GreenFin

Harvested my first bunch of Dwarf Orinoco a few days ago, last pic is from yesterday. Today they were ripe...and good! Richard has said they have a hint of strawberry to them, and I agree.

Bunch weight: 0.00325 tons

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robguz24

My first Rose bunch. Next tallest P-stem is almost 3' taller than this one was and hasn't flowered yet. 9 hands, but very small fruit, didn't bother weighing it, under 10 lbs for sure. Maybe they didn't fill in properly. 4.5 months flower to harvest. Couldn't resist trying one that was close to ripe right off the bunch. Decent tasting, firm, a bit vegetal, some similarity to a sucrier without the overly sweet taste. Will do a taste report this week.

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Nicolas Naranja

So I had some bumper stickers made…


And harvested Veinte cohol and Baloy

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robguz24

Another Namwah. This was the first fruit from an Aloha Tropicals "Goldfinger". 2 years to flower. 5 months, 1 week to ripe fruit. Densely planted in partial shade explains the delay in fruiting. 9 hands.

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bananimal

Glad to see that Baloy produced bigger fingers. Let us know how they taste.

Nicolas Naranja

Taste like a homegrown Cavendish, the Veinte Cohol on the other hand...a whole lot of tangy flavor.

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bananimal

That's great. I'd like to come over and get some fruit and a pup.

My VC first bunch were quite tangy. Wife spit them out. Me and the dogs loved them. We eat anything! WOOF!

BTW --- Ericksons are in full swing right? Website said they have Pickering this year. Terrific!

Nicolas Naranja

Yep, I have been eating mangos daily for about 2 weeks now. They are having their sample Sunday on July 20th. I've had Tommy Atkins, Van Dyke, Dupuis, and Duncan so far.

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robguz24

First harvest of Mai'a 'Upehupehu, which might possibly be Iholena Lele. Difficult to tell because this was a bizarre bunch which started developing inside the trunk and had to be c-sectioned out (no it is not a Hapai). So the bunch was especially puny. The fruit are more squat like 'Upehupehu should be, but I won't know for sure until the next proper bunch. 13 months to flower, 2 months for ripe fruit. Iholenas are known for being one of the fastest flower to harvest.

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crazy banana

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Harvested the "real deal" Blue Java - Ice Cream today:

137 (edible) fingers

The ones we ate so far were delicious beyond expectations of anything we had harvested before from this particular mat. Banana heaven for a while...

ladyflyfsh

Is it wise to just harvest the entire bunch when only a few are ripe? I am trying to decide what to do. I just noticed this morning a few getting ripe on my Dwarf Namwah bunch and I'm wondering if I should just harvest the hands individually or cut the bunch off the P-stem. What are your opinions please? I live in Sarasota, FL and it is in the low 90's every day this time of year.

servatusprime

Those do look a little skinny. I would harvest the hands or even fingers individually if you can manage it.

ladyflyfsh

I think it's the shadows on them. They are nice and plump.

servatusprime

Thanks for the clarification. Well if they are plump then you are free to harvest! Depending on how many you can eat you might still think about harvesting by the hand. Too often I've stuffed myself trying to eat 8 bananas a day to eat them all while ripe. If you are harvesting a whole bunch, don't go it alone!! (unless you are secretively the Incredible Hulk)

crazy banana

My experience with Namwah is that the skins of the fruits start to split if harvested too late. If I see some color change to yellow, I harvest the entire bunch and let it continue to ripen in the garage.

Richard

Ditto.

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ladyflyfsh

OK...done! Thanks everyone!

JCA433

For my climate, Namwa should be harvested about 4 months after the first hand appears. If you wait much longer than 4 months the skin will split.


After the bunch ripens I eat about 15 to 20 bananas a day.

venturabananas

Like the others who have responded have said, the longer you wait, the more likely they will split. Namwah is the worst variety I have in that regard. In fact, more often than not, if there are ones as yellow as you show on your bunch, in my yard that would mean they had already split.

That said, if I can avoid it, I harvest bananas directly from the bunch, rather than harvesting the entire bunch at once. At least in my mild climate, they ripen over a much longer period when left on the plant. In some cases, I've harvested bananas from a single bunch over nearly 2 months, instead of having to consume or give away 50 pounds of bananas in one week if I harvest the entire bunch.

Harvesting fingers or hands off the bunch is only practical if you can reach the bunch, so it doesn't work for me with tall varieties. And then with Namwah varieties you have to get them before they split, and I often wait a day too long, and then I have a bunch of split bananas.

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Nicolas Naranja

FHIA-17 55 lbs. Top hand fingers were 9.5" long. Bottom hand fingers were 7.5" long. Only 7 hands.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.