Bananas.org - First Flag leaf

Bananas.org (http://www.bananas.org/)

- Main Banana Discussion (http://www.bananas.org/f2/)

- - First Flag leaf (http://www.bananas.org/f2/first-flag-leaf-4570.html)

Walked in my yard this morning and discovered a newly emerging flag leaf.

This is our second year growing bananas and was hoping to get at least a bloom by the fall. Needless to say we are very excited since we are only novice and had a pretty cold winter here on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The guy who gave me these plants said it was a Williams Hybrid, and appears to be about 10 or 12 ft. in height, very full and beautiful. I'm gonna try and post a pic of it this week and maybe someone can give me a confirmation on the species. Thanks
hydroid

Re: First Flag leaf

Congrats, you are going to enjoy it... good choice for getting your feet wet with growing bananas.
I have bloomed the Williams Hybrid and took lots of photos. We can compare notes.
The bracts are very colorful (multi colors) and showy, they curl a bit as well, its a wonderful sight.
And the fruits were great consistency, nice color change from green to yellow, peel thickness was thicker than Kru but less than RajaPuri, fruit texture was a bit firm, color I think I recall was golden yellow, maybe slightly orange, aroma was fruity and delicious, very very excellent flavor. All wonderful marks across the board. Yield was medium-high as well.
When they ripened here, they did not have long of a shelf life, so enjoy them when they are good. The pseudostem height to where the leaves started was about 5' or 6' feet, with the leaf straight up, maybe 9' total or so.

By the way, its not a "species" per se, its a hybrid of many years of selective crossing. We say "cultivar" instead.
Keep us posted!

Re: First Flag leaf

By the way, here's the page in the wiki. Some of my pics are in the page already.
Perhaps you would like to mark the map that you are growing it?
Musa Williams Hybrid - Bananas Wiki
Kind regards.

Re: First Flag leaf

Thanks MediaHound, those photos look very similar to this plant. It's just amazing, I never expected this to happen so early. I wonder what this stuff will look like by September? I guess it does'nt take much to get me excited. WOW!!!
hydroid