My sister who lives in Florida brought to me, four pineapple tops which she rooted in water back in 9/2011. I finally transferred them to four 16" pots using potting soil in January 2012. I figured this is Maine and I may not have enough light but I'll give it a whirl and see what they do. I placed them in front of a south facing sliding door. I keep the house pretty warm-average 72 through the winter. I'm going to list the short version by date and just post the pictures after.
Planted 1/2012. Young plants in row 2/10/12. First sign of flower 6/7/2013. Budding fruit 6/17/2013. Flowering fruit 7/9/2013. Green fruits 9/5/2013. Well established green fruits 10/11/2013. Ripening fruits 11/5/2013 harvested and eaten 11/11/13. I hope this inspires you to try your hand at this as well.
That's awesome! Now let's get on some Maine-grown coconuts!
I actually know of several Maine farmers who have started growing organic ginger and turmeric in hoophouses. It would be interesting to determine on a larger scale if the inputs necessary to grow tropical fruit up here, in terms of added heat and light, are less than the oil/energy needed to ship such foods from the South or West.
Here are the most recent pics. In the last pic, I was going to cut off the top and decided I want to grow it so you can see where I cut and then when I twisted the top off- only half of the roots that are exposed because of it. I believe it will be fine though. I have it rooting in water for the time being. As soon as I see growth starting I will transfer to potting soil. And changing the water daily until then.
When I saw the title I was sure this was going to be about deer hunting. Game wardens often come upon large amounts of apples under white pine trees during hunting season. Hence... Maine Pine-apples.
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