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Rmplmnz
11-04-2008, 09:01 PM
Kru

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14399&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14399)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=18324&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=18324)

Mysore

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14398&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14398)

Saba

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14397&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14397)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3798&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3798)

Dwarf Brazilian(s)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14395&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14395)

Ice Cream

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14396&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14396)

Praying Hands

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14277&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14277)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3557&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3557)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=4028&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=4028)

Simply Bananas
11-04-2008, 09:06 PM
GREAT pics!

Magilla Gorilla
11-04-2008, 09:47 PM
Thanks for the photos! Hopefully mine will fruit next year.

MediaHound
11-04-2008, 11:06 PM
Awesome pics! Bravo

tophersmith
11-04-2008, 11:20 PM
OK that's it I'm moving

Chironex
11-04-2008, 11:22 PM
They are beautiful looking bananas! Sure hope to have my own next year, too.

frog7994
11-05-2008, 04:27 AM
Those are great pics

Simply Bananas
11-05-2008, 05:26 AM
I actually dreamed last night that I was eating some of those Kru bananas. Really!




This will have to go into "you might be a banana fiend if...." thread!

NANAMAN
11-05-2008, 06:18 AM
The plants and fruit bunches are Beautiful!

island cassie
11-05-2008, 06:44 AM
Great pics of healthy looking plants and lots of fruit - obviously doing something right!! Thanks for sharing!

Bananaman88
11-05-2008, 07:22 AM
Very nice! I really like the look of the Kru! Those Mysore look very plump as well.

momoese
11-05-2008, 11:03 AM
Awesome! I see you use bamboo poles like me. Do you use them for all the bunches or just the ones that can be seen easily?

Rmplmnz
11-05-2008, 12:07 PM
Awesome! I see you use bamboo poles like me. Do you use them for all the bunches or just the ones that can be seen easily?

Just the ones that lean (most of our banana plants are so thick that they do not require support).....poles for the Sabas are about 25 to 30 feet long..

I typically do not have to use them for Sabas...but this one was being pushed over by the other bananas in the matte.

saltydad
11-05-2008, 01:15 PM
Wow!

hydrojeff
11-05-2008, 01:17 PM
ok Chris thats way to many nanas for any one family, so i will be over to help you eat them, lol, they look great buddy, talk to you soon....

chong
11-05-2008, 02:43 PM
Really great pictures, Chris. And even better looking the plants and fruits! The Kru looks awesome. You are in for a treat.

And who was that masked man????

Rmplmnz
11-05-2008, 04:23 PM
ok Chris thats way to many nanas for any one family, so i will be over to help you eat them, lol, they look great buddy, talk to you soon....

You have a standing open invite Jeff.....praying hands are ripening....

Rmplmnz
11-05-2008, 04:25 PM
Really great pictures, Chris. And even better looking the plants and fruits! The Kru looks awesome. You are in for a treat.

And who was that masked man????

Ha ha...as always thanks Chong!!

How are the Dwarf Brazilians doing?

frog7994
11-05-2008, 04:43 PM
your bananas look great! I'm almost jealous. I've heard of Kru type? banana.

chong
11-05-2008, 05:13 PM
Ha ha...as always thanks Chong!!

How are the Dwarf Brazilians doing?

Thanks Chris,

The Dwarf Red and one Dwarf Brazilian are doing great, although all they're doing are producing sword leaves. The other D Brazilian, with a severe corm cut, is not so good. But hope reigns eternal.

Thanks again,

Chong

harveyc
11-06-2008, 06:09 PM
Thanks, Chris, for posting the photos. I have mostly shorter bananas fruiting so far and have not had to prop them but I've wanted to grow some big bamboo for a while and you've given me a good reason to get started on that!

You look pretty dressed up in that one photo for a banana worker. ;)

Harvey

Rmplmnz
11-06-2008, 09:18 PM
Thanks, Chris, for posting the photos. I have mostly shorter bananas fruiting so far and have not had to prop them but I've wanted to grow some big bamboo for a while and you've given me a good reason to get started on that!

