voyager

In my interest in the newer tall ones I had almost forgotten about these.
They were almost perfect for cutting.

This is an older planting made by the former owner.
The center of the mound is about 1-1/2' higher than the surrounding area.


I think the spot is getting nutrient depleted, bananas have been growing there too long.

The bunches do not seem to develop as well as I think they should, or at least they look as if they could do better.


I cut the bunch yesterday and put it on a bench in the garage for the sap to dry.
Today, I heard a noise in the garage, so I checked it out and found a banana thief, a red cardinal munching down on my apple bananas.
He only got into one of them.
But, any one know of some good red cardinal recipes? I may have to add him to my subsistence diet.
Banana stuffed cardinal doesn't sound too bad.

Any way, I then brought them into the house and cut the hands off the stem. I had some apple bananas that I had bought at the farmers market yesterday.
I have just compared the market bought with the home grow'd.


I have always considered the home grow'd to be small and the market bought to be bigger. Man, was I wrong. The market bought look longer because they're skinnier.
The home grow'd look shorter 'cause they're fatter.
Plus, the home grow'd taste so much better, more of the tang the name comes from.

I've decided that I'm going to prepare another location for them. Then dig up the pups and move them to the new location. I'll do the same with the other Dwarf Brazilian clump I have and mix the two of them together in the same area.

sputinc7

Why not just fertilize the mound?

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Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

robguz24

I find huge variation in fruit size, even from the same mat depending on growing conditions. Larger scale growers seem to pick the bunches when totally green and less filled out, which is not necessary for home growing. Visit BEI or Garden Exchange in Hilo and get a 50lb bag of one of the banana special fertilizers. It will make an enormous difference on your bunch sizes.

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voyager

Thanks for the info robguz.
I am going to move and consolidate the 2 clumps elsewhere.
There are things in the area of both clumps that I want to work on, uneven surfaces, some from tree blow downs, buried log, limbs and/or stumps, etc.
I want to smooth the areas they're in to ease mowing those areas. Mowing there is very time and labor intensive.

EDIT:
I think part of the problem with the smaller size of the bunch it that it grew under cooler winter temps. They do seem to tend to be bigger when grown through the warmer summer months.