April 2014. Deformed pineapple in Samoa. These are occurring in farms irrespective of methods of cultivation. Some farms are using chicken manure and black plastic for weed control, others not.

A member wrote: Some time ago samples of pineapple with similar symptoms were samples in Samoa, and tested for phytoplasma, but results were negative. Proliferating bud growth at the base of pineapples has proved positive for phytoplasma in other countries.

Another member asked if there was a chance of cover use of ethrel? This can suppress flowering and increase vegetative growth. There was also a comment that multiple crown has been linked to high temperatures at the time of flowering inducing this physiological disorder. Whatever the cause, it is clonally transmitted, so the only way to get rid of it is to discard all the suckers and crowns of affected plants.