Simply Bananas
02-02-2009, 07:47 PM
I am always amazed at this. I had quite a few Orinocos bloom and fruit in 2008. The ones that bloomed in early summer plumped up and began turning yellow after 4 months. They had plenty of water food and sun.
The ones that bloomed in very late-summer never got as big. The cold snap hit in mid November they were cut from the tree. They were undersized, but just last week, I noticed that they were turning yellow. It was actually 4 months from when they bloomed. They were kept out of natural light in the garage from mid-november til now. It was cool to cold in the garage as well, below 60 for thirty or more days. Some nights were in the 30's.
Neither heat, nor sunlight, nor nutrition from the mother plant seemed to have any affect on the very consistent ripening time. It seems that 4 months of hot perfect weather=4 months of way less than ideal weather and conditions when it come to ripening time..
Sunlight hours, temps above 60f, or attachment to the mother plant seem inconsequential in ripening.
I'm not saying that the bananas were of equal quality, but that the ripening time is identical.
I have found this interesting over the years.
The ones that bloomed in very late-summer never got as big. The cold snap hit in mid November they were cut from the tree. They were undersized, but just last week, I noticed that they were turning yellow. It was actually 4 months from when they bloomed. They were kept out of natural light in the garage from mid-november til now. It was cool to cold in the garage as well, below 60 for thirty or more days. Some nights were in the 30's.
Neither heat, nor sunlight, nor nutrition from the mother plant seemed to have any affect on the very consistent ripening time. It seems that 4 months of hot perfect weather=4 months of way less than ideal weather and conditions when it come to ripening time..
Sunlight hours, temps above 60f, or attachment to the mother plant seem inconsequential in ripening.
I'm not saying that the bananas were of equal quality, but that the ripening time is identical.
I have found this interesting over the years.