Peter,
Store them with pups attached. That will keep the corm bigger and it will have more energy stored for the winter.
Is this what I think it is??
I agree with Scooterbug, wait till spring to separate the pups. You will probably want to repot your mama banana at that time.
Just shake/wash off the soil so you can see where the pups attach. Take a sharp knife and cut them from the main plant making sure that the pups have roots or a piece of the main rhisome attached. Sometimes you can just break them off the main plant, just be careful and not break the pup(done that a few times)
Thanks fior the extra info, friends. I'll copy out your good instructions for spring.
Peter
As long as this is Nanner's 101, could someone say what to do with the fruit, and at what point? I've got 3 'hands' on mine, that are looking really good, but I don't have any idea how to tell when they are done enough to take down. I recall reading somewhere not to let them ripen up there, but what do I do instead, and when???
It's a "found" plant, so I've no idea what type it is, but the fruit is about as long as my hand and still green, but doesn't seem to be getting any bigger now.
Bananas can be picked and allowed to ripen at room temperature. When the green fruits look like they've filled out and have "rounded out", that is, they've lost their square look, then you can pick them to bring in. You can remove one hand at a time to ripen, or you can cut the whole cluster.
I have a ? Someone told me never to cut the flower off .........it that true?
Further up this forum gives a lot of ideas what to do with too many bananas....freeze....cut into ice cube size for drinks....grown up kind....hehehe...check it out...
Hap
bruglover, Did you get your pregnant banana tucked away yet?
No not yet. I am waiting till the last possible moment and then I will dig. Last week was
cool but this week its warm again. It got to 33 one night. I wrapped it in christmas lights
and put a sheet over the bloom. Here is a picture from a couple days ago.
It can take up to 6 months to rippen the bananas. I set some out early spring after two leaves they sent out a bloom. The bananas are just now rippening on Musa Ice Cream. Suppose to have vanilla fug tasting bananas.
Happy, the flower will keep growing the whole time the bananas are ripening, but there are only male flowers left so no more bananas will form. Some people cut the flower off, they say it puts more energy into the fruits. I have tried cutting the flower off and just leaving it on the stalk. I can't see that it makes one bit of difference in the time the bananas take to ripen or how fast they grow. I leave the flowers on mine. I hate the mess they make when you cut the flower and sap runs out and drips on everything!
Ah.........thank you. It's bad about the mess, but to me the flower is doing no good to anyone and only drianing energy from the plant...I'm going to cut the one I have now off and see if I notice any difference. Bigger Banananananas?
Hap
Do the honeybees go after your banana flowers?
I just noticed, I can't spell bananananas.......lol(got a little carried away with the nanas)
Suzie in your case it actually is banananananananananananananananananananananans!
Ric
I always let mine Musa Icecream ripen on the plant. They really taste great when yellow on the plant.
I have 3 stalks on now, all almost on the ground. Hurricane Rita broke all the ones that had bananas. They were about 20 feet tall. They are still growing as the stalks were not severed. I will see what happens.
trois
Trois, I've had three bunches on my Ice Cream banana but never had a ripe fruit, something happens every time. First the freeze last year, then hurricane Emily.....now I have one more bunch. How long does Ice Cream take to mature? They seem to take longer than the others.
One winter we had no frost and I harvested 6-50 pound stalks. It was 18 months from first spring leaves to ripe on the plant. Last winter they froze almost to the ground and then set fruit by July. They are almost filled out now even though Rita broke all the stalks. I will see how much longer it takes. I think Banana time is very different from ours.
My Satsumas are getting orange right now, almost a month early. It is a strange year.
trois
A new bloom this morning. This is only the second time I have seen fully open flowers, as they usually are only open for less than 15 minutes.
Wow! 15 minutes! Looks like a lady's slipper. I guess the pollinating insects do their work quickly.
Peter
That may explain why so few viable seeds.
Update on banana. I am running out of time. At least I got to see a bloom! Cold
front coming in Sunday evening.
Wow , that didn't take long.
You must be so excited ;-)
Are you still going to dig it, and see if the bloom continues inside?
Yes, I am going to dig it up and store it in my garage. I can't just let it go...the last 2 years
I have done this with my banana's but when I dig them up I leave the soil on and put it in a pot. When spring comes and it starts warming up the middle leaf starts growing in the garage. Never had a bloom before....maybe I will get lucky and it will just go dormant and start growing in the spring. Its worth a try.
Can't you put it in the living room for a few weeks?
Can't you put it in the living room for a few weeks? If you have the space, it works fine. Our red banana did well in the LR last year, and we are talking to it daily now on the deck, giving it a reminder that this is the plan for this winter also!
I have kept my nanas in the house for the winter.
The one that eventually bloomed and had fruit was one I had started from seed . It took 3 years for it to bloom and as it turns out was not the nana that it should have been, but I love it anyhow
When I first started it the winters were spent in my upstairs bathroom, there are skylights in there......I still keep many of my smaller nanas up there for the winter instead of the GH.
When mine bloomed it was late in the summer, I put it in the GH, hoping the fruit would continue to grow. It really didn't do too much....but by spring, the fruit had ripened....and tasted good...but tiny...luckily it had pupped so when the mama died I had 2 more.
I have just split them up and have the one in the bathroom for the winter
The other is heading for Susies house as soon as I find a box.....
Does anyone know wnat the temp range should be for keeping these dormant?
Here's an update on my banana. It was to big to put in the house. My husband
decided to put it in his brothers shop-the banana is the one plant he likes!! It will
not freeze in there but it also won't get much light. Since I have never seen a bloom
before I am just happy with whatever happens.....digging it up didn't seem to bother
it.
Great looking bloom! Mine stopped putting on new nanas when Rita broke the stalks. One hand is still growing.
Trois, the banana kept growing after the stalk was broken? I have a broken banana with bananas.
One did, two didn't. We just wait and see. I hjave new blooms now also. A frost will likely get them.
I am not that hungry anyway, they are really just for novality. My Satsumas are a different story. We really like them, and they are just now ready to eat.
trois
My banana trees were broken in half 2 years in a row, due to hurricanes. I cut them at the break line, and they sent up new growth.
In the warmer climates, bananas ripen approx 90 days from first petal opening (also dependent on variety) Broken trees with bananas I have put a chair under to support and keep bananas off the ground, and they have continued to develop and ripen with the little bit of plant life still coming through the stem.
Mine are doing the same, but very slowly.
Have a few banana plants but still no sign of what bruglover said at the beginning of this thread...
remember it takes 10 to 15 months on average before they 'shoot' ( what bruglover described in first post )
Since these were planted as young bananas in March, maybe I'll see bananas next year. No freezes this winter...no freezes this winter...
Sounds like me.
fingers crossed for both of you, May the 'nana fairy bring you many 'naners
We were down to 40 this morning. Freeze line just North of Houston.
This message was edited Nov 17, 2005 11:26 AM
Ooooh, that's close, trois....too close.
Sending warm thoughts.