The pineapple plant, a terrestrial bromeliad, typically produces a single fruit on its main stalk after a long growing period of 12 to 24 months. Commercial pineapple production often utilizes a technique called ratooning, which means harvesting multiple crops from a single initial planting. This method allows farmers to reuse the established root system and plant body rather than starting entirely new plants for every harvest. Ratooning is a widespread agricultural practice in global pineapple farming because it offers a significant advantage in time and cost efficiency over the traditional method of full replanting.
What Pineapple Ratooning Means
Ratooning is an agricultural term describing the practice of cultivating a subsequent crop from the perennial rootstock of a harvested plant, a technique commonly applied to monocots like sugarcane, bananas, and pineapples. In pineapple farming, the first harvest is known as the “plant crop,” and subsequent harvests grown from the same root system are called “ratoon crops.” The plant crop takes the longest to mature, often requiring 18 to 24 months before the fruit is ready for harvest.
The primary motivation for using this technique is the reduction in time and expense associated with establishing a new field. Planting a new field requires preparing the soil, acquiring new planting material, and waiting a full cycle for the root system to develop. The ratoon crop cycle is significantly shorter because the root system is already established and functioning, allowing farmers to avoid the delay of up to two years between field preparation and the next harvest.
Initiating the Ratoon Crop
Initiating the ratoon crop requires actions immediately following the harvest of the main fruit. Once the plant crop fruit is removed, the fruit stalk (peduncle) is typically cut down low on the mother plant. This removal signals the plant to shift its energy toward developing the next generation of fruit-bearing structures. The goal is to manage the plant’s side shoots, known as suckers or slips, that have already begun to grow.
For a successful ratoon crop, commercial growers select and retain one or two of the healthiest suckers per mother plant. Suckers emerge from the leaf axils, while slips grow from the peduncle just below the fruit. Excess suckers and slips are removed, often used as planting material for new fields, which concentrates the plant’s resources into the chosen ratoon shoot. This retained sucker will grow and produce the next pineapple fruit in a shorter timeframe than the original plant crop.
Differences in Ratoon Harvests
The characteristics of the ratoon fruit differ noticeably from the initial plant crop, representing a trade-off growers manage for economic benefit. The most significant difference is the expected decline in yield; the first ratoon crop typically sees a reduction of about 20% compared to the plant crop, a figure that increases with subsequent ratoon crops. This decline is also reflected in the fruit’s physical size, as ratoon fruits are consistently smaller, with average fruit weight potentially dropping to around 88% of the plant crop’s weight in the first ratoon.
Ratoon crops offer a faster maturity cycle, often harvested in 12 to 14 months after the plant crop, compared to the 18 to 24 months required for the first fruit. This shorter timeline results from utilizing the already-mature root system. The taste profile of ratoon fruit is sometimes reported to be sweeter, less acidic, and more aromatic than the plant crop, despite the smaller size.
Management challenges become more pronounced as the perennial plants age and the field remains undisturbed. The long-term presence of the plants can lead to increased pest and disease pressure. Furthermore, the fruit-bearing suckers of ratoon plants grow out from the main stump at an angle, making them prone to bending or breaking as the fruit matures. This complication can result in fruit loss and make harvesting more difficult due to the tangled foliage.