mullenium

check it out



seems like its flowering to me, but here in phoenix the leaves always die back in the winter, i wrapped the stalk a few times with various things and xmas lights during our hard freeze nights and it seems like it survived..

isnt it kind of odd that its flowering with only one leaf? which i think is the flag leaf?

also before the flower emerged i removed its one single pup and planted it in another location, should I not have done that? theres no other pups growing right now? once the thing dies back after fruiting will more pops just emerge from the 'corm' under the soil?

VinnayJones

First of all, congratulations!
Second, sorry this is probably a bit late, considering it's the middle of our crazy Arizona summers...... Hopefully this still helps you out in possible future scenarios.
Alright, so basically, a banana has a growth habit of creating the leaves/flowers inside the stalk sometimes weeks ahead of the time that they emerge. That's why when you cut a banana plant in half, you can see several leaves wrapped up preparing to emerge. So, the plant could have started forming the inflorescence some time before the weather got a bit cooler, and since it survived, and apparently kept growing at some rate, the flower is just now emerging.
Separating a pup at this time might cause a little bit of trouble, considering the stress it can put a plant under, especially in cool weather, but it should be fine as long as you keep it warm... and ALIVE.
The only other problem I can see at this point, really, is a lower number of fruits due to a much lower photosynthesis rate (thanks to the lack of viable leaves, and lower light levels), but for all I know, the plant could have been stockpiling nutrients and water for this purpose.
I'd just say be excited for possible future bananas, and to be sure to keep it alive!