PINEAPPLE PRODUCTION GUIDE

Pineapple is a tropical fruit that can be planted to any place most suitable for planting. It can survive even during the period of dry ad wet season. It can grow at sea level. They are suited to be planted in a medium elevation. A sandy loam soil and a soil having a slight acidity will do.

Needing thorough land preparation. Pineapple need a culture period of 15 to 24 months from planting to harvest. Poor land preparation will result in high costs for controlling weeds, and how fruit production due to the weeds. For planting materials, pineapple growers used crowns,slips, and suckers. Slips are the best to use for low plant mortality. Crowns needs curing and chemical treatment to avoid high mortality due to butt rot. It is best to segregate different types of planting materials during the planting.

For farmers planting for local consumption 50,000 plants per hectare is the ideal density.

Due to high population densities and the long culture period, the fertilizer requirements of pineapple per average soil fertility as follows: N-400 to 600 kilograms/hectare, P-120 to 200 kilograms/hectare, K-200 to 300 kilograms/hectare. Soil analysis can enable the planter to accurately determine fertilizers requirement.

Used organic fertilizers such as those that are guano-based or manure-based in combination with organic or chemical fertilizers.Most of elements like irons, zinc, manganese and boron can also be applied in foliar spraying. Dry fertilizer application is practical up to the seventh month of growth of plants. As the pineapple plants grow closer to each other, foliar fertilizer application becomes more practical.

Since pineapple is a shallow-rooted plants, high weed population could take away from its soil nutrients and fertilizer, and consequently greatly reduced production by as much as 50 percent. Chemical weed control is a must if the grower can afford it and if chemicals are available.

Although cheap or in terms of labor cost, hand weeding is actually more expensive and less effective in the early stages of crop growth. When weeds like nutsedge are present in the field, chemical control during the first few months of pineapple growth is the most effective and economical weeding method.

For high fruit tonnage per hectare, pineapple should be induced to flower when the plants are 10 to 12 months, or when they reach an average weight of three kilograms per plant in good cultural management.

Five to five-and-a half months after using flower inducer, pineapple starts ripening. It could enable the grower to attain 80 to 95 percent recovery for the first harvest.

The amount of sunlight received by the crop in a week preceding harvest has a heavy influence or sweetness of the fruit. Pineapple grown under shade and in high elevation are generally of lower brix and higher acidity. Fruits harvested during rainy and cloudy days have higher acidity and lower sugar contents.

Rats are a problem in weedy fields or if the crops is near areas with rats populations. Rats generally damage ripe fruits. To control, use standard rodenticides in bait stations.

Mealy bugs are sucking insects with a life span of 50 to 60 days. They are one of the important pests of pineapple because they are carriers of pineapple wilt, the most damaging disease of pineapple. The insects reside on the base of the leaves, on fruits and at the roots and multiply rapidly during the dry months. To control, treat all planting materials with malathion or diazinon. Spray the crop monthly, or as the population of the mealybugs become apparent.

Grubs and worms are soil insects prevalent in some areas. They attack the roots of the crops. Apply soil insecticides in power or granular form for control.

Fire ants and other ants carry mealybugs. They also attack workers in the fields. These are easily killed by insecticides used for soil insects or mealybugs.

After several years of being planted to pineapple, the field could be nematode-infested. Nematodes are plants parasites that cause stunting and poor growth. For small and medium scale growers, crop rotation is the most practical and cheapest control methods. Nematicides may also be used for controlling the pest.

Butt rot and heart rot are major diseases of pineapple growers take from granted. Most commonly affected plant parts are crowns, if used for planting without proper handling and curing, the presence of standing water during the rainy season also induces butt rot on newly-planted crops. Another factor causing rotting of young pineapple crops in poor land preparation, especially with the presence of undecomposed vegetation in the soil at planting.

Another serious disease that could infect pineapple is pineapple wilt. Infected planting materials and the presence of mealybugs that are the carriers of the disease are its main causes. The symptoms of the disease could be mistaken for poor nutrients intake, such as lack of phosphorus, bud hardly noticed by the untrained farmer. Starting with only a few plants, it seriously infects 30 to 70 percent of the crops if not controlled in its early stages. A virus causes the damages. The only effective control method is to rogue out and burn plants as they show signs of the disease.

After spending in planting and in caring for the crop for up to 20 months, the pinerapple grower needs to properly survey the market in order to contact reliable wholesale buyers. Proper fruit handling from harvest field to market is also important to maintain good quality and avoid bruising and damaging fruits.