Praying Hands blooming

MediaHound · 03-20-2008, 12:26 AM

Finally, after waiting about three years, my praying hands (from TC) has bloomed!

These pics were taken a few days ago, its since opened up many more hands and its a wonderful sight! I will post more pictures.

I took it upon myself to attempt to separate a very large "pup" and the following pictures are basically how not to separate a banana plant

^ That's not snow, thats corm.

It snapped off a bit too high. Sometimes these will make it, sometimes not.
This one looks a bit too high but we shall see... I should have cut it sooner, it was my fault, really. Once they get too large, its very hard to break it away from the rest of the plant while keeping enough corm and roots intact.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the closeups of the flowers and I'll post some pics of the praying hands soon. The fingers are stuck together and it looks like two hands together, praying.

chong · 03-20-2008, 02:11 AM

Very pretty! Reminds me of the clumps of them behind our house at Ft. McKinley in the Philippines. They were next to several Saba and Butuan clumps. They were pretty much the same height and girth as the Saba.

It was a chore to separate/peel the hands to make banana chips. We always ignored the fruit of the Sabang Dikit (Saba stuck-together, our name for M. Praying Hands) and never tell our Mom, until they are ripe. If she finds out, she'll have us cut it down while green and have us peel the hands carefully to minimize cutting into the pulp, to make banana chips. The chips keep longer without refrigeration, obviously. When they are ripe, they are easy to peel, but we have to cook them right away.

Funny, over here, banana chips are salted. We used to sprinkle ours with sugar after frying. Or, if I was ambitious, I'd even glaze them. But never salted them.

dablo93 · 03-20-2008, 03:24 AM

thanks for those pics!! really special banana, and sorry for your pup

sandy0225 · 03-20-2008, 07:45 AM

If you have a pond with a stream or waterfall, try putting the white end of that broken off pup in the waterfall or stream. Lots of them broken off that far down will root that way.

cactus6103 · 03-20-2008, 07:59 AM

Beautiful! Red

bencelest · 03-20-2008, 12:22 PM

Amazing!
I love the close up pictures.
Sorry to hear about the pup. They all look so healthy. I hope mine will look that way some day.
The soil appears to be well drained and sandy. Right?

MediaHound · 03-20-2008, 12:46 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone!
Yes this soil is rich, well drained, and a little bit sandy.
This banana plant gets a lot of water there from a sprinkler directly on it and it's also partially shaded by a Live Oak tree as well.

mskitty38583 · 03-20-2008, 02:01 PM

love the pics, hopefully you can get the pup to root. keeping my fingers crossed.

microfarmer · 03-20-2008, 03:14 PM

They look delicious! 3 years to a bloom, huh? looks like mine has 2 more to go...

STEELVIPER · 03-20-2008, 06:49 PM

Toast to your success.

bigdog · 03-21-2008, 10:20 AM

Been there...done that! Er, cut a pup too high up that is, not get a Praying Hands to flower. Thanks for the pics, Jarred.

Frank

NANAMAN · 03-22-2008, 10:26 AM

Beautiful pictures Jarred!!! I'm curious, why so long to fruit? Do you think its because of partial shade?

MediaHound · 03-23-2008, 01:45 PM

Perhaps if it had more light it would have bloomed sooner. I also could have removed pups as they appeared, I allowed the pups to grow unattended. This made for a voluminous plant, perhaps I could have focused the energy better by culling pups.
It was from tissue culture, so I also think because of this, it needed an additional season to gear up.
In all actuality, I probably would have had 3 blooms this year, the next up is almost the same size as the mother plant, and the third was very large as well, as you can see in the pics where I finally attempted it's removal. I think the second may bloom in a couple months, we shall see.

Greenie · 03-23-2008, 07:41 PM

congrats!

MediaHound · 08-17-2008, 04:53 PM

OK I harvested these and the thread with those pics is here:
My Praying Hands Harvest, 2008

Dean W. · 08-17-2008, 05:32 PM

Jarred, did the pup that snapped off survive?

MediaHound · 08-17-2008, 09:39 PM

Perhaps I could have soaked it in a bucket to root and planted it but I didn't bother, shortly after it snapped, three pups took its place. I left it out in the grass for a bit to watch it, some eyes seemed to form around the base but eventually it dried out as I didn't give it the first aid it could have used. I'm moving and so at the time, I knew I would be digging the main corm and chopping it up into smaller more manageable sizes sometime soon anyway.

