I have been growing pineapples in my backyard for around five years and this is the first time I have seen this plant grow from underneath a pineapple plant. The pineapple plant is from the top of a pineapple. Now the leaves are thin and soft and easily pliable.
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2Can you add a photo showing the whole plant, including the base where its in the soil please. Has this pineapple plant ever produced a fruit?– BambooFeb 22, 2020 at 17:57
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1I have seen suckers and slips before but this time it is different. This pineapple top has not produced fruit yet. I have a second plant about the same age doing the same thing. I dug down into the pot and it appears to be growing from the plant. Thanks for your help.– ChrisFeb 23, 2020 at 19:56
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1It might just be that the older top part has died back for some reason, and the roots have produced secondary growth off to one side. Plants have all sorts of tricks to keep on living!– BambooFeb 23, 2020 at 21:35
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1Your plant had pups! Congratulations! It's happy! You've done well!– PauliFeb 28, 2020 at 7:09
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1 Answer
If this is coming from the base of the pineapple plant it is likely just a sucker; this is the way that pineapples reproduce vegetatively. The mother plant reaches a state of maturity, usually by producing a thick stem with a pineapple on top. Then its work is done, so the mother plant produces suckers at the base and possibly slips underneath the ripening fruit. Separate the suckers and slips carefully from the parent with root attached and you can quickly generate a new pineapple plant. If anything interrupts the production of fruit this shortcuts the maturity signal and the suckers start growing.
answered Feb 23, 2020 at 0:36
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To elaborate on Colin’s answer, the pineapple plant is a type of bromeliad. Bromeliads propagate through the growth of new young shoots (referred to as “pups”) from the base of existing mature plants. Sadly the “original” parent plant will not live forever. The pups leaves are usually lighter in colour than the parent and are soft and pliable, as they have to grow up alongside and through the hard and often sharp edged leaves of the parent. As mentioned, if you carefully cut them off where they attach to the parent plant and pot them into an orchid potting mix, you’ll have many new plants. Feb 27, 2020 at 11:13