Banana pseudostem broke and full bunch fell to the ground.
 

It was staked with a chair and that is where it broke. Did it rot? I wonder if I have been watering too much. When I pull off a dried up leaf I notice that there is lots of water between the leaf and the pseudostem and wondered if that indicated over-watering. I am getting lots of bananas, but some have areas near the flower end which rot. Last year the rot spread to the entire bunch, so this year I am removing any showing that black rot. I am growing in well enriched areas of sandy soil in North Central Florida and was given this unknown variety.

I have uploaded photos to my gallery but I'm not sure if this will work:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.

Banana Gallery - banana bunch on the ground


Banana Gallery - banana bunch on the ground

Banana Gallery - shows flower tip rotting

Banana Gallery - 26 pound bunch from cut after pseudo stem broke

Re: Banana pseudostem broke and full bunch fell to the ground.
 

Don't touch it, don't move it, don't do anything. If there is still physical connection in flower stem, it will continue to mature and eventually ripen. Moving it will risk further damage to the stem. If the stem is already severed, there is nothing you can do to help. If the bananas are mature enough, they will ripen. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose if you try and make the situation better.



These spent an entire winter just as you see them, and ripened and were fine.

Re: Banana pseudostem broke and full bunch fell to the ground.
 

Live and learn. The chair as a prop was too low. Needs to be propped right up near where the bunch emerges from the pseudostem or you risk it folding over like that.

Re: Banana pseudostem broke and full bunch fell to the ground.
 

The whole point of propping to to support the weight of the bananas, not to stiffen the pseudostem. Almost as if the bananas would stay where they are on the prop even if you cut down the pseudostem. The support should be at the highest point in the arch of the flower stem.

Re: Banana pseudostem broke and full bunch fell to the ground.
 

I would put either some straw under the bunch, or a tarp to prevent the bunch from rotting/bugs, since its in direct contact with the soil.