Bronx

I planted a Dwarf Namwah and a Kokopo 3 years ago. The Kokopo is a story in itself which I'll probably start another thread about at some point, but this is about the Namwah.

A couple weeks ago I noticed the growth pattern of my Namwah seemed to have changed. It started pushing out new leaves at a rapid pace before the previous ones were fully open. This past Thursday I suspected the newest leaf was a flag, but having never seen one in person before I wasn't sure. Well, yesterday afternoon I saw what I think is the flower start to emerge and have a question about it.

I have read on other gardening sites that after the hands have formed I should cut off the purple flower head so all the plant's energy will go into filling out the fruit. Is this sound advice or will beheading it cause problems?

Thanks for the wonderful forum.

pitangadiego

Looks like a regular leaf though a little short, with another one following already. The easiest way to identify a flag leaf is not by it's length, though it is usually shorter, but by the different stem. It is not a leaf, but probably more accurately a sheath for the flower spike, and has a different look to the "stem". Don't have one available to take a pix of fight now.

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Bronx

Thanks, pitangadiego. You're right, it is just a regular leaf. Could the new leaf I see today be the flag? It looks different than anything I've seen emerging before.

sirdoofus

Looks like a flag to me. My basjoo did the same thing, a short leaf followed by the flag

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Agreed. You are going to be a daddy.

Reminosys

There's been a bunch of debate over flower beheading and its impacts, wasn't sure if it was a settled matter yet so went looking for published research papers. Found one from 2016 that finally ran statistics, so I'll try and condense the info from it.

Study was done on 'Dwarf Cavendish'. They tested cutting the bud off at 2 different spots:
1. The spot after the female flowers finish
2. The spot the bud is at after the hermaphrodite flowers dried
C. control, no cutting

Results
-Harvest time improved. Quickest to slowest was 1, 2, C; caveat that 1 and 2 may have had different timing due to environment.

-Bunch and finger weight increased. Heaviest to lightest was 2, 1, C.

In short; cut the male bud after hermaphroditic flowers for best fruit quality.
Would also be beneficial in managing drying/rot (per other forum members discussing in previous threads).

original article
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...sh'_banana

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Thanks for the info.

Bronx

Thanks all for your replies. Very interesting, Reminosys, about the cutting vs not.

Here's a picture of the flower from yesterday. The plant has started leaning so I assume I'll need to prop it up when the fruit starts growing and getting heavy.

Bronx

Updated picture. There are 6 hands, 10 bananas on each hand. I hope they don't all turn ripe at the same time. I don't know what I'd do with that many bananas. Maybe freeze them or give some away. I'll probably give some away
anyway.