Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

My mom has been growing Orinocos for 20+ yrs since I was a kid, here's a couple of her patches
She trims the mats so they don't take over the lawn but the corms underneath are 20+yrs old

Keep in mind we had the winter storm here in Texas so everything died back to the ground. They only started growing back in March so it's only been a little over 3 months.

Here's is one of her smaller patches with 12ft units - 3 Months!



She let this one grow along the fence but trims any pups that grow towards the lawn



I think I read somewhere on here saying that old mats/corms don't grow well... at least with Orinoco I beg to differ

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Those are fantastic. I don't know if this is a dumb question or not, but does she fruit them?

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Yes she does, however she likes to cut them halfway down at the stem during Winter if they get damaged because she doesn't like the look of dying bananas.

This causes some weird issues with fruiting.

I've seen it where in the spring the first thing one of the stems did was send out a flower - no leaves. Of course the flower and bananas wilted and died.
I also saw another one where it only pushed out 2 leaves and then a flower. I think only 1 hand was able to form lol.

She gets a lot of them to fruit at 8ft-10ft this way too.
Also she doesn't bother fertilizing or watering the bananas - these are growing all natural.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

My kind of grower :)

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

I always wondered how people had plants that were killed to the ground and then in 3 months they’re 10’ tall.

I guess once established or if older plants with deep roots they just take off better and faster then say a 3’ plant just started.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

They certainly have a reputation for being tough buggers.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Nice looking patch.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

The power of the corm. Looks great :woohoonaner:

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Are these better than Namwah? Are they more cold hardy?

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

I dont know if they are "better". I believe they are supposed to be a but more cold hardy, but I believe most prefer the taste of namwah.. all subjective to each person though.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

These look like tall Orinoco which are found all over Florida. Maybe its due to the lack of attention by the owners but the tall ones seem to almost never fruit or fruit very late in the season so not much chance of a successful harvest.

The Dwarf Orinoco on the other hand seems to be a much more reliable fruiter, short and a bit stocky in stature its more manageable for winterization and is less prone to wind damage. The plant looks great too. Big, thick, green leaves.

I fruited my original Dwarf Orinoco last year but it only produced about eight fingers with only a couple leaves after winter. The fruit was not that appealing aesthetically nor tastewise when compared to my other plants but it was right after winter and not an established plant.

This year my plant has a full compliment of leaves and just flowered so plenty of time to get the fruit filled. Hope to get better results.


Additional Note in regards to OP:

"I think I read somewhere on here saying that old mats/corms don't grow well... at least with Orinoco I beg to differ"

The plants in the photo look happy and healthy however as I recall the issue was not whether an old banana stand (7 years plus) or corm can produce a bunch of green plants vs. a younger stand (2-5 year) but that productivity as determined by fruit production (weight, number of fingers, time to fill, successful harvest) is believed to decline with older stands vs. younger stands.

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

I love Orinoco bananas I think they are delicious! Way better than store bought Cavendish with a nice fruity flavor and they can get HUGE where you can barely bite it.

I also growing Dwarf Orinoco (California Gold) but haven't fruited it yet so I've only tasted Tall Orinoco, although I did read somewhere that Dwarf Orinoco bananas don't taste as good as Tall Orinoco - but I can't remember the source.

Anyway like someone mentioned above taste is subjective anyway.
Here's a taste review from a member

http://www.bananas.org/f2/taste-revi...uit-16530.html

Re: Mom's 20+ Yr old Orinoco patches +12ft in 3 months!
 

Thanks for sharing that Orinoco Taste Review.

My first banana other than store bought was an Orinoco given to me by Darkman who is in that thread and lives not too far from me. That I had to wait till the peel was brown was a bit difficult to fathom at the time. Haha.