mrt_fl

Hello,
I'm new to banana growing, central Florida. I'm have a number of banana plants, and one plant produced a bunch of bananas back in early November. The variety is supposedly a Manzano, but I've read there can be confusion over the naming of that variety, so I'm not 100% sure. Some sites suggested this variety does best leaving them on as long as possible. But, they do have some gray ends on them. Do these look ready to pick? Thanks for any assistance!

Cheers

lk-in-central-florida

Hi! I'm new to this too (other side of FL 9b) ... Just planted my first small plants. That one looks huge! How tall is it? How wide is it at the base? (I'm having spacing issues/questions).

If it is a manzano, I've heard they are good, not as "banana" flavored as the traditional ones. If it is a manzano, would you share/sell pups? I have no idea where to go to find different varieties around me.

(Sorry I can't help with when to harvest, I am less than a week into knowing anything about banana growing).

Lara

mrt_fl

Hi Lara,
The tree is pretty tall, i'd guess 15-18 feet to the tip of the leaf. The trunk is about 9 inches at the base, red arrow in this pic (note that there are 2 big pups there also, and a clump of ice cream bananas behind them, so the leaves look a little crazy from this angle!)



We planted it as a 3ft tall pup back in late April. It seems to be producing pups like crazy, you're welcome to come get one or more if you're ever near Tampa. We've already moved several pups to other areas of the yard.

Cheers

lk-in-central-florida

My goodness, thank you so much! I might just make a trip to Tampa to pick one up and have a road trip ... what are good times? I suppose I should PM you my phone number. Heaven knows I'm pretty house-bound at this point, a drive would be lovely. I'd bring a pup of my own for trade, but my new plants are little 3' tall ones. However, assuming all goes well, you're welcome to Patupi pups once we have them! (And Dwarf Cavendish, but those are easy to get).

I'm such a dork, I'm super excited to be part of a banana exchange community! (Well, community of two right now :-) ).

Akula

Usually people let the fruit hang until one or two begin to turn yellow at the top or the fruit is more fat and rounded.

I had a dwarf orinoco that took forever to turn yellow last summer and the fruit got that weathered look like yours. It was the first time any hanging fruit got the weatherered look so I harvested it. It turned yellow off the tree in a couple weeks but I think I should have let it go a bit further to mature. It was my first orinoco so I was a bit impatient.

mrt_fl

Thanks, that's useful info. We'll wait a bit longer then.

CHeers

pitangadiego

If this is the first bunch, with till fruit begins to ripen. if you know when the first hand of fruit appeared last fall, then you will know about how long to wait next time, and you can harvest them green.

Another idea is to check to see if the ribs/edges have "softened" a little bit - that is they have lost a bit of sharpness. After watching a couple bunches you will understand better what that looks like. It is subtle and a bit hard to describe.

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mrt_fl

Thanks I will check that out. Does the length of time from first hand to harvest depend on the time of year? Meaning, do bananas of the same type ripen faster in warmer months?

Cheers

Backyard Banana Joe

Hi! Yes, bananas quit growing when it gets below 70°. So they love the warm (not necessarily super hot) and rainy weather in the summer. The same bunch that would have only taken 2 1\2- 3 months could easily take twice as long, as it simply wouldn't fill out and ripen if it's too cold.