Amazing indoor pineapple on our windowsills
Growing indoor pineapple is not interesting for the sake of its delicious fruit. Decorative exotic always attracts lovers of home green space. Pineapple leaves, spreading, thorny and juicy, are very decorative. It is not difficult to create conditions for him in an ordinary apartment. If done correctly, indoor pineapple will thank you with flowering and fruit. Several years will pass and a photo of indoor pineapple grown by you will decorate your home album.
Primary requirements
Pineapple is a herbaceous plant that grows almost one meter thorny leaves. A native of the arid tropics loves light and warmth, can live outdoors in summer, but low temperatures are destructive for pineapple. In indoor conditions, he loves warmth and the absence of any drafts. Lighting even in winter should not be less than 6 hours, while in winter it should be kept near the south window or further illuminate.
Planting pineapple
For planting, a tuft of leaves located on the berry is used. Pineapple is chosen for planting in summer, from a fresh harvest. Healthy living foliage at the top of the fruit is a sign that the berry has recently been picked. So you need to choose a plant with the most powerful and healthy foliage.
At home, unscrew the bunch of greens from the base of the fruit with a smooth turn along the axis. Male hands can do it. If there is not enough strength, twist it together, one holds the fruit, the other unscrews the crest. You can simply cut off the top with a clean knife and remove the pulp from the post. After that, it is necessary to remove the lower leaves by 2-3 cm, freeing the column. There you can distinguish dark spots, these are the rudiments of roots, like on a clove of garlic before planting. Dry wounds by sprinkling ash, or crushed coal.
For a week, the twisted crest should hang in a calm, bright place upside down for a longer time. At this time, the rudiments of roots begin to form. In the future, the plant can be held in contact with water or planted immediately.
When growing roots in water for planting pineapple, it is important that the jar is dark, the liquid changes every two days, and the plant barely touches the surface. After two weeks, the roots will grow 2 cm, it's time to plant in the ground. You can also root a dry seedling, but at the same time keep it under a hood, creating a special microclimate.
Planting the plant is carried out in a small container with good drainage, a drainage layer of expanded clay and into the soil from equal proportions of sand, humus of leafy earth and peat... The soil should be steamed and treated with a strong solution of potassium permanganate. Planting is carried out in damp but not damp ground. Rooting takes place within two months. A sign that the plant has taken root will be the appearance of young leaves, the old ones gradually dry out and need to be pruned.
After the appearance of new leaves, watering the plants is carried out from above, so that there is always water in the funnel of leaves. This is the requirement of a dry area plant to collect atmospheric moisture in reserve.
Pineapple care
Rooting and making the plant live at home is not enough. It is necessary to create conditions for the plant to bloom. To do this, you must fulfill the conditions of detention:
- watering and feeding the plant;
- transshipment or transfer and soil requirements;
- provocation of fruiting;
- other features of pineapple.
Keep the flower pot in a lighted place, but not in direct sunlight. Indoor pineapple spreads foliage widely and needs a separate stand. On the other hand, he will willingly share the container with succulent plants. He loves his neighbors. Therefore, at an early age, planting other residents of dry Mexico in a pot is even useful.
The mode of watering and feeding in the care of indoor pineapple plays a decisive role. The plant does not like waterlogging of the earth and stagnant water in the pan. Therefore, watering is moderate, for an adult plant once a week. But in the summer, spraying is beneficial for the plant outdoors. In this case, part of the water evaporates, and part is absorbed from the leaf funnel. This is an emergency reserve provided by nature, it must be inexhaustible. If the plant is accidentally poured, the earth remains damp for a long time, it is poorly drained, it is necessary to change the substrate, but be as careful with the root system as possible.
The plant should be fed once a month. The best organic fertilizer for pineapple is mullein. Organic fertilizing is done in spring and summer to build up green mass. Fertilizing with mineral liquid fertilizers for flowers is used interspersed with a mullein at a half rate. Apply liquid formulations during the growing season after 2 weeks with a full dose. The peculiarity of pineapple is the feeding method. Fertilize the plant with water and diluted dressing into a leaf outlet. No feeding is required in winter.
Water for irrigation should be warm, about 30 0, the earth dries up between waterings.
The plant is transplanted annually. In this case, soil for cacti is used, or prepared independently, with the obligatory ingredients of peat and leafy earth to create the desired acidity. The sand should be coarse. Charcoal, brick chips, vermiculite and perlite will only increase the nutrient content of the soil.
The root system of indoor pineapple is weak and the transshipment of the plant after a year of life in a large container is required. But for an adult plant, a pot volume of 3-4 liters is enough. When transplanting a plant, you need to remember that a large pot is harmful for a houseplant, since the soil that is not filled with roots turns sour. On the other hand, babies will develop in a more spacious pot even before the plant fructifies, you can grow a new pineapple in advance to replace it.
When transplanting a plant, the neck should not be buried.
Several years have passed, and the homemade pineapple is not going to bloom. Then you need to accelerate fruiting. This is another feature of pineapple. If the plant has spread out leaf plates of 0 cm, has grown to 25 cm and it is already a year and a half, you can try to provoke flowering with ethylene dressing. To do this, insist a spoonful of calcium carbide for a day in a sealed jar and drain the clarified liquid. For seven days in a row, pour 50 grams of the resulting ethylene water into the leaf outlet. The peduncle can be expected to protrude within a month and a half. If this has not happened, then the indoor pineapple has not yet entered its maturity period.
Pineapple smoke can provoke flowering. Once a week for a month, you should leave a smoking cigarette or paper glowing on the coals near him. In this case, the plant should be covered with a film. Such "fires" will lead to the formation of a peduncle.
Pineapple bloom begins with the formation of a bud at the top, within two months it moves up on the peduncle. Over the course of two weeks, gradually and for only one day, blue flower lights flash on each bud. In the photo, the pineapple bloom is not accompanied by aroma, but an amazing smell is in the room all the time of flowering. After that, the handsome pineapple himself is poured. This event takes up to six months. Like everything in nature, pineapple develops cyclically.Having given strength to the formation of seeds, it slowly dies off, giving numerous shoots. You can plant and grow a new indoor pineapple.