The Latest Pineapple Planting and Management Techniques Tutorial

Pineapple is a tropical perennial herbaceous fruit tree. It prefers warmth and humidity and is intolerant of low temperatures and frost. It has strong drought tolerance, but good growth and development require adequate moisture. If rainfall is insufficient, excessive, or unevenly distributed, it should be regulated through drainage and irrigation. Pineapple originated in tropical rainforests and tropical plateau regions, has fairly strong shade tolerance, prefers diffused light and avoids direct light, but abundant, high-quality yields still require adequate sunlight. Pineapple has fairly broad adaptability to soil, but neutral or alkaline soils, clayey soils, or structureless silty sandy soils are unsuitable; it requires pH 5--6. Pineapple plants are short and suffer relatively little wind damage, but strong winds of force 6 or above can also cause damage.

Field Planting and Seedling Raising

Pineapple is planted at 3800--4000 plants per 666.67 sq m, so the seedling requirement is large. Three methods are commonly used: morphactin-induced bud propagation, vegetative propagation, and tissue culture. Bud forcing time and method: from May to November, select plants with 40 cm long green leaves, usually 40 leaves for the Cayenne group and 35 leaves for Philippine varieties. For each plant, pour 25 ml of a mixed solution of 250 mg/L ethephon plus 1% urea and 0.5% potassium chloride into the heart to force buds; on the 5th and 12th days after treatment, pour another 25 ml of 1200--1500 times and 600--750 times morphactin solution into the heart respectively. For vegetative propagation, small seedlings are commonly raised, that is, small crown buds, small slip buds, small suckers, and fruit tumor buds from the field are classified and temporarily planted in a nursery for cultivation before leaving the nursery. Small slip buds remaining on the fruit stalk after harvest are grown and cultivated into seedlings; old stems are cut into pieces for propagation, and old stems from renewal fields are also used for propagation. For tissue culture seedling raising, use MS medium and culture in a culture room at room temperature 30°C with 12 hours of light or natural light. 

Pineapple Planting Techniques

1. Choose a good orchard site: choose a place facing south, with ample sunlight, abundant water, and convenient transportation as a commercial production base.

2. Scientific planting: before planting, improve poor soil and apply sufficient base fertilizer; select strong seedlings for planting. Density: 3000--4000 plants per 666.67 sq m for the Cayenne group, and 4000--5000 plants for the Queen group.

3. Strengthen fertilizer and water management after planting

① Fertilizer amount: in Guangxi, China, apply 42.2 kg nitrogen, 26.8 kg phosphorus, and 38.5 kg potassium per 666.67 sq m, with N : P2O5 : K2O = 1 : 0.62 : 0.9;

② Fertilization periods: usually apply bud-promoting fertilizer from December to February of the following year before flower bud emergence, and apply sprout-strengthening fertilizer in July to August after fruit harvest; between the bud-promoting fertilizer and the sprout-strengthening fertilizer, apply fruit-strengthening and bud-forcing fertilizer; apply foliar fertilizer once each in April, June, July, and September every year, and apply topdressing twice each in May and August, using 1% urea plus 0.5% potassium sulfate solution; apply base fertilizer after fruit harvest.

③ Water management: drain and irrigate in time, prevent waterlogging and resist drought.

4. Do well in other management tasks: for example, to avoid affecting fruit growth and development, remove and retain buds appropriately; to promote flowering, carry out flower forcing; to increase fruit weight and quality, spray the fruit. After all florets have faded, spray the fruit with 50 mg/L gibberellin plus 0.5% urea solution, spray a second time after 20 days with 70 mg/L gibberellin plus 0.3% urea solution. To make the fruit ripen uniformly, when the fruit has developed to 70% maturity, spray the fruit with 300 mg/L ethephon to promote ripening. 

Pest and Disease Control

1. Disease control

① Control of wilt disease: after the plant becomes diseased, the leaves soften and droop, the leaf color changes from light green to red, the base rots, and finally the whole plant dies. This disease is caused by damage from mealybugs. The control method is, first, strictly avoid using diseased seedlings for propagation. Second, promptly eradicate mealybugs. At planting, soak the heads in 500 times dimethoate solution, place them upside down to dry, and then plant. If mealybug damage is found after planting, promptly spray 500 times dimethoate solution, or 25% Zhongke Meiling 1500 times solution. If diseased plants are found, dig them out promptly to prevent spread. 

② Control of black rot: the affected fruit core turns black and gradually expands until the whole fruit rots. The pathogen mostly enters through wounds from bud removal and the fruit stalk wounds from harvesting. The control method is to avoid topping and harvesting on rainy days, so as to reduce opportunities for pathogen invasion. This disease is also a major disease of stored fresh pineapple fruit.

③ Control of seedling heart rot: seedlings rot at the heart and die. It is mainly caused by heating during piling or water accumulation. The control method is to avoid piling seedlings for too long, especially during long-distance transport, where piling for too long should be minimized as much as possible to avoid heat damage to seedlings caused by high temperature, high humidity, and poor ventilation. Spread them out immediately upon arrival at the destination, expose them to slight sun for 1~2 days, and then plant. Avoid planting on rainy days, and pay attention to deep plowing and shallow planting.

2. Insect pest control

When the fruit ripens, it may be bitten by the giant cricket, which makes fruit quality poor and turns it into substandard fruit. Control method: stir-fry 5 dry kg of rice bran with 1 kg of cooked sweet potato, mix in a small amount of pickled vegetable juice, then add 100 g of 90% crystallized trichlorfon to make bait the size of beans, and in the evening scatter each bait around the plants to trap and kill them. 

Harvesting and Processing

The suitable harvest time depends on whether the fruit is for fresh eating or processing and whether it is for nearby sale or distant sale. Generally, for nearby sale, it is best to harvest when 1/2 of the small fruit has turned yellow; for distant sale or fruit used as processing material, the suitable harvest period is when the small fruit is grass green or 1/4 of the small fruit has turned yellow. 

Pineapple can be eaten fresh and also processed. It can be processed into syrup-packed canned pineapple, pineapple juice, and so on. Fresh pineapple fruit can also be quick-frozen: after washing, peeling, coring, and cutting into pieces, it is frozen at -35°C and stored at -20°C, which can keep the nutrition the same as fresh pineapple. In addition, by-products from pineapple processing can be used to make sugar, alcohol, monosodium glutamate, citric acid, and so on.