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2woodensticks
09-07-2012, 09:43 AM
does it depend on what kind of banana,do i cut off the flower when there is enough fruit for me or do i let it stay on for a little longer???flower on orinoco,right now 40 bananas on 5 hands...enough for me.do i cut off bell {flower}???the whole more energy for fruit not to flower..thanks to all for all of your help up until now...:woohoonaner:

sunfish
09-07-2012, 10:01 AM
does it depend on what kind of banana,do i cut off the flower when there is enough fruit for me or do i let it stay on for a little longer???flower on orinoco,right now 40 bananas on 5 hands...enough for me.do i cut off bell {flower}???the whole more energy for fruit not to flower..thanks to all for all of your help up until now...:woohoonaner:

six of one, half a dozen of the other

Abnshrek
09-07-2012, 10:01 AM
When is your first frost if you get one? in January- late December I think you have time to see if there is any more useful banana's on and then I'd cut it.. :^)

TommyMacLuckie
09-07-2012, 10:22 AM
I recently harvested some Orinoco that had the flower still on and one of them weighed almost 200 lbs. With exception to one that broke off, they all had their flowers still on (there are 2 more I couldn't get to). Based on that it doesn't matter if you cut it off after the male fruit appears in terms of how big the fruit gets, it's going to get as big as it does regardless of the flower being on the stalk. In regard to leaving the bloom on, the bees etc like the flowers that continue to come out as the purple thing descends.

venturabananas
09-07-2012, 10:56 AM
The answer to whether cutting off the male bud has any positive effect on ripening speed, bunch size, etc. is "it depends". Published studies with proper replication and controls show that cutting off the male bud has some relatively small effect in some cultivars and no effect in others. Probably depends on what cultivar you are growing, where you are growing it, how you're growing it, etc. There is no question, though, that bunch pruning (cutting off some female hands) increases the size of the remaining fingers. Nick has lots of experience with that.

sunfish
09-07-2012, 11:33 AM
Thinning fruit on any plant I believe has the same effect :)

2woodensticks
09-07-2012, 05:15 PM
thanks to all for input