rooting a pineapple crown

Anyone out there try to root a pineapple crown. If your successful they make an attractive plant that fits in with your cactus or other succulents. I have tried this in the past and have been successful about half the time. I let the crown dry up some and then put it in a bag of moist vermiculite. Sometimes it works and sometimes It molds. If anyone has a better way of doing this, it would be appreciated. OK I just cut the top off and I'm going to let it dry up a bit while I enjoy the fruit.
Dave

Hi Dave,

I copied this from another thread somewhere on DG. I wish I could give credit to the author, but I didn't copy that part, alas. It did come from someone who regularly grows them.

"cut the top round crown with the stems off (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), scrape all the fruit off, then place the scraped side down on a paper towel. Place top and the towel on top of the refrigerator, after several days the scraped side should be completely dried. Then remove the lower stems about 2 - 3 leaf deep from the crown. Place the dried crown in a glass of water where the leaves are above the water line. Change the water weekly. When the crown roots are about 2-3 inches long plant in a good soil that is fast draining and organic. Voila, a pineapple plant."

Hope this helps.

Karen



Karen

Jeremy wrote a terrific article on this! Check out http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/174/

I used to just chop off the top and stick it in a pot of sandy soil. This was in South Florida, but I had them everywhere. They'd produce fruit after 18 months or so, and a side shoot would grow, to produce again but a smaller fruit. I can remember only one that didn't "take", but I hadn't planted it right away. But, again, high heat, high humidity was probably a good part of it.