thar she blows!
 

A football size bud has been emerging from my dwarf Orinoco the last few weeks. Today I woke up to find it was completely pushed out and opening.

:woohoonaner:

Re: thar she blows!
 

Well it didn't waste any time opening! Looks like it almost choked.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Congrats! How tall is the pseudostem? It looks like about 6 feet.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Happy day!:)

Re: thar she blows!
 

Although it looks tall compared to the fence, it is in a raised bed. The p-stem height is 1.3 meter (4 ft 4 in).

Re: thar she blows!
 

Woot woot! Awesome! Congrats on the bloom!

Re: thar she blows!
 

that is too cool, congrats :^)

Re: thar she blows!
 

Congrats! Do you have to worry about getting it thru the winter now?

Re: thar she blows!
 

It will require care. Here is what last winter looked like, this one is predicted to have about double the precipitation spread out over a period of months:

Re: thar she blows!
 

:eek: That is awesome! I thought mine was a dwarf Orinoco but its about 7 - 8' right now. Maybe I didn't get what I wanted.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Mine is likely shorter from living in a container most of its life.

Re: thar she blows!
 

What kind of care will it need? Are you referring to rainfall?

Re: thar she blows!
 

It will require love! Yeah? :D Congrats Richard, looks stunning :D

Re: thar she blows!
 

Yes, and insuring that I don't over water it with respect to rainfall and watching the weather forecast for any unusual freeze like we had in 2007.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Isn't dwarf Orinoco hardy to zone 7? Or are you concerned about the fruit, that it can't handle freezing?

Re: thar she blows!
 

Congrats! The dwarf bananas are one of my favs because they are closer to reaching level which means easier picking, and the banana fruit are small and really convienent. But as with any fruiting banana, the sight is beautiful.

Winter may be comming, but it looks like you have something to enjoy. :)

Re: thar she blows!
 

Frozen unripe bananas are not on the menu here. :D

Re: thar she blows!
 

Several of the shorter cultivars (under 8 foot p-stem) produce fruit as large or larger than chiquita :)

Re: thar she blows!
 

I'll guess 36 fingers ;)

Re: thar she blows!
 

Congrats for that great flowering...In case of cold times have you imagined to overwinter the bud?I tried it here one year with a basjoo flowers(by wrapping the bud and using a Xmas lighting) and it has worked...

Re: thar she blows!
 

Each hand has 10 fingers, so far there are 5 hands showing.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Oh, I meant 72. That's impressive for a bud that developed as a potted plant!

Re: thar she blows!
 

AWESOME AND Beautiful Richard!! :) ~Cheryl

Re: thar she blows!
 

Great looking Richard!
Still isnt too late for contest??:ha::ha:
:woohoonaner:

Re: thar she blows!
 

It was in a 15 gallon for a year, then a 25 gallon tub, then (finally!) into the bed for the last few months.

You're expecting 8 hands, one with only 2 fingers? :confused:

Re: thar she blows!
 

Some hands may have more or less than others and often the last hand will be a mixture of female and male flowers. It's a guess and only worth the price of admission! ;)

Re: thar she blows!
 

The Misi Luki from my last contest had 2 fingers on the last hand.

Re: thar she blows!
 

congrats
:bananas_b

Re: thar she blows!
 

Yeah, um....you don't wanna see that little graph from Iowa. There would have to be another one for snowfall (and a foot of snow equals an inch of rain.....so 1.5" of rain....yeah, um.....suckage). And honestly, we don't even get as much snow as MN and WI. I really give ultimate props to everyone in zone 5 or less that grows bananas for this reason!

Re: thar she blows!
 

7 hands and counting!

Re: thar she blows!
 

Still 10 fingers on each hand? If so, just 2 more fingers before I win the phantom contest! :D

Re: thar she blows!
 

Congrats!!!!

Re: thar she blows!
 

congratulations on your dwarf o fruiting. all my dwarf orinoco have under 5 feet of p stem too. it has never been in a container since i bought it.its still holding the bunch fine. i just posted an updated pic today.:bananas_b

Re: thar she blows!
 

It appears the male flowers are starting. I'm inclined to cut the rachis off below the first set of males so that the plant can put more resources into the fruit.

Re: thar she blows!
 

all ways nice to see one break through.

Re: thar she blows!
 

Looking good Richard.

Gabe once posted something about a study that showed no difference in fruit formation if the bud was cut off or not. But cutting it off does make it easier to bag the fruit and I've seen some things to support doing that (can protect from insects but also act as a mini-greenhouse). I did once read that it should be cut several inches below the last fruits as the cut can become infected. I never saw any infections on mine, but it did shrivel up an inch or so.

How many fingers did you end up with?

Re: thar she blows!
 

I believe the study was conducted in essentially summer weather?

Re: thar she blows!
 

I believe so. If no significant difference is noted in warm weather, I see no reason to expect a difference in cooler weather. If a modest difference was noted in warm weather, I might expect a bigger difference in marginal conditions. I've seen no report of a difference in cooler weather. In 2009 I had 3 bunches and left the bud on my 1 Dwarf Brazilian but it didn't ripen very well at all, but the other 2 were different varieties so it really isn't comparable. It may help to cut off the bud but it might not. It would be great to have someone with enough plants with fruit to do a comparison.

Have you counted the fingers yet?

Re: thar she blows!
 

I cut the bud off below the 3rd full set of male flowers. There are currently 58 fruits on the plant.

:woohoonaner: