3 Companion Plants that Get Along with Pineapples
Growing your own plants can be a tedious accomplishment. It can take a lot of time from planting to watering and waiting for a sprout. But, when your fruits or vegetables finally finish growing and ripening, you know it was worth all the hard work after that first taste. Companion plants are specific plants to place together to achieve either one-sided or mutual benefits for the plants as they grow. Benefits can vary from protecting others to improving soil conditions.
Pineapples are no different; they require a lot of attention and love as they may take up to two years to flower, ripen, and mature. An important way to ensure your pineapple plants thrive is to grow companion plants.
Benefits of Bananas and Pineapples
One benefit when choosing a companion plant for pineapples is shading. During the higher temperatures from the summer heat, pineapple plants need shade to avoid getting overheated. Bananas can be very appealing (wink) because they are an overstory plant and provide the necessary shade to protect your pineapples. The word overstory refers to the top layer of foliage from multiple trees. Since banana trees can grow to their full height of 20-40 feet in as little as 9 months, your pineapples will be benefiting from shade in no time.
What’s more, banana plants also provide pineapple plants with a great source of mulch to maintain a good level of soil moisture.
Protect Pineapples with Allium Companion Plants
The allium family consists of onions, garlic, and chives. These vegetables are known for their strong scents that come from their natural sulfur property. As a companion plant for pineapples, alliums are a great pest repellent. Their sulfur scent is so strong that maggots, mites, and even deer and rabbits will avoid eating anything near them.
Can you imagine all your hard work being eaten by unwanted guests? The sulfur from alliums can also help prevent or treat certain diseases to an extent.
Help from Kiwi
Kiwi is another fruit that will go great in your tropical fruit salad. Not only are they delicious, but they are also a great companion plant for pineapples.
Similar to bananas, kiwi plants provide partial shade to protect your pineapples from intense heat during the summer. They are a vining plant, so they also close any gaps in the garden. Furthermore, the kiwi attracts pollinators that help plants reproduce and grow. Other vining plants, like sweet potatoes and jasmine, can replace kiwi as the vining plant in your garden if you don’t like them.
Let’s Get Growing!
You’re now ready to grow companion plants that will complement and help support your pineapple plants. Gardening is a commitment, and if you’re going to devote your time to plant your own delicious pineapples, let’s make sure they grow into the best quality possible.
After all your hard work is done, check out these delicious recipes for pineapple tarts that will make all the time, effort, and care worth it!
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