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View Full Version : 12 hands, what now?


shkm
07-14-2009, 03:48 PM
My Ice cream flowered and I now have 12 hands. What do I do now? How long untl the fruit will be ripe? Any help would be greatful.

Jack Daw
07-14-2009, 04:03 PM
My Ice cream flowered and I now have 12 hands. What do I do now? How long untl the fruit will be ripe? Any help would be greatful.
Usually about 4 to 5 months if I remeber correctly, check the bananas.org wiki about that. ;) Bon Ap..

saltydad
07-14-2009, 04:36 PM
Congratulations!!

:woohoonaner::nanadrink:

pitangadiego
07-14-2009, 09:17 PM
In SD 6-7 months.

ewitte
07-14-2009, 09:17 PM
Lol I would actually be pissed if one fruited a few months from now because it would probably lose it.

banfan
07-14-2009, 09:46 PM
That's quite an accomplishmnet to get a dozen hands. Congratulations!:woohoonaner:

island cassie
07-14-2009, 10:35 PM
We are warm growers too and 4 to 5 months is about right.

Magilla Gorilla
07-14-2009, 11:14 PM
My Ice cream flowered and I now have 12 hands. What do I do now? How long untl the fruit will be ripe? Any help would be greatful.

That's great! Any photos?

Bananaman88
07-15-2009, 06:19 AM
Lol I would actually be pissed if one fruited a few months from now because it would probably lose it.

This is the situation I'm afraid I'm going to be in. Due, I think, in large part to our drought this year, none of my edible bananas have flowered yet. I was really expecting to get flowers on my Orinoco (which has flowered every year for me), Ice Cream, and Rajapuri. I really need them to flower by the end of this month so that I can harvest fruit by Thanksgiving. Where's the d#*n rain???

PT DUffy
07-15-2009, 07:15 AM
We've been getting it over on the FLorida Panhandle. The Nanners are doing great(no blossoms yet), hopefully by mid August....
Cheers,
Pat

pitangadiego
07-15-2009, 08:52 AM
Bananaman, Here in California we have a new invention called the "garden hose" which we use when it doesn't rain. ;-))

Bananaman88
07-15-2009, 09:23 AM
Thanks for the tip! Trust me, the water hose and sprinklers have been getting a major workout this summer and I have the water bills to prove it!

harveyc
07-15-2009, 09:50 AM
Brent, if you've been irrigating is the delayed bloom due to you just not giving them enough water or is it because of the lack of humidity?

I haven't had anything bloom yet since we had a cool spring other than a couple of hot days in mid-May. I believe the first 15 days or so of June were below 80F which is crazy.

ewitte
07-15-2009, 11:10 AM
We are getting all your heat lol. This is the hottest summer I can remember.

harveyc
07-15-2009, 12:10 PM
It was 100 or so yesterday, so the heat finally arrived. It seems summer type weather was just a month late.

shkm
07-16-2009, 04:20 AM
Thank you all for the wonderful replies. This is my first banana plant, so if this is any indication of things to come, I'm hooked! I spriinkle 3-4 cups of citrus fertilizer around my plants on the first of every month, and water every morning.

shkm
07-16-2009, 04:38 AM
That's great! Any photos?


I just created a photo gallery!

sbl
07-16-2009, 06:58 AM
This is the situation I'm afraid I'm going to be in. Due, I think, in large part to our drought this year, none of my edible bananas have flowered yet. I was really expecting to get flowers on my Orinoco (which has flowered every year for me), Ice Cream, and Rajapuri. I really need them to flower by the end of this month so that I can harvest fruit by Thanksgiving. Where's the d#*n rain???

Could it be the heat? I read a post here that said bananas stop growing at temps above 93---I know you have been very hot. Maybe if you coud put a mister on it for cooling it would help.

Patty in Wisc
07-16-2009, 12:04 PM
shkm, try to find a fert with higher K. Citrus fert is higher in nitrogen. A good fert for nanas is around 15 -5- 30 (npk)

Bananaman88
07-16-2009, 12:05 PM
They are pushing about a leaf per week and I don't really think the humidity has been low enough to cause any problems. I think they need more water and that I need to fertilize better.

ewitte
07-16-2009, 01:43 PM
Could it be the heat? I read a post here that said bananas stop growing at temps above 93---I know you have been very hot. Maybe if you coud put a mister on it for cooling it would help.

My main bannana plant is still getting a leaf every 5 days or so in the same area. Its getting a lot of 5am watering though.

The IC is barely growing I'm actually replacing it with one that is much bigger to begin with and was raised in even hotter weather than here. I was told they were at 108 recently.

Sailfish
07-17-2009, 01:42 PM
s Citrus fert is higher in nitrogen. A good fert for nanas is around 15 -5- 30 (npk)


Uh oh, I have always used 10-10-10

Is that bad?

banfan
07-17-2009, 06:15 PM
I feel fortunate to be on well water with all of these super hot days we are experiencing. I use a soaker hose but still haven't gotten 12 hands......10 tops. WTG!

Greenie
07-17-2009, 08:24 PM
good job!

sbl
07-18-2009, 11:20 AM
I am guessing that bananas only stop growing for the part of the day when the temp is above their limit, which may only be for 4-6 hours, but that may still be slowing it down.