Thats awesome my orange trees seem to be doing a lot better now hopefully they will grow an extra foot by next summer I've also bought a 45 watt sunlight lamp for the orange trees so that they get that little bit extra sunlight during the winter months which will be on a timer from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Also Lemons are pretty cheap here in London 30p each. I've been tempted to grow a few pips from the lemons but I'll think I'll concentrate on the plants I have already.

My pineapple growing project has been coming along well...

I've taken some pictures of the pineapple tops but annoyingly I can't find my USB cable for my camera to show people I have 3 of them and one has some very nice rooting. I've got them sitting in cups of water at the moment.

So far so good!

Well done, Kevin. That one's ready to pot up!

You might need to stake it with chop sticks or something until the roots get out into the soil, but I wouldn't keep them in water any longer than you have to.

Those guys will be very happy to join your lemon tree under the grow lamps for the winter, too.

I'll wait until the roots get a bit longer and then I'll pot it at the end of next week, I picked up some organic pelleted poultry manure really cheap, so my plan is to mix that with some potting soil then plant the pineapple top into that giving it plenty of feed, by then the other 2 should be rooting... I'll have to take a photo of my 4 year old oak tree some time that I grow from an Acorn thats almost as tall as me at the moment.

Kevin, I'd take it very light on the poultry manure pellets for the pineapples. They are bromeliads that feed mostly through their leaves, so the roots really only hold the plant in place. Too much nitrogen-rich fert might burn the nice roots you've grown there. You'd be better off to dissolve those pellets in some water and spray the 'manure tea' on the leaves of your pineapples.

The roots are growing pretty rapidly now, the roots are now twice size of what they were since I took the photos so I'll be potting that pineapple a bit sooner than next week. The other 2 however I'm still waiting for roots to show but looking good so far.

Thanks dyzzypyxxy I'll lay off the poultry manure pellets altogether for those pineapple plants, what I'll eventually do is dilute a little citrus feed in a spray bottle to spray the leaves every now and again.

I heard that pineapple plants like acidly soil so does that mean the high pH content in my water supply will be perfect for these pineapple plants? The one I grew before has been doing very well with hardly any kinda work.

Another thing I've recently discovered is that grinded up branches from Willow Trees can act as a rooting compound which I might try with one of the pineapple tops that hasn't rooted just yet I think those 2 might be slow developers.

High pH is alkaline.

Acid soil has a low pH, Kevin. You might want to lower the pH of the water you're using on those plants by adding a splash or two of vinegar (about a spoonful per gallon) to it. Neutral pH is 7, below that is acidic and above that is basic. You can test your water with an aquarium test kit if you want to know an exact amount of vinegar to add.

But as I said before, the soil isn't particularly critical to pineapples because the roots are mainly anchors, not feeders. Concentrate on feeding your pineapples by spraying the leaves. In Hawaii they grow fields of pineapples on rocky volcanic soil, and here in Florida there used to be a huge pineapple industry with the plants growing on our alkaline grey beach sand-y soil.

Yes, lots of people use "willow water" or willow tea as a rooting compound. You don't really need to grind up the branches, just take a thin branch and cut it up in little pieces with a scissors, then 'brew' it in water for a few days in the sun, like tea. The rooting hormone is in the bark and it suffuses into the water.

When I root pineapples, I just take the top and stick it straight into the soil, then keep the leaves misted for a week or two. (I have a misting setup for my orchids so they just sit out there)

This is one that I grew from a top. It takes two years to grow a fruit, then the mama plant makes pups (new plants) for you, and dies.

To be honest I wasn't quite sure what pH meant but I'm understanding more about it. Just an update on the pineapple plants one has unfortunately rotted at the base however the top still looks good so maybe there is still some hope in that one. The one that has rooted I've planted. I've got the other non rooted one sitting in willow water in hoping that it might hurry up a little with its roots.

Just throwing this in here for good measure, as I had a lemon tree once that got scale bugs on it and it killed it. Wish I had known this then! I read somewhere where coffee grounds repel scale bugs. That some palm nursery in Florida discovered this quite by accident when they began using coffee grounds as mulch and were gathering them free from local cafés and began to notice that the plants they had mulched with coffee had no problems ever with scale while others would get problems. So they began to experiment with it and eventually realized the coffee grounds kept the scale bugs away. I have used coffee around my sago palm ever since as well as lots of other plants. I save all my coffee grounds.

I routinely root pineapples by just sticking the tops (with a little meat attached) in soil and keeping them moist. There are three growing in the kitchen right now. I find they need no special care which suits my "gardening" style perfectly.

Same here, Pork. Kevin, I would take the one that's rotting and stick it in some damp potting soil.

These plants don't need roots. At all. They need to be fed on the leaves by spraying very weak fertilizer, or compost tea.

If the leaves survive, roots will come along to anchor the plant, I promise. But if the base of the leaves rot from sitting in water you're outa luck.

Here's one I've had sitting outside on my patio table for about a month. This is, in fact, the top from the pineapple in the picture I showed above. It has a few little roots, but the leaves are very happy, and it has put on at least 6 new leaves just sitting in an empty plastic dish. I've been spraying it with my orchid fert once in a while.

Update on the pineapples: My newly pineapple plant has succeed its growing surprisingly quickly its now in a large pot the top has grown a bit since the last time, unfortunately the others didn't do to well.

Nearly all my giant bamboo seeds and black bamboo seeds have spouted.

I got a very nice surprise this morning when I found that 5 of my palm tree seeds have now grown little shoots :D I didn't think those would grow for some reason however I had to take them out the plant pot and pot them in another pot with new compost as there were some maggots rigging about in there but luckily the sprouted palm seeds are unharmed. Is there a way to keep out anymore maggots that might re-infest the pot?

It would be fun to see a picture of your star pineapple!

Maggots develop from fly eggs; well seasoned compost should not attract flies, so your sprouts are probably safe.

Tiny maggots can be gnats that like moist soil; keep potting soil drier.
Congratulations on your progress!

Heres a photo of my pineapple plant it has new growth in the middle, I also took the opportunity to take a photo of my 2 newly grown banana plants and some more fruit seeds that I'm planning on growing, which are Lemon seeds a few plumb seeds and apricots and a peach seed.

dyzzypyxxy said:Same here, Pork. Kevin, I would take the one that's rotting and stick it in some damp potting soil.

These plants don't need roots. At all. They need to be fed on the leaves by spraying very weak fertilizer, or compost tea.

If the leaves survive, roots will come along to anchor the plant, I promise. But if the base of the leaves rot from sitting in water you're outa luck.

Here's one I've had sitting outside on my patio table for about a month. This is, in fact, the top from the pineapple in the picture I showed above. It has a few little roots, but the leaves are very happy, and it has put on at least 6 new leaves just sitting in an empty plastic dish. I've been spraying it with my orchid fert once in a while.

Thats a nice healthy pineapple you have there, it can be hard finding pineapples that have nice green healthy tops over here in London most grocery stores sell them unripened so by the time the pineapple is ready to eat the top is almost completely brown

Your little plants are looking very healthy - good job!