A pineapple pit is a method of growing pineapples

Pineapple

Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...

 in colder climates.
This method of cultivation was invented by gardeners in the UK, during the Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

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Method of cultivation

The pineapple pit consisted of three trenches covered with glass, slightly below ground level, connected with two cavity walls. The outer troughs were kept filled with 15 tonnes of fresh horse manure, which gave off heat as it decomposed. This heat passed through small gaps at the bottom of the wall, rose up, and was then forced through gaps at the top of the wall, into the central trough. The central trough is where the pineapples were grown, at an artificially high temperature, due to the manure.

Maintenance and obsolescence

A pineapple pit requires a huge amount of fresh manure, and manual labour to maintain the temperature of the central trench. The introduction of steam ships meant that the pineapple pit became obsolete, as it was cheaper to transport fruit from overseas than to grow them under special conditions in the UK.

Modern pineapple pits

An original pineapple pit was discovered at the Lost Gardens of Heligan

Lost Gardens of Heligan

The Lost Gardens of Heligan, near Mevagissey in Cornwall, are one of the most popular botanical gardens in the UK. The style of the gardens is typical of the nineteenth century Gardenesque style, with areas of different character and in different design styles.The gardens were created by members of...

 in the UK, and renovated in 1993 by John Nelson, architectural historian John Chamberlain, and horticultural historian Peter Thoday. It uses two varieties of South African pineapples, Jamaica Queen and Smooth Cayenne. In 1997, the first pineapple was successfully grown in the renovated pit. The second pineapple grown there was donated to Queen Elizabeth II of the UK

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

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