View Full Version : first Gros Michel flower
ronke
11-30-2017, 01:52 PM
The Gros Michel TC plants I got from Sdarkman almost two years ago have been growing most impressively despite the overhanging city trees (incense cedars). I was assured by Mark Steele, however, that these AAs would never bear in my non-tropical area. Then, last night I returned from a week-long trip east to find two hands growing on the larger of the plants. I know this is way too late in the year to expect these guys to mature but since I am a total newbie (these are my first two banana plants), I have no idea how to handle this blessed event. Do I just wait until the babies give up the ghost and then chop that plant down (it has 2-3 pups)? Does the plant give me any kind of indication when it is time to do that? Or do I invest heavily in electric blankets and sulfate of potassium? Thanks.
https://wla.crfg.org/grosmichel11-20-17/http://
edwmax
11-30-2017, 03:02 PM
.... pictures!!!!!
ronke
11-30-2017, 04:36 PM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=62668&size=1
ronke
11-30-2017, 05:03 PM
Only when I went out to take an additional photo did I realize there were actually 3 hands up there with a fourth forming.http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=62670&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=62670&ppuser=22470)
sputinc7
11-30-2017, 05:28 PM
BIG congrats... Ignore the naysayers, GM is a top of the line banana, taste wise...
As close as you are to being warm enough, I would do my best to keep it warm. 35 keeps it alive...It won't grow in 35 but won't die either if you keep the frost off. Mine, also from Sddarkman, made it last winter and we had several good low 30's frosts. One time the little weather station up the road from me said 32.7 degrees... Anything exposed to frost will get burnt and frost can happen below about 40. (To be safe)
I am hoping mine blooms in early March, which is USUALLY past the frost date.
ronke
11-30-2017, 06:23 PM
I am not terrifically worried about frost since in the 30 years we have lived here I believe there has only been a single night below 32 degrees. In general we have chill hours in the teens which means I have pulled out almost all my stone fruit and am moving more and more to tropicals. I just doubted that these bananas would ripen in the winter, and if so how I should behave toward the plant.
For example, the Janice Kadota fig next to it has probably a hundred green fruit that will never ripen. They all get pruned off at leaf drop (along with about half the branches) . I don't know what the equivalent tactic is with my Gros Michel
sputinc7
11-30-2017, 07:00 PM
I know GM can be finicky, but with most bananas so far as I know, unless they freeze it just makes them take longer. I would give it a nice dose of MOP and pray...
ronke
11-30-2017, 07:15 PM
Then that's what I will do. Thanks so much.
edwmax
11-30-2017, 09:06 PM
I agree with sputinc7. You should be able to ripen those. I would put a large clear plastic bag over the bunch to protect the fingers from frost and act as a mini greenhouse. This I am doing with 2 of my bunches now; night temps has been as low as 36°. My teo bunches are doing fine.
Also go ahead an remove the red bracs to expose the hands.
sputinc7
11-30-2017, 10:10 PM
If you use plastic bags, leave some air holes so they don't have a fungus issue... Professional covers breathe.
Personally, I wouldn't use plastic bags...
What are your typical weekly temps there in winter? Is it ever below 40? If not, I would not worry.
ronke
11-30-2017, 11:50 PM
According to wunderground.com, it got down to 42 here in 1952, though I personally remember a frost somewhere around 1996. Basically though I am greatly encouraged by the thought that these bananas will ripen as long as they don't get too close to freezing. I think I will skip the plastic bags which my squirrels tend to regard as an invitation to make merry. I did give the plant a dose of potassium sulfate per edwmax's protocol. I am a little limited in doing too much manipulation of the hands because this is a Gros Michel, ie everything is pretty high up.. though not as high as I feared. My next project will be getting some thick bamboo to build an x-support for the nanas. Thanks to all! Best, Ronni
sputinc7
12-01-2017, 01:34 PM
Or some one and a half inch PVC pipe with a couple 45 degree elbows making a soft place to rest... Hate the look? Paint it green.
ronke
12-01-2017, 06:43 PM
Will 1-1/2" be strong enough? I have been making myself crazy looking for the 2" Jon Verdick recommends, especially since I will need 20' lengths (12' from top of bunch to ground and I will need to angle slightly for better tripod effect, no?) I am not greedy and am perfectly willing to prune at 4 hands.
Richard
12-01-2017, 07:16 PM
Will 1-1/2" be strong enough? I have been making myself crazy looking for the 2" Jon Verdick recommends, especially since I will need 20' lengths (12' from top of bunch to ground and I will need to angle slightly for better tripod effect, no?) I am not greedy and am perfectly willing to prune at 4 hands.
I'm currently babysitting a bunch of new fingers on one of my plants. I expect they'll be ripe bananas in June. We'll see.
It's not the strength but the flexibility of pipe that can be a problem. If you go with PVC pipe you'll want schedule 40. Check with plumbing supply shops instead of big box stores. Consider the heavy duty balck drain pipe. Also at fence construction businesses look for 1-1/4" and 1-1/2" galvanized pipe. They'll have connecting parts. It's what I use.
ronke
12-01-2017, 07:21 PM
Strangely, I just looked at a chart listing the tensile strengths of different widths and the 1.5" was slightly greater than the 2". I'm thinking that must be a mistake.
ronke
12-01-2017, 07:25 PM
Thanks so much, Richard. I will check around. The fact that you are basically in my zone and have hope for July makes me happy... except for the fact that I only planted these bananas at the request of my younger son's then girlfriend, now -- as of Monday -- wife, and she leaves for Kabul in May! My son joins her in July though. Maybe he will be carrying Gros Michel!
Richard
12-01-2017, 07:52 PM
There's photos of my set up on this thread:
http://www.bananas.org/f2/bananas-my-garden-46695.html
ronke
12-02-2017, 01:46 PM
One quick question before I go shopping for my supports: do those PVC connectors recommended by Jon (i.e. the single 45 degree and the two tees) need to be glued to the short pieces of pipe before being strung on the wire/rope? I feel like the weight of the bananas could just pull the construction apart but I also don't know if the PVC glue is designed to be strong in that way. Thanks!
sputinc7
12-02-2017, 01:58 PM
PVC glue is very strong, as strong as the pipe. Personally, I would get 1 in and 1 1/2 in, slide them inside each other, drill some holes for pins so they can be resized to fit different varieties.
Richard
12-02-2017, 02:04 PM
... I feel like the weight of the bananas could just pull the construction apart ...
Correct, you need to glue the pipe connectors -- standard "Christie's Red Hot Blue Glue" will do the job with PVC pipe.
ronke
12-02-2017, 03:47 PM
Thanks to both of you! I think my current can of Christie's is too old so I'll get some more when I pick up the PCV. At this point, I only have the two Gros Michel (crowded in with 50 other fruit trees/bushes on my normal city lot), so it is unlikely I'll be expanding into different varieties, but who knows? I started with one cherimoya tree and now have seven (mostly from seeds spit out into the ground and then grafted)
a.hulva@coxinet.net
12-07-2017, 03:04 PM
You might consider schedule 80 pipe. Much thicker wall and stiffer.
ronke
12-09-2017, 01:04 AM
Thanks for your suggestion. Alas, I have already cut and glued my Schedule 40. But with the fierce Santa Anas blowing, I have no idea if the poor plants or their burden of baby bananas will even survive. In any case, tomorrow, I have to figure out how to get my construction up there. Dwarf bananas get more appealing every day.
vBulletin® v3.6.8, Copyright ©2000-2020, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.