I picked pineapple on Maui for 16 months as a youth. The pineapple crowns
(leafy tops) are twisted off, not broke off, in order to create a greater
surface area for the roots to take hold.
They are planted through plastic, but the plastic does not deteriorate that
fast...maybe 2-3 years. The crops are harvested a maximum of 3 times before
they are tilled up. The fruit gets too small after that. Planting pineapple
is a very back breaking experience. The whole time the planter is bent over
moving the dirt aside, then planting the crowns. The rows are anywhere from
50 ft to 500 ft, with 26 rows in a block. The rows are "humps" approx. 3 ft
wide, with approx. 1-2 ft between rows, for the pickers to have enough room
to walk.

The harvester has a boom that extends to the left, with two separate
conveyor belts for the fruit and crowns. Trucks back up to the front of the
harvester, and mechanically connect to it. The truck fills up, drives to the
processing plant, and another backs in.

The clothing that must be worn is heavy jeans, heavy cotton chaps, long
sleeved shirts, leather or heavy cotton gloves, and safety glasses. This is
due to the plants being very sharp at the tips of the leaves. Occasionally
there are plants that have spikes all down the leaves, which makes for a
very uncomfortable experiences if tripped upon. Being that the chaps have an
open area in the crotch area, sometimes the ends of the leaves poke you in
the pee-pee through your jeans. I developed Popeye forearms and very strong
legs after that experience. The leaves want to intertwine as they grow. The
first time a crop is harvested is the hardest. After that, the leaves stay
separated.

They also grow hybrid pineapple's. I've seen pina colada, pineapple-apple
(which actually has apple seeds in the fruit), strawberry-banana-pineapple,
and others. They don't sell these in the mainland. They are only sold to
high end resorts on the island. And be rest assured that the taste is
nothing you have tasted before. It actually tastes like it sounds.

Next time you purchase a whole pineapple, don't throw away the core.
Sprinkle a little salt on it and enjoy. Mmm... It'll make you jump back and
slap yo momma.

"Tracey" wrote in message
...
I have never seen a pineapple seed. Maybe they don't exist

I've never seen a pineapple seed either. Living in an area
where they grow pineapples extensively, I can tell you how
they propagate them here. After the pineapple is ripe and
has been harvested, they whack the top of them off and
collect the tops in a big pile. After the field has been
prepared, each top is then stuck through a hole in the
black sheeting (plastic? I've heard it's a special plastic
that degrades quickly, but could be of some other material)
that covers the fields. Don't know if it's the only way
to propagate them, or just the most efficient.

Doesn't answer your question about whether it's a fruit or
not though, does it?

Tracey