Log in

View Full Version : waiting to ripen, shall i cut off the bottom below the bananas


OCBLUE
03-13-2020, 02:40 PM
waiting for bananas to ripen, shall i cut off the bottom below the bananas??

Banana Gallery - small2-bananas (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=65776&cat=500&ppuser=28556)

Backyard Banana Joe
03-13-2020, 03:58 PM
Nice bunch! Are you talking about the heart, or the dried up male flowers right beneath the bananas? What variety? Looks like tall namwa

OCBLUE
03-13-2020, 04:11 PM
Hi Thanks. I am new to growing bananas, this is our first plant, and first bunch that has appeared. They are ice-cream. I don't know what the "heart" is. I am referring to anything and everything below the bananas. There is the long stalk, and then the flowers down at the bottom. My apologies that i don't yet have a good grasp of the proper terms of each part. We realize that we need to let it fully rippen. As days/weeks go by, it continues to open and more flowers fall off. I didn't know if it might help to cut off the stalk and flowers (would that put more energy into the banansas)? Also, I don't understand why only so many flowers created actual bananas, and then below that - they were only little bitty things that just fall off. Must be normal, but i don't fully understand.

Backyard Banana Joe
03-14-2020, 06:58 AM
Hi Thanks. I am new to growing bananas, this is our first plant, and first bunch that has appeared. They are ice-cream. I don't know what the "heart" is. I am referring to anything and everything below the bananas. There is the long stalk, and then the flowers down at the bottom. My apologies that i don't yet have a good grasp of the proper terms of each part. We realize that we need to let it fully rippen. As days/weeks go by, it continues to open and more flowers fall off. I didn't know if it might help to cut off the stalk and flowers (would that put more energy into the banansas)? Also, I don't understand why only so many flowers created actual bananas, and then below that - they were only little bitty things that just fall off. Must be normal, but i don't fully understand.



"Heart" is purple KINDA heart shaped thingamajig :ha: at the end of the stall beneath the bananas. That's fine! I don't know everything either!

An experiment has not (I think)? Been done to test that. I always cut it off 6_8 inches below the bananas. The only proven plus in to reduce weight to help from the plant toppling.

OCBLUE
03-16-2020, 01:14 PM
anyone else have any answers or suggestions? I appreciate the answer so far, but one person's answer might not be enough to confirm that i should or should not, cut off the lower portion (below the bananas).

Akula
03-16-2020, 02:36 PM
I always cut it off about six-eight inches below the last banana leaving a little tail in case it rots up a bit. That's with winter approaching. You are exiting winter with all of summer ahead so you could cut it our leave it.