Looking for advice about growing pineapples

Question

Anyone have experience growing pineapples? I have a number of plants, one bearing fruit. How do you tell when fruit is ready to pick? Is it normal for small plants to be sprouting from sides and base of plant?

Answer 1

The fruit can be picked when it is yellow on the outside and is somewhat hard. Yes, small plants produced by the mother plant is normal, you should be able to separate some of the "babies" fro the mother to grow more plants. Leave some on the plant though.  

Answer 2

Pineapples need methane gas to produce fruit.To be certain they get it,place a bag such as the type that covers dry cleaned clothes over the plant with a half of an apple on the soil.Seal it tightly for 4-5 days.Ripening fruit produce methane.The plant must be of fruiting age,around 5 years with a pineapple.You can tell it is ripe when it starts getting a golden coloration.It will also feel softer when you squeeze it, and have the scent of fresh pineapple when you smell it.Remove it, cut it in half and sample it.If it is not quite sweet yet place it in a sealed bag for a few days, and it will ripen further. I have grown them successfully in my home, and in a commercial greenhouse,When harvested at the right time the taste of the canned or shipped whole fruits can't hold up to it.The taste is similar to  a fresh strawberry.Pineapple is a bromeliad.This group of plants reproduce by the side shoots you are seeing after the mother plant flowers or produces fruit.The mother plant will begin to die.Remove the shoots and plant them.