You look pretty dressed up in that one photo for a banana worker. ;)

Harvey

Ha ha..thanks Harvey...I can't be a slacker everyday....lol..

Bamboo certainly has it advantages...but man oh man is it some serious work to trim...make sure you plant a clumper away from any power/phone/cable lines or fencing......

Chris:nanadrink:

harveyc
11-06-2008, 09:40 PM
I've got some acreage and would just plant it in a corner where I don't need to do much with it. Across the highway from my house I'll sometimes trim back big masses of running bamboo with a chain saw or just shove it back with a backhoe. That's a mess! My neighbor has a clumb of large bamboo that hasn't had anything done to it for probably 30+ years and it looks pretty nice.

I saw some being air-layered at a nursery earlier this year and need to find out more if that's the best way to propagate it.

heynow
11-07-2008, 05:14 PM
Nice pics Chris, Thank you for the Plants last winter, the praying hands got huge and are in bloom right now. The rest are not to far behind. Just hope for no frost this year. They have some nice pups so even if the fruit gets damaged the pups should bloom when the weather is milder and they will have time to mature. Go Bucs Glenn

Rmplmnz
04-19-2009, 09:02 PM
Frequent Garden Visitor...

This bird has been a daily visitor to the many banana blooms in our yard.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16761&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16761)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16760&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16760)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16765&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16765)

Chironex
04-19-2009, 09:15 PM
It looks like a female, Red-bellied woodpecker, but I can't quite see it well enough to confirm. They have a faint red coloring on the belly - more so on the males than females.

chong
04-19-2009, 09:54 PM
It looks like a female, Red-bellied woodpecker, but I can't quite see it well enough to confirm. They have a faint red coloring on the belly - more so on the males than females.

Yep. That's what they are. We have several around our house that roost on the attic vent screens. They sometimes rip the vents open. On a couple of occassions, they accidentally flew into the house through the open sliding door. I was a able to catch one of them the first time around and it was hard hanging on to it, as it had very powerful legs and sharp claws. So, the next time around we just shooed them back out through several other windows. Very pretty, though.

harveyc
04-20-2009, 03:05 AM
That bird is the only pest in my chestnut orchard and I shoot them, when I can. They are the only thing that seems to be able to peck a hole into a chestnut shell.

It's promising to see our bunch has filled out without leaves. Here in zone 9 I have a supposed Raja Puri in the same boat. It bloomed last summer but didn't mature by the time I picked bunches of two other varieties in December so I decided to chance it and just leave it over the winter with a plastic bag over it. The psuedostem and bananas are green so I'm hoping they can mature over the next few months now that we have good weather. However, somewhere i've heard someone suggest that just "maybe" pups might provide nutrition to the mother plant. What does everybody think? Is that really possible?

Congrats,

Harvey

Bananaman88
04-20-2009, 06:11 AM
Congrats on the Hua Moa! I bought one last spring as well from Sandy. Mine made it through the winter pretty well. It is around 5' tall right now. I'm hoping for fruit later in the year.

Greenie
04-20-2009, 08:17 AM
thanks for sharing!

harveyc
04-20-2009, 09:02 AM
Congrats on the Hua Moa! I bought one last spring as well from Sandy. Mine made it through the winter pretty well. It is around 5' tall right now. I'm hoping for fruit later in the year.

Brent, please explain as mine did not make it here. I provided it no protection and we had about 30 days of frost, reaching a low of around 28F-30F. Did you give yours protection? If not, maybe I should try again.

Thanks,

Harvey

Bananaman88
04-20-2009, 11:44 AM
Yes, I wrapped mine almost every time it threatend to get down near freezing. Plus, you know, I'm the man when it comes to growing bananas! Yeah, that's why my Ae-Ae died :(

austinl01
04-20-2009, 04:57 PM
Congratulations on all your successes!

just j
04-20-2009, 07:28 PM
That bird is the only pest in my chestnut orchard and I shoot them, when I can. They are the only thing that seems to be able to peck a hole into a chestnut shell.