03-20-2008, 12:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: South Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10b Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4,020 BananaBucks : 53,490 Feedback: 58 / 100% Thanks: 927 Thanked 1,098 Times in 382 Posts Welcomes: 243	Praying Hands blooming Finally, after waiting about three years, my praying hands (from TC) has bloomed! These pics were taken a few days ago, its since opened up many more hands and its a wonderful sight! I will post more pictures. I took it upon myself to attempt to separate a very large "pup" and the following pictures are basically how not to separate a banana plant ^ That's not snow, thats corm. It snapped off a bit too high. Sometimes these will make it, sometimes not. This one looks a bit too high but we shall see... I should have cut it sooner, it was my fault, really. Once they get too large, its very hard to break it away from the rest of the plant while keeping enough corm and roots intact. Anyway, hope you enjoy the closeups of the flowers and I'll post some pics of the praying hands soon. The fingers are stuck together and it looks like two hands together, praying.

03-20-2008, 02:11 AM	#2 (permalink)
chong Senior Member chong's Photo Gallery Location: Seattle, WA Find me on the map! Zone: 8-9 Name: Chong Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 916 BananaBucks : 6,507 Feedback: 3 / 100% Thanks: 163 Thanked 370 Times in 218 Posts Welcomes: 225	Re: Praying Hands blooming Very pretty! Reminds me of the clumps of them behind our house at Ft. McKinley in the Philippines. They were next to several Saba and Butuan clumps. They were pretty much the same height and girth as the Saba. It was a chore to separate/peel the hands to make banana chips. We always ignored the fruit of the Sabang Dikit (Saba stuck-together, our name for M. Praying Hands) and never tell our Mom, until they are ripe. If she finds out, she'll have us cut it down while green and have us peel the hands carefully to minimize cutting into the pulp, to make banana chips. The chips keep longer without refrigeration, obviously. When they are ripe, they are easy to peel, but we have to cook them right away. Funny, over here, banana chips are salted. We used to sprinkle ours with sugar after frying. Or, if I was ambitious, I'd even glaze them. But never salted them.

03-20-2008, 03:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
dablo93 dablo93 's Photo Gallery Location: Randstad North Find me on the map! Zone: Z8b-Z9a, wet cold winters and mild summers Name: daen Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 822 BananaBucks : 5,253 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 104 Thanked 176 Times in 120 Posts Welcomes: 133	Re: Praying Hands blooming thanks for those pics!! really special banana, and sorry for your pup __________________ -=

03-20-2008, 07:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 479 BananaBucks : 7,461 Feedback: 18 / 100% Thanks: 1 Thanked 115 Times in 63 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: Praying Hands blooming If you have a pond with a stream or waterfall, try putting the white end of that broken off pup in the waterfall or stream. Lots of them broken off that far down will root that way. __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!

03-20-2008, 07:59 AM	#5 (permalink)
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03-20-2008, 12:22 PM	#6 (permalink)
bencelest Banana Nut bencelest's Photo Gallery Location: California Zone 9 Zone: 9 Name: Benny Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,506 BananaBucks : 8,092 Feedback: 2 / 100% Thanks: 2 Thanked 159 Times in 138 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: Praying Hands blooming Amazing! I love the close up pictures. Sorry to hear about the pup. They all look so healthy. I hope mine will look that way some day. The soil appears to be well drained and sandy. Right? __________________ Banana Nut

03-20-2008, 12:46 PM	#7 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: South Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10b Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4,020 BananaBucks : 53,490 Feedback: 58 / 100% Thanks: 927 Thanked 1,098 Times in 382 Posts Welcomes: 243	Re: Praying Hands blooming Thanks for the comments everyone! Yes this soil is rich, well drained, and a little bit sandy. This banana plant gets a lot of water there from a sprinkler directly on it and it's also partially shaded by a Live Oak tree as well.

