Q/A column – for release October 15, 2008

Dan Culbert - Extension Horticulture Agent 

 How Does Your Garden Grow?

Question #1:  Pineapple Replacement

I planted some tops that I cut from pineapples and in a couple of years, I had a pineapple coming from the center. Unfortunately, something took a bite of my pineapple before it was ready to be picked. How long will it be until I can get another pineapple to come up? Will it take another couple of years? – Michael

 

Pineapples are members of the bromeliad family. One individual bromeliad plant can only flower once, but they readily sucker at the base to produce new “plantlets.”  The amount of time it will take to grow a new pineapple from a new off shoot that is able to flower will depend on how fast you make it grow.  It also depends on the variety – it will take from 18 to 24 months to produce a fruit.

Consider starting a new plant form a pineapple top.  They can be rooted in a large pot of sterile potting soil, provided with adequate moisture and supplemented regularly with dilute soluble fertilizers.  

To prevent future bits from critters, the potted plant can be moved inside a screen porch, or if grown in the garden, a circle of chicken wire around the plant may discourage attacks from uninvited dinner guests.

UF has a great bulletin written by Dr. Jon Crane, Pineapple Growing in the Florida Home Landscape; stop by our office for a copy or go to this site on the Internet http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG055  

  

Question #2:  Mums the Word!

I love Chrysanthemums! I would love to grow them on my property. We are located in the North part of the county and our soil is sandy. We have a successful vegetable garden going but I wanted to know what would be a good time of year to start rows of mums so that they will be of a good size by the time it gets too hot for many flowers in South Florida. Also, should I plant seeds or buy seedlings? 

Mum’s the word – and fall is the traditional season for these beautiful flowers.  Mums are a popular florist plant because growers trick the plant into thinking it is fall.  This is done by controlling temperature and day length to mimic fall-like conditions at any time of year.

Ambitious gardeners can root cuttings of garden mums in the spring and grow the green plants as big as possible through the summer.  Seed are not used to grow this plant.   In the fall, when days start to get shorter, the plant will initiate flowering. 

If you don’t want to go to the effort of nursing these cuttings along all summer, go visit your locally owned and operated garden center and stock up on as many plants as you need for a fulfilling flash of fall colors.

I wrote a column on Mums in November 2006; it lists several references where you can learn a lot more about this popular garden plant.  Stop by our office or see the archived copy at this Internet address:  http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu/News%20columns/Chrysanthemums.for.Thanksgiving.htm

This Tri-colored Hawaiian Ti Plant was seen flowering in Costa Rica, January 2008.  Photo: Dan Culbert, UF/IFAS

 

Question #3: Flowering Ti Plant

My Hawaiian Tai plant bloomed for the first time, lovely lavender flower spike. Should I have cut off the spike for the plant to grow stronger or is it okay to enjoy it? - Linda, Okeechobee-

Hawaiian Ti plants grown in the landscape or in full sun are known to actually flower.  Most people grow the plant for the beautiful pink and green colored leaves, and would consider the flower a distraction. 

You can cut it off or leave it, but eventually the stem will produce leaf buds at the base of the flower stalk.  They will allow that stem to go back to producing all that pretty pink color you have come to enjoy.   Many people will cut back the tall stems at different heights to produce a plant with leafy whorls at several different heights.

Former UF Floriculture Professor Dr. Rick Schoellhorn wrote a great article on the Ti Plant for GPN Magazine in 2002:  You can still see it on-line at this Internet site: http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/floriculture/gpn/Ti_plant.pdf

 

The local County Extension office has been asked by local newspapers papers to try out a question/answer column.  So – here goes:  Send us your favorite garden question by fax (863-763-5901), email (okeenews@newszap.com) or just drop it off at the Okeechobee News  office at (107 SW 17th St. suite D, Okeechobee, FL 34974).  The University of Florida - Okeechobee County Extension office will pick out three questions that would be of greatest interest to local residents and publish brief answers in the Okeechobee News.

The questions for today are REAL questions that have been brought in to the Extension office in the past few days.  To continue the column, we need YOUR real questions by Wednesday at 5 PM. Be sure to include your name and phone or email address in case we need more information (We can publish a question as anonymous if you wish).   Clear photographs (digital preferred) may also be submitted, but they might not be able to be returned.  Do not drop by actual plant specimens (unless it is a prize tomato for our salad or a beautiful flower for our office!)  We reserve the right to edit all questions for space.  The answers will be placed on the Okeechobee Extension website the week after the appear in print;  they will include links to additional references.

More information is available on our award-winning Okeechobee web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu. If you need additional information on your Florida Yard, please email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu or call us at 863-763-6469.  Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North in Okeechobee, and visit our Okeechobee County Master Gardeners from 1 to 3 PM on Tuesday afternoons.  Go Gators! 

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Trade  names, where used, are given for the purpose of providing specific information. They do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of products named, nor does it imply criticism of products not named. The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin.  Florida Cooperative Extension Service / IFAS / University of Florida.  Larry A.  Arrington, Dean. Last update: 10/14/2008.  This page is maintained by Dan Culbert