It's promising to see our bunch has filled out without leaves. Here in zone 9 I have a supposed Raja Puri in the same boat. It bloomed last summer but didn't mature by the time I picked bunches of two other varieties in December so I decided to chance it and just leave it over the winter with a plastic bag over it. The psuedostem and bananas are green so I'm hoping they can mature over the next few months now that we have good weather. However, somewhere i've heard someone suggest that just "maybe" pups might provide nutrition to the mother plant. What does everybody think? Is that really possible?

Congrats,

Harvey

i wont tell ppl that u shoot them lol some states they r protected i would check it out

Rmplmnz
04-26-2009, 02:55 PM
Hua Moa Tostones


Tostones (from the Spanish verb tostar which means "to toast"[1]), also called patacones, are a side dish made from sliced green (unripe) plantains which are cut either length-wise or width-wise and are twice fried.


Tostones - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tostones)


We microwave once and Fry once (to avoid "Double" frying)

Banana ID - Bananas.org (http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?p=133167&posted=1#post133167)

harveyc
04-26-2009, 03:20 PM
Hey, "just j", I'd rather not ask, though many birds which are protected here can still be shot if done so to protect a crop. I don't do any shooting of birds, etc. just for the fun of it.

Rmplmnz, I laughed when I saw your dog photo as that was just what I felt like when looking at the photos above it. "oh pretty please, can I have some????" Looks good, thanks for sharing!

Harvey

island cassie
04-26-2009, 04:02 PM
Hey Rmplmnz - those tostones look delicious - homemade ones are sooo much better than restaurant ones.

Our Hispaniolan woodpeckers look very similar to yours, but I have never seen them on the bananas - interesting! But they are a real pest here - folks with wooden gingerbread trim on their roofs have it all drilled to pieces. We have a reinforced concrete roof for earthquakes, but my coconut palms are drilled full of holes.

Harvey - I would think that when the fruiting stem has very few leaves, big pups would provide some food for the mat generally. When any plant is severely stressed, all the effort goes into producing and ripening fruit/seeds, so I don't see why bananas would be different.

My 2 pesos worth!

Caloosamusa
04-26-2009, 04:19 PM
Congratulations Rmplmnz!

Next year I'm going to do a much better job of winter covering. A little down here will really help.

Island Cassie, people may consider that wood pecker a pest, but the consequences to the plants and wood on the house would be much worse if the woodpecker was not allowed to peck a hole to get the wood borers doing the real damage.

Best wishes good growing, and awesome job Rmpmnz in overcoming the freezes and still getting that harvest!!! :2239:

momoese
04-26-2009, 06:24 PM
Looks yummy!

frog7994
04-26-2009, 06:28 PM
very tasty looking hope to be doing the same soon.

Rmplmnz
04-28-2009, 10:40 PM
A rather large Saba bloom..not many leaves left after the difficult winter...but man o man what a bloom..........

April 28, 2009
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16940&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16940)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16939&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16939)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16938&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16938)

April 30, 2009
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=17011&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=17011)

Getting close..................
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=23658&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=23658)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=23657&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=23657)

harveyc
04-28-2009, 11:24 PM
:woohoonaner:

chong
04-29-2009, 01:38 AM
Beautiful! Felicidades!!!!

harveyc
04-29-2009, 09:17 AM
Does this plant have some strong suckers? It looks like there is one in the second picture. While this plant at least has some nice leaves (unlike my supposed Raja Puri on which I over-wintered a bunch), but I've been wondering if suckers can help feed the bunch on the mother plant. I think maybe so, and other people have responded they think probably so. Maybe you can cut all your leaves off to help test it out. Just joking! ;)

frog7994
04-29-2009, 11:16 AM
great pic of your Saba bloom.

momoese
04-29-2009, 11:29 AM
Does this plant have some strong suckers? It looks like there is one in the second picture. While this plant at least has some nice leaves (unlike my supposed Raja Puri on which I over-wintered a bunch), but I've been wondering if suckers can help feed the bunch on the mother plant. I think maybe so, and other people have responded they think probably so. ;)

Remember the Hawaiian Apple that snapped in half at the roof line and then decided to bloom? It was attached to many pups and many adult plants but the fruit never matured. I have also had plants bloom then loose all their leaves due to wind or frost and those fruits never matured either.

