sputinc7

They take months to ripen. Some only a couple or three months, others take 6 months or more... Like he said, be patient. Once one turns yellow, harvest the bunch and make a note of how long from flower to ripe for the next time.

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Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

robguz24

First rack of Highgate. Nice large bunch with 12 hands but the fruit themselves are kind of small. The last 2 months of drought hasn't helped. Surprisingly these just aren't as good as the few other Gros Michel variants I've grown or tried.

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robguz24

Agristarts Goldfinger busting out.

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robguz24

Excited to have this one coming soon, Muraru Mulalu. Gabe spoke highly of it a while ago and I love the Muraru Mshale and Huti. They all look pretty spectacular at this stage of flowering.

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HMelendez

Congrats Rob!....



Please, keep us update of harvesting time and taste report!.....

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Caline

I'm posting this April update of my first bananas fruit.
I can tell they seem to be rounding out a bit, but still not sure.

Does it look like I should harvest soon?

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venturabananas

I think they would ripen fine at this point, from the look of them, but personally, I'd let them fill out a bit more.

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sputinc7

I try to wait until I see a little ripening on the vine, so to speak. That way you are sure they are as ripe as they can be. What kind is that?

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

PR-Giants

The 10 & 11 foot Veinte Cohol produced bunches similar in size to the 8 foot plants, just takes longer. Every banana cultivar that we've evaluated so far has had better field production when grown in properly sized pots. It obviously effects the height of the plant but more importantly it effects the length of the vegetative phase which dramatically increases production. Our Verdin that produce at over 20' in ground are producing quality bunches at 8'.

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Caline

It is a dwarf Lady Finger. Thanks for the tip . I'll wait until they get some yellow.

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venturabananas

With that "clean rachis" it doesn't look like a dwarf variety.

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PR-Giants

Colder than normal winter

This variegated took about 6 months to bloom and made a lot of pretty pups.

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PR-Giants

Lady Finger is a name that refers to many different bananas, subgroups, and genotypes.

Yours looks like an ABB Awak. News, knowledge and information on bananas

Here's a link to an AA Florida Lady Finger banana News, knowledge and information on bananas

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Hammocked Banana

So Keith, what is the key to getting them to fruit shorter? Will they just flower at a shorter hight when conditions are better? Bigger pot? More nutrients?

PR-Giants

This looks pretty spectacular at this stage of flowering.

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PR-Giants

There are a lot of ways to get a plant to flower at a shorter height, I've read how some club members here force a stress flower. But my experience with a plant flowering under stress is that the stress also effects the bunch and can produce a bunch with no fruit, similar to a banana flowering in a heavily shaded area.

Like I said in this post and have been saying for the past five years, growing a banana in a properly sized pot has it's advantages. The shape of the pot can also improve it's efficiency which will allow for a reduced size, but it's really about understanding roots or your root zone. A plant with unlimited spaced for it's roots can grow massive but it doesn't necessarily need to be massive to produce an acceptable bunch. By limiting your root zone to a proper size you then have control over the size of the plant, the duration of the vegetative phase, and also the bunch size.

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SonnyCrockett

Raja Puri still going. Now let's see if we actually get any fruit.

Lau

That bud looks a little small to be a true Raja Puri.

SonnyCrockett

Uh oh... what does it look like then?

Is it just small because there are on two leaves on it? It lost all of the leaves this winter and only just started growing again when it flowered.

meizzwang

Sonnycrockett: after the female flowers bloom out, check the male flowers (don't cut off the male bud): if they're persistent (don't fall off the rachis), there's a good chance it's rajapuri.

Also, keep us posted on how the bunch develops, if at all. I'm interested to see if you can get fruit to fully mature if all the leaves have died off the fruiting P-stem.

Apparently, the side pups will "feed" the developing bunch (be sure to keep developing side pups happy), but it seems most of the reports I've read about are from bunches that are already somewhat developed (ie. they flowered months before, leaves all got fried during the winter, next spring comes around, and the bunches mature). Anyone have experience with flowering a P-stem with no leaves and then getting all the fruit to reach maturity?