I live in the PNW near Seattle, but because it is summertime, nighttime temperatures are consistently above 10 degrees celsius and daytime temperatures are around 27.
It started looking like this several months ago when it prepared to flower and it was still indoors for the winter. I put it outside and the condition kept deteriorating. The fruit also seems to not be getting any bigger.
About nine months ago when I planted it I filled the pot with potting soil and about two months ago my mum covered it with sand to keep water in or something. She raises a lot of houseplants so I assumed she was experienced on this matter.
I water it about every three days with about 250 ml water and a few drops of MiracleGro (it also occasionally rains). I read that to help iron deficiencies people put rusty nails into the soil so I stuck some old screws into the soil.
Is it the sand? I have a sneaking suspicion it is the sand.
I would guess over watering.
This is what a healthy pineapple looks like:
I grow right into brown dirt and yard soil. In the pineapple plantations they do the same. No sand involved.
You’ve also got a pineapple fruit so time to harvest?
Does the 25% air, 25% water, 50% dirt rule apply to pineapples?
I don’t overthink it with pineapples because I plant so many.
It’s not great survival from a pineapple top, but generally, frequent irrigation and good drainage, but once they establish hard to kill
I have dozens of pineapples in my (very sandy) south Florida soil and this looks like a drainage problem to me. Either the roots are having too much trouble growing into the soil, or there’s too much water.
The pot has holes in the bottom such that it was possible for soil to trickle out. Should I wait a while without watering and see if it gets better?
No experience with pineapples, but when a plant starts looking like this it’s often either too much or too little watering. Does the pot have an unobscured drain hole in the bottom? How did you choose a once-every-three-days watering cycle? (That sounds insufficient for outside growing this time of year to me.)
I’m about as far away from you as it’s possible to be & still be in the Continental US, but a couple of things. Pineapple I hardly water at all, have it basically in orchid mix (my yard soil is atypical for Florida, very rich and damp) and they don’t absorb much through the roots so if you are trying to fertilize it or give it minerals, spraying diluted fertilizer on the leaves will work better than putting something in the soil.
I don’t know. I doubt it’s the sand. I am curious to know as well. Have you grown pineapples before that got bigger than this?
No, this is my first pineapple that took root well in soil.
I hear homegrown pineapples don’t get as big as store bought pineapples usually but I don’t know how big they get.
Most pineapples don’t grow as large as the ones you see in North American supermarkets. OP’s pineapple is probably ready to eat now.
That fruit looks great for a tropical plant growing way up north!
The issue is not the sand. Top dressing with sand, mulch, rocks, etc is a common practice with potted plants that at worst does no harm.
My guess is over watering is getting to it. Try just thoroughly soaking it (as in watering until some starts coming out the bottom of the pot) ~ once a week. The idea is to let the soil dry out a little between waterings. You can always stick your finger into the soil to see if it is still damp to see if watering is needed.