Tog Tan
04-29-2009, 11:40 AM
Does this plant have some strong suckers? It looks like there is one in the second picture. While this plant at least has some nice leaves (unlike my supposed Raja Puri on which I over-wintered a bunch), but I've been wondering if suckers can help feed the bunch on the mother plant. I think maybe so, and other people have responded they think probably so. Maybe you can cut all your leaves off to help test it out. Just joking! ;)

Remember the Hawaiian Apple that snapped in half at the roof line and then decided to bloom? It was attached to many pups and many adult plants but the fruit never matured. I have also had plants bloom then loose all their leaves due to wind or frost and those fruits never matured either.

The so called protocol here is to remove all or just leave one pup as the plant starts to bloom. Then as the fruits are fully formed, the bud is removed. This way the plant can concentrate all its energy in building up the fruits. With this method, we get more and bigger fruits. Allowing pups to be with the fruiting plant and the bud to keep on growing only saps its energy.
Do you guys do the same?

momoese
04-29-2009, 11:48 AM
The so called protocol here is to remove all or just leave one pup as the plant starts to bloom. Then as the fruits are fully formed, the bud is removed. This way the plant can concentrate all its energy in building up the fruits. With this method, we get more and bigger fruits. Allowing pups to be with the fruiting plant and the bud to keep on growing only saps its energy.
Do you guys do the same?

I struggle with that because I'm growing them for the foliage as well as the fruit. I do try to keep them under control but it's not easy! Even with my mats a bit out of control I still get nice sized bunches so I'm not too worried about it.

Rmplmnz
04-29-2009, 01:09 PM
Does this plant have some strong suckers? It looks like there is one in the second picture. While this plant at least has some nice leaves (unlike my supposed Raja Puri on which I over-wintered a bunch), but I've been wondering if suckers can help feed the bunch on the mother plant. I think maybe so, and other people have responded they think probably so. Maybe you can cut all your leaves off to help test it out. Just joking! ;)

This particular plant has one sword sucker with only very thin long leaves. We did have one bunch (pictures earlier within the thread), a Hua Moa that was able to take a raceme to maturity. Our experience with bananas with few or no leaves is that the fruit will never develop (stays very small and starchy)...we probably have 8 or 9 bunches this year (and a dozen or so last year) that the fruit never developed on (they stayed very small..even though the quantity of hands/fruit was normal).

The pseudostem may look thick....but it is relatively thin (for a 20 plus foot saba) and will have to be propped with bamboo to support the raceme. We rarely if ever prop saba racemes with bamboo...only when they are thin due to frost damage (hindering development).

These will come in handy:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=9896&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=9896)

harveyc
04-29-2009, 01:13 PM
Tog, I generally try to do that (but get behind sometimes), though I tend to try to keep pups of two sizes attached. However, I'm talking of leaving lots of pups attached when the mother plant has lost all of its leaves (either because of frost or wind damage, like Mitchel is talking about). Some people have said the pups help, but Mitchel's experience contradicts that. Since pups are attached to the mother corm, I could see that they might provide food to it or suck food out. I've never seen anything scientific reported on how things work. Maybe Gabe can chime in.

momoese
04-29-2009, 01:20 PM
Tog, I generally try to do that (but get behind sometimes), though I tend to try to keep pups of two sizes attached. However, I'm talking of leaving lots of pups attached when the mother plant has lost all of its leaves (either because of frost or wind damage, like Mitchel is talking about). Some people have said the pups help, but Mitchel's experience contradicts that. Since pups are attached to the mother corm, I could see that they might provide food to it or suck food out. I've never seen anything scientific reported on how things work. Maybe Gabe can chime in.

