Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

What if you just picked a single Banana?

Would it ripen by itself?

Would the hand left be OK?

My first bunch of bananas from a one year old Orinoco did not produce a lot of bananas. Most are filled out but each hand still has a few that are still plumping up. I would like to selectively remove a few at a time. Will this work or does the banana have to be attached to the hand to ripen?

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Yes and yes :woohoonaner:

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Yes and yes :woohoonaner: and yes it will work,no it does not need to be attached :woohoonaner:

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Many thanks Sunfish,

I'll cut a few this afternoon!

Happy days are here!

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Bring some down when you come to get the manure.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Welcome.

How to Ripen Bananas Quickly

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Darkman, don't take the timing mentioned in that link about how to ripen bananas too literally -- they are talking about ripening store bought Cavendish, when green. The technique works, but it could take as much as weeks for them to ripen for you. Don't give up though, it does work.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

After all my ordeal of winterizing and bringing my Raja Puri to the point of fruiting, I was able to pick one banana and ate it just before my overseas flight at the airport, but it needed another day or two of ripening. Sharon ended up with the rest of the bunch later, she said they were delicious, he he.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

I'm leaving some on the bunch to ripen naturally, some I'll bag and some I'll just hang in the house.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

I cut three bananas off on October 12 after I wrote the above quote. I did not bag them as I wanted to use them as a test group. Today two of the tree are about 25% yellow and feel a little softer. The ones one the tree are still green. I'll update as the three progress. My next cut will be four bananas of which two I'll bag and two just lay on the counter.

I also cut the terminal bud flower off this bunch today. It was about three foot longer than he last hand. I had been leaving it since it has been providing food for all kinds of bees, wasps and I think I even saw a hummer on one.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

On October 25 I ate my first home grown banana from the Orinoco bunch that follewered June 1st. I found it to be firm with a good sweetness. It was not coarse textured like store bought and had a creamy mouth feel. I will eat another one to day and compare.

Today I will cut the four that I mentioned above and start that trial.

I noticed that the ones still on the tree are still swelling and appear to be elongating some more even though when I cut the first three I felt they had completely filled out.

The October flowering bunch are filling out but they have a long way to go.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Ok It's been 19 days since I picked my three Orinoco bananas. I ate the last today and shared it with my 16 year old daughter. I asked her what she thought and she told me she could taste Blackberry. I took a bite and she was right there was a background taste of Blackberries. Has anyone else tasted this flavor in Orinoco or other bananas?

Several days ago I picked four more bananas. I left them on the counter while the last of the three was ripening. I will now split them up placing two in a paper bag and two back on the counter. I'll report back as they ripen.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

OK the ones in the bag are NOT anymore yellow than the ones on the counter. I just ate a counter one and it was very firm with pleasant taste. It needed another week to really be good. It felt softer than it was. I'll report more later.

Re: Early picking a green hand to ripen?
 

Ok IMHO the ones in the bag ripened "prettier" than the counter ones but NO EARLIER and maybe a day or two later. I think this happened because the counter area I choose is a bit busy and the unbagged ones kept getting moved around. Obviously my result spit in the eye of science and past results. I guess what I am saying is that the only thing I figured out is if you bump your banana too much it might get bruised up. Maybe next year I'll have more bananas to play with.

On another note I finally on November 28th picked two RIPE bananas off the Orinoco that bloomed June 1st, 2011. Maybe it was the excitement but I felt they were better than the ones that I picked early. I also realized that they were still growing when I picked my first ones off that bunch. I'll know better next year. I stilll have a few left on the tree. I'll do a final report when I pick them.