wrote in message
oups.com...

http://www.beeculture.com/content/pollination_handbook/

Nb, since it has no pineapple section, I went back over my Hi Coop. Ext.
fact sheet (Dale O. Evans et al., 1988) and will reproduce parts here in
hopes of further clarification.


~
Description - Pineapple is a perennial herb 50 to 100cm high. It has narrow
tapering, pointed leaves up to 100cm long arranged in a spiral rosette,
crowded on and tightly clasping a central stem. Leaf margins are usually
but not always spiny. The inflorescence consists of 100 to 200 flowers
arranged in a compact spiral cluster. The flowers are perfect, with a
floral bract, three short fleshy sepals and petals, six stamens, and an
inferior ovary with three locules. Commercial clones are self sterile but
cross easily with plants outside their varietal group. The fruit is a
terminal, cylindrical, compound structure at the apex of the stem and is
formed by the fusion of the berrylike fruitlets that develop from the
flowers.

Propagation - Pineapple is propagated asexually from various plant parts.

Cultural practices - forcing (fruition) - The growth regulator most commonly
used for forcing is ethephon (C2H6NO), an ethylene releasing compound that
is widely used for field application. Ethylene and acetylene are also used
for forcing.

Fertilization regime - Kg/hectac Urea 22.0 - Potassium nitrate
(alternatively potassium sulfate or ammonium sulfate) 22.0 - Iron sulfate
1.5 - Zinc sulfate 0.5 - Magnesium sulfate 2.75.
~


So pineapple are hermaphrodites; I think I would have to take a magnifying
glass to see, though.

I doesn't say anything about (nor have I ever seen) bees, wind or bird
pollination.

The two I have are father-son, or of the same type. There are commercial
fields at, I would say, a thousand yards away.

I know there is a lot of Iron in molasses, but where would one get,
preferably naturally, such chemicals as ethephone and potassium as well as,
zinc and magnesium?