Stevie is Finally Fruiting!

I was not expecting this at all. I was waiting for the true spring finally to settle so that I could take my Stevie the Pineapple outside to my small balcony, for more sun and warmth.

We had snow yesterday and the weather is going to be pretty schizophrenic for the next ten days, so it will be probably mid-April when I will finally be able to take her out. So today I was going to just water her.

I water Stevie only once a week or so as pineapples don't require a lot of water. So when I approached her with a jug of room temperature defrosted boiled water (yes, I like spoiling Stevie that way - boil the water, freeze it for 3 days, unfreeze it and then use to water my indoor plants), I noticed the little pineapple bud in the middle.

It's small, only about an inch in size, but I'm stoked! It made my day and I boasted about it to everyone who'd listen. And now I'm bragging to you.

I'm so excited because this pineapple plant will turn five this summer. Stevie had to move apartments with me a couple of times and was once left in my friends' care for the summer when I was traveling. I also had to replant her into a bigger pot last summer again. She seems to be doing well and not really growing anymore, just keeping to the same size, replenishing the old leaves with the new ones.

I published this story in October 2023, pouring out my excitement and frustrations about growing a pineapple in a pot.

And then I mentioned Stevie again, when I shared my restless hands project from last year. Dharrsheena came into comments with her father's advice to spike Stevie's fruiting with carbide and I honestly was going to do it after I'd have taken her outside this April.

Last week, I gave Stevie a piece of my mind while watering her:

Look, Stevie, you are a grown woman now, going on five years. Your biological clock is ticking like crazy. I know other people's pineapples fruit in the second or even first year. I understand you enjoy your life of a single careless partying plant, moving inside and outside each year, but I'm kinda tired of it.

When it gets warmer in a couple of weeks, I'll take you outside for the last time. I'll spike you with carbide, too. I even know where I can get it, through my friend in construction. I am not sure if you will like it or not, but there's that. You should really think hard about giving me that fruit.

Yes, I said all of that to her out loud. I'm not sure if Stevie got scared straight and decided to give me a fruit. It could have also been that last August I started dumping coconut oil into her pot after I used it (and I use it a lot for cooking and cosmetics purposes). Those white spots on the soil under the leaves in the photo are the remnants of coconut oil.

Adding used coconut oil could be my new life hack because that was the only difference in how I took care of Stevie compared to previous years. Or maybe it was just her time: Finally, she decided she had enough of good care-free life (pineapples wilt away and die after they fruit, only once in their lifetime).

In any case, I am extremely happy and will be watching this fruit growing every day with great joy. I will write one more last update when I am ready to cut the pineapple off Stevie.