DIY: Grow your own Pineapple plant

So about 3.5 years ago I was wondering if I could make a new pineapple plant from the top of a pineapple I had bought at the grocery store.  The answer, it turns out, was Yes.  It actually wasn't very hard, and now I have an enormous pineapple plant in the apartment.

I will note that my Pineapple has yet to flower and produce a new pineapple, but as I live pretty far north and do not really go out of my way to get it enough light I am not too surprised.  Mostly my pineapple plant just hangs out as an enormous bromeliad.

What you will need:
A pineapple
A glass of water
A pot of soil
2 years (or more)



Step 1: Buy a pineapple.  Make sure the leaves on top are green.  I've never seen a pineapple that didn't look like the leaves looked at least moderately healthy, but I assume it's possible.

Step 2: Cut the pineapple's top off.  Cut right where the leaves exit the fruit, or a bit lower.  

Step 3:  Take the top and slowly cut thin layers off until you see root nubs.

Step 4: Once you see the root nubs, start removing leaves from the base.  I removed about an inch of leaves total.

Step 5: Now that your pineapple top is ready, let it dry for 24 hours.  This is to prevent rot.  I cannot actually remember if I did this step (it's been 3.5 years), but it's what you are supposed to do.

Step 6: Place the top into a glass of water so the root nubs are submerged but the leaves are above the water. Put the glass somewhere it will receive light for the next 1-2 weeks.

Step 7: Watch the roots slowly grow.  It took about a week or so for the roots to grow to be an inch long.

Step 8:  Once the roots are an inch or so long, take the top out of the water and Very Gently plant in soil.  I just used the random garden soil I had lying around.

Step 9:  Place in a southern facing window and water regularly, but don't keep it soaked.  If in doubt the pineapple will do better with a little less water than too much.

Step 10: Slowly give up more and more of your house or apartment space to the monster you have created.  Mine is currently 4 feet across and harassing all the other house plants on its shelf.

In theory a pineapple can start to flower and bear fruit after ~2 years,  That has not been the case for me and I believe it is due to sub-par lighting, but it is still very much alive and kicking, so I have my fingers crossed that one day I may yet get a second pineapple from my original purchase.

Plant Propagation: Papyrus

Propagating Papyrus plants is rather entertaining as they grow upside down! The plant shown here is Cyperus alternifolius  (umbrella papyrus) I believe.  I also did this same propagation with a Cyperus papyrus but it did not grow quite as well, perhaps due to higher light requirements. 







Propagating this plant is super easy:
Step one: Cut off a stem of the plant.
Step two: Place upside down in water.

All done! Keep the water level relatively consistent, and place in the sunniest place you can find, either a south window or outside is best.  I used a western window and had some success though the plant did much better once it got outside. 

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**Update: It's now been about a year total since I originally rooted the papyrus, and it's still doing great! survived and thrived in a western window all winter. 

Plant Propagation: Pothos (Devil's Ivy)

Pothos is another easy to propagate plant.  Cuttings from a mature plant can easily be rooted in water, and then planted in bunches to make a new, full potted plant.  These are the steps I took to propagate my pothos plant (I am in no way an expert in this field!). 

1) Select a few strands of pothos for cutting.  People generally recommend cuttings around 6 inches long and having a few leaves on each cutting (I did manage to successfully root and grow a plant from a cutting that only had one leaf on it, but that might not always be the easiest way to go about it).  You will want 3-4 clippings to plant in a pot to make it look good. 

2) Cut vines a quarter inch or so below a root node.  These are the little brown bumps that occur every few inches on a pothos vine.  Remove leaves from the bottom few inches of the clipping, but make sure you still have a few left!  If you have a long vine, you can cut it up into multiple pieces as long as each segment has a root node.   

3) Place cuttings in water, making sure the root node (or nodes) are submerged and the leaves are not.  Place the cuttings in filtered light (they don't do well with a lot of direct sun light).  Roots will grow out from the root nodes.  Add water if you notice the water level getting low while the roots are growing.

4) Once roots are 1-2 inches long (this will likely take a couple weeks), carefully plant in regular potting soil.  The roots are fragile, so be careful placing them in the dirt or they may break off!

5) Water often for the first few weeks while the roots establish.

This is my new plant made from three cuttings.
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Wine Cork Succulent Garden

Wine Cork Succulent Garden

This fall I found myself with quite an abundance of tiny jade plants thanks to my experiments this summer learning how easy it is to propagate jade plants.  Fortunately, The Culinary Capers had a suggestion on what I should do: Make tiny cork succulent gardens.  There are a number of websites describing this out there, but it is an extremely simple idea:  Take a cork, drill or dig a hole in it, plant a tiny succulent in it (don't forget to water it!).  There are a million things you can do with such a tiny garden; put a magnet on it and slap in on the fridge, put a suction cup on it and stick it on the window, put a pin on it and attach it to your hat, the possibilities are endless.

I don't predict these to have very long life spans (the fingernail full of dirt that they are in will be used up pretty quick) but they are adorable.  I used a chopstick to help push the dirt and roots into the hole.

Update: Two months later it appears to still be alive! At the very least this could be an amusing way to transport tiny jade plants. 

Update: June and it's still alive (over seven months later!).  I'm planting it back into a regular pot to see if it is still viable. 
   

African Violet Propagation

How to propagate African Violets:
African violets are easy to propagate by leaf cuttings.  Snip a leaf near the base of the plant (so that you have a good long stem on it), and place in a dish of water.  Make sure that only the stem is in the water, and the leaf stays dry.  Periodically add more water as the water evaporates.  It will take a few days or possibly weeks for the stem to sprout roots.  Once the roots are about an inch long, plant the leaf and stem in african violet potting soil.  Water occasionally.  The new plants do not grow very quickly, but as long as the leaf is green and fleshy the plant is still alive.  After a few weeks you will have a new plant!

For more details on rooting plants in a dish of water, see my Coleus Propagation post

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Jade Propagation

How to propagate Jade plants:
Jade plants are another easy propagator.  I usually go for one of two methods: leaves or stems.  For leaves, I simply take a few leaves off, put them into dirt, and water occasionally (note that it can take up to 2 months for jade leaves to start sprouting roots if they are simply placed in dirt indoors).  For stems, I break off a small section (usually only a few inches, but larger should work as well) and put that in the dirt and water it.  Easy as pie! Not all of them will root every time (at least not for me) but each adult plant has plenty of leaves to spare.

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Below: New growth from two leaves (left and center), and a longer stem being propagated.  

Oxalis (Shamrock) Propagation

How to divide Oxalis:
I have two great oxalis plants (a green and a red/burgundy) that I have been propagating recently for friends.  I suppose more accurately I have just been dividing the plants; they are propagating themselves.

It is very simple to propagate an Oxalis: simply dig up a few of the roots (they look like little pine cones), and replant them upright in a new pot.  I usually put them in with either the very tip sticking out of the dirt or just underneath the dirt (either way has worked for me).  The one tricky thing is that the existing leaves will wilt off these roots (I just trim them off), but don't worry!  Keep giving them water periodically, and in a few days to weeks they will sprout anew!  I have been mixing green and burgundy plants together to make mixed pots.
                                         
                                         For all my plant propagation posts, click here