How Many Pineapples Will a Pineapple Plant Produce?

Initial Fruiting

• The amount of time that it takes for your pineapple plant to produce its first and largest fruit depends on how it was planted. The most common method of growing pineapples is vegetative propagation. Pineapples that are propagated from a crown taken off the top of a pineapple typically produce a flower-bearing fruit within about 28 months of planting. Plants that are grown from a slip typically produce a fruit bearing flower within 24 months of planting, while plants grown from a sucker produce fruit within 16 months.

Ratoon Crops

• Pineapple plants can only produce one fruit per stem. After a pineapple plant has produced its first fruit it must develop another stem before it can fruit again. Large pineapple plants can develop secondary stems known as a ratoon that can support another fruit. These stems grow from the main stem of the plant just below the soil. Pineapples also produce a number of slips from the main stem above the ground that support fruit but often break when it begins to grow heavy. The best way to encourage the development of fruit on a ratoon is to prune the above-ground slips and all but the largest of the ratoons growing on your plant. This method improves the size of your second crop and provides stems that you can use to grow new pineapple plants.

Forced Fruiting

• You can force your pineapple plants to produce fruit more rapidly than they would naturally using chemicals that produce ethylene. Adding a chunk of calcium carbide roughly the size of a pea to the center of the leaves at the top of the plant is a common method to induce the plant to develop a flower. The best time to induce flowering is at night when the plant is covered with dew. Forcing a pineapple to fruit can reduce the overall size of the fruit it produces unless you have a relatively large plant and healthy plant.

Considerations

• Pineapple plants can continue to produce new ratoon crops for the life of the plant. The process of trimming the plant to encourage ratoon crops that are large enough to eat weakens the overall health of the plant. In most cases you can expect your pineapple plant to produce one primary fruit and two ratoon fruits before the process of trimming the plant weakens it to the point where it can no longer produce large succulent fruit. Pineapple plants grow outdoors in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 through 11. In cooler climates pineapples must be container grown and kept indoors through the winter.