Clare_CA

Hey All,

It's been awhile since I've been here, but I had some free time today and thought I would post some pictures for my friend Steven (waving to Steven) and everyone. If anyone can help me out with when to harvest on some of these, I would really appreciate the advice.

The winter was unusally cold this year. A lot of my banana leaves are brown and need trimming. I think the only banana that I lost was my Musa 'Viente Cohol,' which was tiny from the beginning and never grew any appreciable amount.

This is 'Ice Cream,' which just developed a flower recently:



This is my other 'Ice Cream,' which just started to send up a bud:



This is my 'Raja Puri':



Another 'Raja Puri' flower in the same clump:



This is Iholena -- one flower didn't do well, but the other is doing fine:




This one is 'Dwarf Cavendish':



This one is Stoke's Tropicals 'Brazilian,' but I think it must be a 'Dwarf Brazilian.'

ron_mcb

thanks for an update with the iholena..actually good progress for the mainland.
i will see what i can do with mine this summer. .

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naw mek smaddi ditate fi yuh. naw wan gwan a pawty yuh naggo.

The Hollyberry Lady

Kostas

Beautiful inflorescences you got there and great leaf condition for the end of the winter!


I dont know what your last banana is but it cant be Dwarf Brazilian as this variety has persistent male flowers unlike yours. Tall Brazilian has dehiscent male flowers.

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

Jananas Bananas

Great job Clare! They look great for coming through winter!!!

How did your variegates weather the winter?

~JaNan

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Jananas Bananas

Dean W.

Welcome back, and nice shots of your bananas!

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musaboru

Hi Clare thanks for the update. It's great to see bananas hanging in there. Sorry to hear about your Viente Cohol.

Clare_CA

Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments.

Kostas, thanks for the help with the I.D. on the one which was supposed to be Brazilian. I'll have to put that in the I.D. forum and see if I can get some help with it's proper species name.

JaNan, the variegated ones all made it through the winter outside, but all the wind we had plus the cold has made them look terrible. You can't even tell that they are variegated anymore without looking at the pups or the stem. Hopefully, one or more will bear fruit soon. That would be fun. I believe one of Steven's variegated Thai banana flowered last year, and the flower was amazing.

Musaboru, thanks for your comment about the V.C. It was disappointing because of all of the hype, the wait, and the expense to just have it die without it even growing much. I hope others have better luck than I did with that one.

sunfish

Looks good. I think the Brazilian is Orinoco

Clare_CA

Thanks, Tony. Which one? The one with fruit or the one just starting to flower? Thanks for the help.

sunfish

The one with the fruit. As far as harvesting if you can cut a few bananas off each bunch and let them get ripe in a paper bag

Clare_CA

Thanks, Tony! I'll try it!

venturabananas

Looking good Clare.

Sorry about the Iholena. Seems like that one and some others that sound exciting (e.g., Kru) are marginal in our non-tropical environment. From wet and cold in winter to hot, dry, and windy now -- we have some challenges here! Right now the 10% humidity, 87 degrees, and 25 knot winds are not making my plants happy.

I agree with Tony: that "Brazilian" with the lax bunch sure looks like Orinoco. Taste will tell.

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Clare_CA

Hi Mark! Thanks for the help with I.D. I got that one from Stokes Tropicals so I'm not surprised that it is misnamed. Yeah, I don't know if my Dwarf Red will ever flower and fruit either. I should probably take out the Iholena, but if it would flower right at the beginning of spring, maybe it would flower and fruit before it gets cold here, and the bananas would actually be edible -- or maybe not. Yes, definitely -- this weather is a drag for the bananas for sure.

Kostas

Awesome Clare! I especially like your Cardaba groove which looks perfect after your winter! How tall are they?

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

sunfish

The Dwarf Red for me is hardier than Kru and Iholena so don't give up on it. Eventually you will get a Iholena to fruit at just the right time

sunfish

Yours is looking better than mine. This thing is still alive even though it's bent all the way over and is only about 1" in diameter

Clare_CA

Thanks, Tony. Since the two fruiting Iholenas are pretty much finished now -- one has completely black fruit and the other one is probably finished too -- should I cut the stems down or let them die back naturally? I did read something about how the energy is used for the other pups of the mat, but my husband has a problem with a dead or dying looking thing in the yard.

Thanks, Kostas! There were a few brown fried leaves that we trimmed off on the Cardaba, but it is my tallest banana. I haven't measured it, but I think the one is fruiting at around ten feet tall.

Kostas

Thank you very much Clare! Your Cardaba is truly a beauty!

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

sunfish

You can cut it down the pups will be fine