These plantlets were planted in red soil in early September 2013 at 50cm between rows and 40cm between plants and then, irrigated and fertilised uniformly according to normal orchards. The region experiences subtropical oceanic monsoon climate, that is, hot in the summer and warm in the winter, with an average daily maximum temperature of 28.8∘C, an average daily minimum temperature of 15.7∘C and a total annual rainfall of 1100–1800mm (Wei et al., 2013); this condition is suitable for growing pineapple.