Jerry Bertrand, age 13, of Sioux City, Iowa, for her question:

Are pineapples grown from seeds?

Any person who happens to have a green thumb can grow a pineapple plant from a pineapple. The plant is not likely to grow seeds to produce another generation of offspring, but it can be coaxed to produce new plants by several other methods.

The pineapple plant grows above the ground in a large tuft of long, spiky leaves and then it sprouts up a special fruiting stem. The top of the stem swells and grows a bump somewhat like a hard green pine cone. The pine cone becomes a rich golden pineapple fruit, topped with a spiky crown of green leaves. The pineapple's tough golden crust is covered with prickly floral bracts, but these flower fragments do not generally develop seeds.

This information makes us wonder how new pineapple plantations are cultivated. As a rule, they are grown from root suckers produced by older pineapple plants. These suckers sprout forth at ground level from plants that reach fruit bearing age. If left alone, they put down roots of their own and grow into new pineapple plants right beside their aging parents. These conditions are rather crowded, and pineapple growers like to allow plenty of space around each plant. They need room to cultivate and fertilize around each plant and the plant needs room to grow to its full size.

When time comes to start a new plantation, suckers are cut from old pineapple plants and gently covered with soil in their new locations. Soon the suckers grow roots and after about two years they are ready to produce a harvest of mouth watering pineapples. They will yield fine fruit for several years and then the worn out plants must be replaced with new ones. If there is a shortage of suckers, several other parts of grown pineapple plants can be used instead.

Strips of plant material called slips can be cut from the base of the pineapple fruit. When planted in moist soil, the slips sprout roots and leaves and finally grow into fruit bearing plants. Some growers take buds, called ratoons, from the roots of a grown plant, and they too can become pineapple plants just like those that grow from slips and suckers. The first harvest time arrives in midsummer, from May to July, when the young plants have been growing for about two years. Every summer thereafter they bear one, two or maybe three luscious pineapples, each on the end of a separate fruiting stem.

These methods of growing new pineapple plants without seeds are very easy. But another method is even easier. You need to buy a whole fresh pineapple fruit, com¬plete with its tufty green crown on top. When you slice it up for dessert, make a straight cut across the top about one inch under the crown. Plant the leafy crown with the fruit end in a pot or in a moist and sunny spot of the garden. It looks like a growing plant    and this is just what it plans to become. The meaty fruit will send down roots, and more leaves will sprout on top. If the plant is happy, after two or three years it will grow real pineapples.