03-20-2008, 02:01 PM	#8 (permalink)
mskitty38583 banana junkie mskitty38583 's Photo Gallery Location: sparta, tn. Find me on the map! Zone: 6-7 Name: mskitty Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 3,598 BananaBucks : 16,506 Feedback: 24 / 100% Thanks: 23 Thanked 462 Times in 393 Posts Welcomes: 59	Re: Praying Hands blooming love the pics, hopefully you can get the pup to root. keeping my fingers crossed. __________________ WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION "kokomo" beach boys:

03-20-2008, 06:49 PM	#10 (permalink)
STEELVIPER Mechwarrior STEELVIPER's Photo Gallery Location: Riverside,CA Find me on the map! Zone: 9B Name: Mark Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 724 BananaBucks : 4,931 Feedback: 2 / 100% Thanks: 44 Thanked 56 Times in 44 Posts Welcomes: 169	Re: Praying Hands blooming Toast to your success. __________________

03-21-2008, 10:20 AM	#11 (permalink)
bigdog Title-less bigdog's Photo Gallery Location: Knoxville, TN Find me on the map! Zone: 7a Name: Frank Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,445 BananaBucks : 13,517 Feedback: 5 / 100% Thanks: 74 Thanked 353 Times in 144 Posts Welcomes: 80	Re: Praying Hands blooming Been there...done that! Er, cut a pup too high up that is, not get a Praying Hands to flower. Thanks for the pics, Jarred. Frank

03-22-2008, 10:26 AM	#12 (permalink)
NANAMAN Pseudostem Therapist NANAMAN's Photo Gallery Location: Lake Park Fl. Find me on the map! Zone: 10 Name: Brian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 770 BananaBucks : 5,218 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 4 Thanked 86 Times in 49 Posts Welcomes: 3	Re: Praying Hands blooming Beautiful pictures Jarred!!! I'm curious, why so long to fruit? Do you think its because of partial shade? __________________

03-23-2008, 01:45 PM	#13 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: South Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10b Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4,020 BananaBucks : 53,490 Feedback: 58 / 100% Thanks: 927 Thanked 1,098 Times in 382 Posts Welcomes: 243	Re: Praying Hands blooming Perhaps if it had more light it would have bloomed sooner. I also could have removed pups as they appeared, I allowed the pups to grow unattended. This made for a voluminous plant, perhaps I could have focused the energy better by culling pups. It was from tissue culture, so I also think because of this, it needed an additional season to gear up. In all actuality, I probably would have had 3 blooms this year, the next up is almost the same size as the mother plant, and the third was very large as well, as you can see in the pics where I finally attempted it's removal. I think the second may bloom in a couple months, we shall see.

03-23-2008, 07:41 PM	#14 (permalink)
Greenie Senior Member Greenie's Photo Gallery Location: Miami,FL. Find me on the map! Zone: 10 Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 641 BananaBucks : 5,444 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 0 Thanked 154 Times in 61 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: Praying Hands blooming congrats!

08-17-2008, 04:53 PM	#15 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: South Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10b Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4,020 BananaBucks : 53,490 Feedback: 58 / 100% Thanks: 927 Thanked 1,098 Times in 382 Posts Welcomes: 243	Re: Praying Hands blooming OK I harvested these and the thread with those pics is here: My Praying Hands Harvest, 2008

08-17-2008, 05:32 PM	#16 (permalink)
Dean W. Dean W.'s Photo Gallery Location: Cedar Park, TX Zone: 8b Name: Dean Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,199 BananaBucks : 8,002 Feedback: 6 / 100% Thanks: 645 Thanked 222 Times in 209 Posts Welcomes: 199	Re: Praying Hands blooming Jarred, did the pup that snapped off survive? __________________ Dean

08-17-2008, 09:39 PM	#17 (permalink)
MediaHound Tally-man MediaHound's Photo Gallery Location: South Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 10b Name: Jarred Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4,020 BananaBucks : 53,490 Feedback: 58 / 100% Thanks: 927 Thanked 1,098 Times in 382 Posts Welcomes: 243	Re: Praying Hands blooming Perhaps I could have soaked it in a bucket to root and planted it but I didn't bother, shortly after it snapped, three pups took its place. I left it out in the grass for a bit to watch it, some eyes seemed to form around the base but eventually it dried out as I didn't give it the first aid it could have used. I'm moving and so at the time, I knew I would be digging the main corm and chopping it up into smaller more manageable sizes sometime soon anyway.

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