They are edible, but not enjoyable. The seeds of a pineapple bother most people when eating the delicious fruit. Simply throwing them away would be a shame. Hobby gardeners create new pineapple plants by sowing the seeds.
Discover and harvest the seeds in pineapples
They have the status of a rarity because the cores were grown out of most pineapples. Happy the hobby gardeners who discover some of the 2-3 millimeter small seeds under the brown shell. In large, ripe fruits in particular, there is a good chance of harvesting the reddish-brown seeds. Therefore, after peeling a pineapple, be on the lookout to harvest it with a spoon or knife.
Pre-treatment and sowing
Each pineapple core contains the concentrated potential for a new plant. However, Mother Nature provides seeds with a hard shell inside the pulp to prevent them from germinating prematurely. In order to break this germination inhibition, experienced hobby gardeners soak the seeds in lukewarm water for 24 hours. A thermos can be used to keep the desired temperature for this period of time. This is how it goes on:
- fill small plastic pots with lean cactus soil, a peat-sand mixture or seed soil
- Plant 1 core at a time to a maximum depth of 2 centimeters and sieve thinly with sand
- moisten with a fine spray of lime-free, lukewarm water
- set up in the heated indoor greenhouse or cover with foil
With a germination temperature of 28-30 degrees Celsius, the process takes an average of 8-12 weeks. The humidity should not fall below the 80 percent mark. If the tender cotyledons break out of the kernels, any hood can be removed. Lowering the temperature to 23-25 degrees Celsius is also possible. If the growing pot is completely rooted, it is repotted in normal substrate for adult pineapple plants.
tips and tricks
The result of sowing pineapple seeds is always a guessing game. It is questionable which attributes of the parent and grandparent plants will prevail in the offspring. A varietal propagation is possible with the help of the tuft of leaves. Simply cut off, remove the pulp and peel off the bottom 2-3 rows of leaves. Used in poor substrate, rooting gets going quickly.
GTH