Houseplant pineapple has sedentary, sword-shaped linear gray-green leaves. They are collected in a rosette at the roots. Leaflets variegated type of pineapple yellow with white stripes. Long they are no more than a meter, and width - a couple of centimeters. If the content in the apartment is fairly optimal for the plant, then after a while the plant starts to bloom. A flower stalk is formed, reaching in the size of 50 centimeters, and on it - up to two hundred small flowers. The fruit ripens in the same year, mostly in the interval between May and August. Blossoms pineapple half a month. Fetal ripening occurs in months through 7. The main indicator that the fetus is ripe is a strong fragrance and a solid mass of the fetus. Ripening pineapples can weigh up to one and a half kilograms. On the top of the pineapple fetus is a rosette of leaves, which, by the way, can then be used for rooting.
Pineapples, which belong to the family of bromeliads, are widely used not only as highly destructive plants, but also on the farm. In recent years, tropical countries have harvested up to 12 million tons of these fruits. Of the plants belonging to the same family as pineapple, they make building materials, clothes, medicines for medicine, fishing tackle.
Pineapple: care and its contents.
These houseplants are very photophilic. They need a lot of light all year. Pineapple will feel good on the windowsills of the southern windows. If the old leaves are of a blue color, and the young ones have reddish tips, then this is an indicator that there is enough light for the plant. Pineapple grows well, it is strong, the stem is dense, the leaves do not fall apart in different directions. In winter, the plant must be illuminated with fluorescent lamps, which are set at a distance of 20 centimeters from the plant.
In summer, the optimum temperature for pineapple is 30 degrees, and in winter and autumn - 18. In winter, so that the plant is not affected by the hot air that comes from the heating radiators, it is necessary to put pallets with moistened sand under the pot.
In the summer months, pineapple requires frequent, abundant watering. Water should not be cold. In the heat, you can pour water into a leaf outlet, but as soon as the temperature has dropped - water should be drained from them. In winter, water should be moderate, and if the temperature drops below 15 degrees, then the plant should not be watered at all, so that it does not rot.
Pineapple is a plant, it is not exacting to humidity of air, therefore they do not need to be sprayed.
In summer and in spring, the plant should be watered with fertilizers dissolved in water. Mineral and organic fertilizers are useful to apply every few weeks.
For the cultivation of pineapple, the earth, which is composed of two parts of the leafy earth, part of the turf ground, part of the humus and part of the sand, will be suitable. You can use half-baked leaves, fibrous peat, pods and lumpy sod land. All should also be taken in the same amount.
Pineapple needs acid soil, its pH should be 4 or 5. The plant needs well-arranged drainage. Pots for pineapple should be low, but rather wide, because the plant has a superficial root system.
Propagation of these houseplants can be seeds, children, roots, cuttings.
Pineapple has small seeds. Their size is 4 mm x 0, 15 cm. They are curved like a sickle, the color is yellow-brown. Seeds are used by those that gave ripened fruit. They are washed with potassium permanganate (weak solution) and dried. For seeding, coniferous earth, leafy, a mixture of sand and peat is suitable. Seeds are planted no deeper than two centimeters. After planting, they should be watered and covered with glass or film.
Seedlings are placed in a room with a high air temperature (not lower than 20). The higher the temperature, the shoots will appear faster. If the temperature regime is about 24 degrees, then the shoots will appear in a month and a half, if about 27 degrees, then in 25 days, and at a temperature of 35 degrees, the first green shoots will look out from under the ground for 15 days already. Pineapple seeds germinate in different ways, some may not rise for 7 months.
It is not difficult to care for seeds sown. They should be watered, sprinkled and a couple of times a month to apply fertilizing with mineral fertilizers and droppings of birds (per liter about 20 gr.), In the heat shelter from direct sunlight.
When the leaves reach a length of 7 centimeters, they need to be dived. The substrate for this must consist of humus, peat, turf and leaf, sand. All you need to take in equal parts. In the mass you need to add about 5% of the total volume of the coal substrate from wood. Plants should be gradually accustomed to air of less moisture. For this you need to periodically open the shelter with a film or glass.
As cuttings, shoots without fruit are suitable, they, as a rule, are formed under the inflorescences. A superficial leaf socket, which is cut off along with the apex of the fetus, is also suitable.
Pineapple plants can be propagated with the help of radical children.
As a rule, pineapple starts to bloom approximately 4 years after planting, when the leaves grow to a length of 60 cm, and the base reaches a diameter of 10 centimeters. Flowering can begin later, or it may not start at all. Acetylene water will help stimulate the flowering process. Take 15 grams of carbide and dissolve in a liter of water. When the gas finishes standing out, the water is filtered and stored in a cold in a sealed container. Two days the water will retain all the properties. A quarter of a measured cup of solution is poured into the plant's rosette, directly to the point of growth. So do a couple of days in a row. Stimulate the plant only in warm seasons. In a couple of months, the center of the rosette should turn red from the reddish-red stalk that appeared. If there is little light, then the color may be salad. When the peduncle appears, we maximize the lighting and top dressing with phosphorus and potassium, but without nitrogen.