Harvey, you remember the thread about the albino AeAe pups taking energy from the mother plant until either the mother or the albino died? Food for thought.

harveyc
04-29-2009, 02:04 PM
Harvey, you remember the thread about the albino AeAe pups taking energy from the mother plant until either the mother or the albino died? Food for thought.

Yeah, I do remember that. Naturally, in that situation, food can go only one way. However, if pups are producing food and mom is not, can it go the other way? I am not proposing one way or the other, just wondering. Some think it's possible. So far, evidence seems to show it doesn't work. On my leafless plant I am making sure that the psuedostem has green parts showing so that the bunch might get fed from the energy produced from the psuedostem itself. They're pretty good size already (had been around 4 months old before winter set in), so I'm just hoping for a little more.

Tog Tan
04-29-2009, 02:11 PM
Tog, I generally try to do that (but get behind sometimes), though I tend to try to keep pups of two sizes attached. However, I'm talking of leaving lots of pups attached when the mother plant has lost all of its leaves (either because of frost or wind damage, like Mitchel is talking about). Some people have said the pups help, but Mitchel's experience contradicts that. Since pups are attached to the mother corm, I could see that they might provide food to it or suck food out. I've never seen anything scientific reported on how things work. Maybe Gabe can chime in.

Non-scientifically speaking, The clump of plants are all attached to each other by the corm and they feed as a single unit but with the strongest individual taking up the bulk of the food. If the main plant is in its fruit production stage, the food intake is maximum. Having other pups/plants around will only take away much of the needed nutrition. In the case you mentioned about damaged leaves on the fruiting plant, maybe, just maybe, the leaves on the pups helped by doing the work of photosynthesis for the group as a unit giving nutrition to the one bearing fruit.
On the other hand, if there is no fruit production, the pups will help in the overall growth as they have the extra number of leaves on them for photosynthesis. I guess that's why over here with the constant favorable condition, clumps get bigger and bigger with everyone bringing home the food through combined photosynthesis!
Plants with the pups and bud removed always give the max in production here. It is a practice over the ages and these people are not scientifically minded. :ha:

Harvey, you remember the thread about the albino AeAe pups taking energy from the mother plant until either the mother or the albino died? Food for thought.

Mitchel, albinos once detached will always die. Undetached, it's is only a matter of time. If they able to grow, the main plant is supplying as much nutrition as it can. Remember that Variegated plants are weak plants as a big portion of their work surface/leaf does not have the ability to photosynthesize, so feeding another albino plant which does no photosynthesis at all on its own will put alot of stress on it.
In the case of a seed germinated albino, the kaput time is even shorter. Before the embryo is sucked up, it is gone.
These are observations I have made in the field. C'mon, whack me! :ha::ha::ha:

Bananaman88
04-29-2009, 02:51 PM
Maybe my example was an anomoly, but my experience (and again, it was only one time) is that pups do help the mother plant when she has lost most of her leaves due to frost. It may not work that way the majority of the time, but it worked for me in this one instance. It would be good to see an experiment on this.

chong
04-29-2009, 03:08 PM
Maybe my example was an anomoly, but my experience (and again, it was only one time) is that pups do help the mother plant when she has lost most of her leaves due to frost. It may not work that way the majority of the time, but it worked for me in this one instance. It would be good to see an experiment on this.

Yes, it does work that way. When my Grandmother used to "prune" the mother banana in order to hasten the blooming and lower the fruiting height, she made sure that there were at least 2 succeeding pups of certain stage. I didn't know it at the time, but I now realize that it was so that the mother plant would have nutrition through the pups.

Bananaman88
04-30-2009, 06:26 AM
Chris,

Any of your Pitogos looking like they're going to fruit yet?

Rmplmnz
05-06-2009, 09:14 PM
Chris,

Any of your Pitogos looking like they're going to fruit yet?

No....hopefully summer;-):bananas_b

Rmplmnz
06-12-2011, 10:18 AM
A few pics of some of the Banana Racemes in the garden (nice comparison photos):
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43462&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43462)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43463&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43463)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43464&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43464)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43465&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43465)http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43469&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43469)http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43468&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43468)http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43467&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43467)http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=43466&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=43466)