harveyc

I finally cut two of my three bunches of bananas today. We've had about 7 days of frost this year with lows down to 28F. I covered my bunches with green plastic bags a few months ago in hopes that it would boost the temperature of the bunches and speed up maturation.

First of all, my "Mystery banana", a tissue culture plant sold to me a few years ago by Wellspring on eBay and mislabeled as 'Dwarf Namwah'. Mitchel suggested that it might be Namwah a couple of months ago and Gabe thinks he may be right.



Bunch weighed in at 9.7 pounds. I had thinned out about 15 fingers back a couple of months ago, hoping the rest would size up quicker.



Here is a bunch from a plant give to me by Joe Real which he said he bought from Going-Bananas as Dwarf Brazilian. However, I have been told by three different forum members that it does not appear to be a Dwarf Brazilian to them. For one thing, the fruit hangs vertically. This bunch weighed in at 7.3 pounds.







This is another plant of my "Mystery banana" which has a unopened bloom. Anyone dare to guess when this bunch will ripen?? Only in my dreams!!! :P

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momoese

Looks good Harvey. They'll be ripe before you know it!

CookieCows

Congrats Harvey!!! All that TLC looks like it's going to pay off!

Deb

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MediaHound

Congrats on the harvest, Harvey!!! That's a great feeling, isn't it!

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Worm_Farmer

Nice! I cant wait to see a flower on one of mine!

saltydad

Fantastic Harvey! Can't decide if the hands or the grower look better!!

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buzzwinder

Congrats Harvey, I'm looking forward to when I can one to fruit here in N. Il.

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Bill for my friend

harveyc

Thanks, everyone!

I was wondering: Is there an preferred environment for ripening the harvest bunches? I've got them hanging in my shop which is kept fairly warm. I don't recall this ever being discussed here previously.

Thanks again,

Harvey

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dablo93

nice bunches!
are the leafes damaged from the wind or from the frost?

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enigma99a

I live near Harvey, and we got some terrible arctic blasts this December. Now it's mild and warm though. (Yesterday was near 70 where I live)!

Oh and congrats on the harvest!

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

harveyc

The leaves are brown due to frost damage. The first few nights of frost seemed to have minimal impact. I believe our lows on those nights were down to only 36F or maybe 34F. Then we got down to 28F and a harder frost and a few days later the damage was evident. Its exactly for such borderline situations that I'm hopeful that Freeze Pruf might be able to make a difference.

The cold weather is great for our temperate fruit trees and my chestnut orchard, though.

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momoese

I have tried both. They will ripen faster in a warm area. I have noticed a little tiny bit of skin dehydration when ripened indoors but it doesn't seem to affect fruit quality.

harveyc

I've finally been eating some of my bananas for a couple of days now. I was surprised to find the back side of the bunch were all ripening so I've got to hurry.

They're small, the texture is smooth. They aren't fully flavored as they weren't really fully mature, but they are moderately sweet and I'm enjoying them!



Excuse the goofy smile. I was trying to be cute like Jen who had a nice posed photo that she posted today. Guess I can't pull of "cute" like Jen! LOL

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jen

Are you making fun of me??!!! Listen here...I was so darn excited I just couldn't help myself! I'm still taking pictures of the darn plant but not any more of me at least. Regardless of you making fun, your nanas look great. How do they taste? I tasted mine today and it was a little tart and kinda strawberrish. Anyway, I'm never posting a picture of me again. I'm such a dork! I should have waited a day until the excited wore off a little.

Jen

harveyc

No way, Jen, I'm making fun of myself more than you! If I don't do it, someone else always does!

The bananas taste pretty good but I sure wish my nanner bloomed a couple of months earlier. Still, I harvested these about 3 months after the plant bloomed and I'm pretty excited that they did as well as they did.

I can't take credit for all of my weirdness lately, though. I've been chatting a lot with Pete lately and he deserves much of the credit! LOL

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buzzwinder

Jen, I hope you didn't delete that pic! It's Great, anyone of us would love to harvest fruit from our plants, and sharing the excitment is the best part, when your sharing with fellow enthusiasts,Me, I'm zonally challenged, if I ever get one to fruit I'll probably, well I don't know, But Hun you don't look like a dork, just an excited hobbiest like the rest of us.and Thanks for sharing that excitement, Kinda keeps the rest of us going if ya know what I mean!

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Bill for my friend

Bananaman88

Harvey, you've got that crazy look in your eyes! Oh, wait...you've been talking with Pete??? That explains it. Just kidding, Pete!

Congrats on your bananas, Harvey! I had some more fresh tostones last night from my 'Orinoco'. They were quite tasty!

jen

Bill you are too sweet! Thanks. I know everyone on this site understans my excitement and I love that.

Harvey knows I didn't mind the teasing at all. He's a great guy! I got a good laugh out of that post. I really was so excited to see that yellow banana. I almost knocked over my 2 year old when I saw it through the window and ran outside to see it. My husband made way more fun of me than anyone here...and still is. hee hee

So enough with the pic and back to the bananas. Hey Harv I know what you mean about the timing of the fruit. I have another plant that becasue of the weather started shooting out growith again and I just know it's going to pop a flag leaf. I know I'm in a good zone but if it would just wait a couple more months it would be ideal. I'm praying for cold weather cuz I harvested my bananas and now I need the other plant to hold on!

So your bananas didn't get a chance to fill out all the way but they still taste the same? Is that how it works or did they continue to fill out too after you harvested?

Jen

harveyc

Jen, this is the first time this unknown "mystery" banana has fruited for me, so I don't know how it would taste if the fruit was fully grown/matured. It was supposed to be Dwarf Orinoco and, after four years or so of growing this, I finally got one to flower but at about 10 feet tall. These fruits probably would have continued getting larger and developing more flavor if I had another couple of months of growing weather, but I have no way of proving that since I haven't had it fruit before and I don't know what it is. It really only had about two months of growing though, since we get pretty cool by November. We didn't get frost until around mid-December so I just left the fruit on until my leaves turned brown, hoping that they were benefiting from photosynthesis that was still going on.

Mitchel posted a photo recently of some other bananas that he had to pick very early that were not filled out and they still turned yellow and ripened. Again, I'm sure flavor was seriously lacking in those bananas while mine are somewhere between "fair" and "good".

Thanks,

Harvey

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Bob

Harvey, better be careful talking with Pete. He'll have you posing with a Catfish next!

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