Akula

I located my plants along the perimeter of my yard just off the fence. My plants almost always lean away fromt the fence and towards the sun but this year probably due to the wind from tropical storms a couple of my plants are leaning towards the fence and these plants have produced flowers. Obviously I do not want my hard earned reward to go over the fence and into the waiting hands of my neighbor! What to do????!!!

A solution I found that has worked flawlessly (so far) is to tie a string to the end of the flower as it starts to emerge from the plant while its still in the straight up position. I get up on my ladder attach the string to the end of the flower and then run the string in the direction I want the flower to bend. I attach the opposite end of the string to a small hand trowel and sink it into the ground thereby putting pressure on the flower. As the flower emergers the string goes slack so I tighten it up by wrapping it around the trowel and/or just staking the trowel into the soil a couple inches further away in order to maintain tension and pull the flower in the desired direction. It usually only takes about three days to achieve the objective. As soon as its clear that the flower if falling in the correct direction I remove the string so the flower can open.

Backyard Banana Joe

Thank you for the info! I wish I knew this for the past four bunches that have gone over the fence. The neighbor cut the largest of them

I saw this info in one of PR Giant's posts a little while back. However he added a weight in the middle of the line so there isn't any need to adjust it by taking in the slack. This could be a small stone or any weight capable of pulling the flower down (but not too heavy obviously)

smeash

Wait... your neighbor cut one of your bunches off? Are you serious? Thats terrible.. I would be highly pissed!
Good idea with the flow Donald.. I had one or 2 bunches that could have benefitted from doing that this year. I sould have another round of flowers pushing out this month hopefully so will be a good tool to have!

Akula

It worked. The Dwarf Orinoco flower tucked down just inside the fence instead of going over it! Hope it doesn't rub up agains the fence too much.

Backyard Banana Joe

Just tested with a small Tall Namwa flower and a Saba and it worked perfectly. Both flowers were stopped from going over the fence (why in the heck do bananas love fruiting over fences into neighbors yards anyway?!)

The weight in the middle of the line kept tension in the line so the flower was pulled all the way down without having to pull in the slack.

Akula

Glad to see it worked for you. It does work like a charm.

I've used it to manipulate the flower into the opposite direction the plant is leaning once too. I think PR Giants uses the weight so he doesn't have to hike back up and over the mountain to adjust it. I would be afraid a weight might put too much tension but if works, it works.

Backyard Banana Joe

Probably

Yes, i agree. The weight can't be too heavy or it might snap off the flower!