How to Germinate Pineapple Seed

A pineapple's seeds are located near the rind of the fruit.

If you want to transform your garden into your own personal paradise, there is no better way to start the project than to grow a pineapple plant. While pineapple plants can take several years to bear fruit, the wide fan of pineapple leaves is reminiscent of a miniature palm tree and gives your garden a tropical appeal. Pineapples are most often propagated by planting the pineapple crown in water and waiting for it to take root. Although this is a common method of growing new pineapple plants, you can also grow your pineapple from seeds you collect from the mature fruit.

Things You'll Need

• Mature pineapple
• Small jar with lid
• Sulfuric acid
• Small pot
• Sandy soil
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber band

Instructions

1. Peel a mature pineapple. Bend the pineapple skin back. Pick the small black seeds from the fruit’s inside rind.

2. Rinse the seeds well. Set them aside.

3. Put the seeds in a small jar. Cover the seeds with sulfuric acid. Screw the lid on the jar. Let the seeds sit for 10 minutes. Pineapple seeds are typically very slow to germinate. Scarifying the seeds in sulfuric acid speeds up the germination process, which could otherwise take up to six months.

4. Plant the seeds in a small pot full of well-draining, sandy soil. Add enough water to moisten the soil.

5. Place plastic wrap over the top of the pot. Secure the plastic wrap with a rubber band. Place the pot on a windowsill, on your back porch, or any other area where it can receive both full and indirect sunlight.

6. Remove the plastic wrap and water the soil frequently enough to keep it moist. According to the Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products, the seeds germinate in approximately 10 days.

Tips & Warnings

• Scarifying the seeds is not crucial to the germination process, but makes the wait for pineapple seedlings considerably shorter.

• Commercially grown pineapple are often seedless. To ensure your pineapple contains seeds, buy your pineapple at a farmer’s market or from a friend or neighbor who owns his own fruit-producing pineapple plant.

• After transplanting your young pineapple plants into the ground, water them infrequently. Pineapple plants do not require much water. The occasional rainfall is usually enough to sustain them. Watering too frequently can kill the plants.

References

• Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products; Pineapple; Julia F. Morton; 1987
• Purdue University Department of Botany and Plant Pathology: Growing a Pineapple at Home

Resources

• University of California Los Angeles; Pineapple: The Plant That Ate Hawai'i; Arthur C. Gibson
• University of Vermont; Home Fruit Growing – Making More Plants; Lewis Hill, et al.