Monday, February 4, 2013

Pineapple

I've made a long-awaited discovery at my potted garden! My pineapple plant finally has a small fruit growing! I have been looking out for the flowers, for the last couple of weeks, as I have a feeling that it will start to flower very soon. Last week, when I was not paying much attention to it like I have the previous week or so, as I was really busy baking cookies for the coming Chinese New Year, the plant has been busy, growing a small pineapple fruit! I have never seen the flowers of a pineapple plant before, though I have planted pineapples a number of times, I never thought of looking out for the flowers! From what I've read from Wikipedia, some pineapple plants can produce to about 200 flowers and the fruits of the all these flowers are joined together to create what is called the Pineapple Fruit! Wonders of nature! 



I planted the stem of a pineapple which I bought almost 1-1/2 years ago, if I remember correctly, this is of the Yan Kee variety. It has a long and tapered shaped fruit and is juicy and sweet. The price is more expensive than the regular Morris pineapple.



I did not see any flowers, perhaps more flowers will appear as it gets bigger, since it takes more than 200 flowers to  make a complete fruit, keeping my fingers crossed for that! Pineapple plants are really easy to grow, they are practically maintenance-free! I did not do much, except for the very occasional sprinkling of fertilizer. They love the hot sunny sun, and do not need that much watering like most plants. Really fuss-free and maintenance free! And I grew it in a 12-inch diameter pot. From my past experiences in growing these wonderful fruit, it takes about 18-22 months from the day I planted the stem right to the harvesting day! That is a long wait, but definitely worth it.



Such a beauty! Am now waiting patiently for this little beauty to mature. Thinking of planting a couple more of different varieties right after CNY!



The photos above are all taken about 5 days ago, except for the ones below.



 This photo was taken this morning, in search for new flowers. The fruit has grown longer and bigger.



  And there are new flowers growing! Can you see the purple buds peeping out from each little pockets, all the little fruits from these flowers joined together that makes the complete fruit known as pineapple. Wow, now, whenever I see any pineapple, I would think of all the flowers that "created" this lovely fruit.



 One flower already bloomed. There's a couple more at the bottom already wilted.



 Have you seen or notice the flowers of a pineapple before? Now I know why the pineapple fruit has so many "eyes"! 



According to Wikipedia, the colours of the flowers may vary, from lavender to light purple to red. My pineapple plant above has light purple flowers. I'll just have to grow different varieties, it would be interesting to see the different colours of the flowers, and I intend to do that after the Chinese New Year holidays!


Pineapple is one of the auspicious fruit to have during Chinese New Year, besides the popular mandarin oranges. Pineapples are known as "wong lai" in the Chinese language, meaning "lots of luck coming your way". So hopefully, I'll have lots of luck this year! I would definitely love some luck in my gardening area!



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I would like to wish all my Chinese friends and readers :


Gong Xi Fa Cai

Wish you good health, prosperity, longevity, and happiness!

May you have success in everything you set out to do!


Yam Seng!


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14 comments:

  1. wah!!! big big 'ong' wants to 'lai' already!!

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  2. Wow, I did not know that a pineapple is actually made up of many flowers. I should try this too. My uncle introduced the Yan Kee (I used to think of it as Yankee as in Yankee Doodle) pineapple to my parents and they love it. My uncle used to get them from Klang. Looks like your CNY very "Ong" this year!

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  3. WOW! This is an amazing post ! I didn't even know that it needs 200 flowers to make a fruit! Great to know that! This is certainly a sign that you"ll be very "wong' this year! hehehehe ;)

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  4. I've planted pineapples before. Even though the fruit did not turn out sweet but the plant is lovely.During the CNY season these pineapple plants in the pot complete with fruits are sold for exorbitant sums. I intend to plant some of the tops left over from making pineapple tarts too.

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  5. Oh Joyce, Congratulations on your baby pineapple!!! I'm so excited for you. You have just encouraged me not to put mine in a bag with an apple, a suggestion I found online for speeding up the process. My pineapple plant show no signs of flowering but looking at yours makes me feel like there is still hope after almost 3 years!!!

    Thank you so much for sharing...Happy New Year to you and yours!!!

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  6. Pineapple? Yummy and juicy fruit!
    Hope a lot of luck for you since the plant start to fruit near the CNY!
    Anyway Happy Chinese New Year! Hope you have fun with the loved ones!

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  7. We used to plant pineapples just for the fun of it. Now, looking at yours I'm much tempted to plant again. So now that your fruit of your labour has taken shape, I wish you more ONG coming your way in the year of the snake!

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  8. i was wondering if one could plant garlic in m'sia since it's seasonal and i found it here. i'm planning to plant some. thank you for ur blog! enjoyed it :)

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  9. Hi Joyce,
    I only know how to eat pineapple but I didn't know that pineapple have flowers :p They look so lovely.
    You must be really excited when you sees the flowers and the fruit.
    Thanks for sharing
    mui

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  10. Hello! I recently just started a youtube Korean food channel, EasyKoreanFood, where you can learn how to make fast & easy Korean food! It would mean the world to me if you could check it out because I'm just starting out! Thanks!

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  11. Happy Chinese New Year.
    Pineapple blooming a good sign to start this water snake year for you.
    Samalah kita mine also one plant suddenly I found flowers on it.
    Nanti sama-sama nikmati fresh nanas :).

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  12. I don't know where the name Yan Kee, Yankee, taiwan, selangor sweet etc comes from. People makes up the name whenever they like.
    The "real" name is Perola abacaxi (pineapple) and it comes from brazil. Most popular breed there.

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