Never mind, found the answer here ... "Growing Pineapples - Should you separate the slips", its a page at botanical-journeys-plant-guides.com

I'm using a 17/9/26. It's "Epiphyte's Delight" from rainforestflora. No research went into that choice, sheer laziness. I figure if it's good for a tillandsia (another bromeliad) it's fine for a pineapple. Also, noticed you mentioned your friend was trying to induce fruiting. I'm pretty sure the ethylene gas trick works just the same for pineapples as it does most other bromeliads: contain the entire plant in a clear bag with a few very ripe apples and let them decay. I've also heard that the bag isn't necessary, just close proximity. The caveat to this is a sub optimal bloom and fruit, though.

The pineapple tops I planted were "Tropical Gold" variety, grown in Hawaii. I know that Del Monte completely stopped production in Hawaii but Dole still has some there. Most of the time if I buy a pineapple that is Dole it will say Product of Costa Rica but if I'm lucky I'll get a Dole grown in Hawaii. Why lucky, what's better about Hawaiian than Costa Rican? Not sure but it just seems more of a rarity now to get a Hawaiian grown pineapple than a Costa Rican. Also the Hawaiian ones I recently got were very sweet and looked to be ripened on the plant and not cut off green. Dole says green is ripe but I beg to differ. The Hawaiian ones I got were gold and gold off the plant but the Costa Rican ones I see are always green with no sweet scent. Question to you, the Hawaiian one the tag has Tropical Gold. From the Dole website Topical Gold are grown in Latin America, I suppose Costa Rica to be specific. So would you say that the ones in Hawaii are the exact breed as in Latin America since both are called Tropical Gold? Or do you think there is some variation in the Tropical Gold variety between Hawaii and Costa Rica? What is the difference between Tropical Gold and the Smooth Cayenne varieties? The Dole page doesn't go into that but just say that Dole started with Smooth Cayenne and then developed the Tropical Gold 100 years later. Thanks

Oh yum, DL, it sounds delicious, thanks for the idea. Annie