Pineapple as a Bug Repellent

Maybe Yes

• Without giving details, researchers at the University of Michigan-Dearborn list two references to using pineapple weed to repel insects in their compendium of studies of plant use by American Indians. Ethnobotanists Jeff Hart and Alex Johnson report that the Blackfoot tribe in Canada and Indians in Montana used dried pineapple weed blossoms to repel insects.

But Maybe No

• American Indians also reportedly used pineapple weed for menstrual cramps, intestinal gas, seizures, repelling witches and preventing horses from running away. Other uses appear contradictory, such as pineapple weed functioning as a laxative and as a cure for diarrhea. In addition, reports that Indians used pineapple weed to repel bugs doesn't prove it actually worked.

Pineapple Weeds vs. Real Pineapples

• Pineapple weeds produce narrow, bright green, fleshy, hairless leaves without stalks. Deeply lobed, they form a rosette at the base of the plant. Although pineapple weeds can reach 2 feet tall, they usually grow 6 inches to 1 foot tall. They yield densely-packed, egg-shaped flower heads from mid-spring through late summer. Mature flower heads shatter, spreading tiny, lance-shaped gray, brown or yellow fruit, each of which contains one seed. Real pineapples (Ananas comosus) attract bugs, not repel them. They are attacked by ants, aphids, mealybugs, caterpillars, scales and thrips. When pineapples are cut, gnats, yellow jackets and bees are drawn to their sweet juice.

Finding Pineapple Weed

• Pineapple weed is described as a “cosmopolitan” weed, meaning it will grow almost everywhere. It doesn't mind poor or compacted soil and is found along roadsides, on the banks of irrigation ditches, beside railroads and footpaths and in vineyards, orchards, pasture and field crops. This annual sprouts up throughout the West from Canada to California and thrives east to the Midwest, growing in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 10.