cameron.
Barb

These instructions always worked for me:

http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm

Tavi

What a great link,
thanks bananaieru...

Will try again now that I've read that!

Barb