Pineapple for the New Year’s table – why not? This inhabitant of the tropics has perfectly adapted to Russian conditions. It grows well not only in winter greenhouses and on window sills, but sometimes also in open ground. True, sometimes it is necessary to create special conditions in order to accelerate the ripening of the fruit. Ripening is also necessary if you bought a green pineapple in a store.
How to speed up the ripening of pineapple
Growing pineapples on the windowsill is a fairly common hobby, which not only allows you to get tasty and fragrant fruits, but can also captivate children for a long time, who observe with great interest how leaves appear, flowering begins, and the fruit is tied.
Usually fruits appear in the third year after planting. The bush at this time reaches an impressive size, as well as the leaves. Like all plants, a large inflorescence appears at the end of the stem, similar to a spikelet. You do not need to pollinate it. Flowering lasts a long time, and the fruit can be expected four months after its start. It is better if the pineapple ripens on the bush. To ensure this, it is necessary to feed the plant a couple of times with a full mineral complex.
Both the mullein and the blood water that the plant is watered with at any opportunity has a positive effect on the size of the fruit and the rate of its ripening. It is not difficult to prepare such water. It is enough to wash the meat in it. As soon as the apical shoot is formed in the fruit, the growth point must be cut off. Ripening in this case will go pretty quickly. True, such a fruit is worse stored and can rot, but there is no need to wait for four whole months after the beginning of flowering. The ripening time is approximately halved.
If the stem is short, do not stimulate flowering, otherwise the fruit will be small. Stimulants can be a low room temperature, a cramped pot, or a special solution.
Sometimes pineapples bought in the store have to be brought to ripeness. Before buying the fruit, be sure to inspect it. There should be no dark spots on it. The pineapple may be unripe, but it shouldn’t be damaged. Pineapples are often picked unripe by suppliers of these products to prevent spoilage during delivery.
There is also a second reason. In tropical countries, pineapples ripen at about the same time, there are a lot of them in the markets and in stores at once, and the price for them drops. Producers try to avoid overstocking by harvesting in parts. Pineapples should ripen already with buyers.
The quickest way to get this tropical native to mature is to make “clothes” for him, that is, wrapped in newspapers and put somewhere in a warm place. After a couple of days, you can check maturity. To do this, just try to pull out the sheet. Ripe pineapple leaves the leaves easily. If you have to make an effort, it is better to wait another day. Instead of newspaper, you can use napkins or toilet paper.