Re: Southeast Veinte Cohol Flowering
I agree with Richard! I keep mine in ground over winter and get fruit every year! It may work there! Its worth a try!! If not then planting out 3-4' pups in spring should work there no problem!!
I agree I did misuse the apical dominance term. I'm just an observer! Not an expert and I'm self taught. Richard knows far more about plants than me!! Thank you for the correction!! Richard is an expert to me and I listen when he speaks.
Since it is a monocot look at the pup as a "branch" off the mom and sometimes there is a shift of energy from one branch (mom) to another branch (pup) at flowering. I have seen this several times in my growing experience! When the flower emerges a large pup will go from slow growth to high gear fast growth! The bud keeps pushing out! It just does it slower! There is only so much energy to divide up! That's what I'm saying, just put into the wrong words!
Plus it's proven pups slow down a banana plant! I credit my success in zone 8b in part by removing all pups as soon as they are large enough! It allows me to grow the main plant faster! In 6-7 months I have grown the following plants from pups emerging from bare dirt to a flower or filling bunch!! I count this being "fast"!! Faster growth = sooner flower!!
FHIA-01 goldfinger
FHIA-03 sweetheart
Gran Nain
4xRaja Puri
14xVeinte Cohol
3xPatupi
1xTigua
8xDwarf Orinoco
1xTall Orinoco
These are NOT short cycle bananas! However I fruit them in a single season!!
Surprisingly I have 5 Musa Floridas I was expecting to bloom that never did! So far NO variegated bananas are short cycle or fast cycle for me!!
Those of you who has seen pictures of my bunch sizes prior to pruning can verify this!! And by pruning the bunch hevilly I will get fruit to eat from most of those bunches!
I will also make a few end of year posts to show growth and results! I have discovered methods that work!! I will break down what I do when I make the end of year posts! It's easy!! Here is a basic summary.
1. Only allow 1 plant per "mat"
2. At 3-4' depending on variety start to fertilize heavily - I call this "pushing" the plant. You will see twisted leaves and light green growth. These are side effects of the plant growing to fast/too much nitrogen. It can also offset the uptake of other nutrients!! It's a trade off for fast growth! You will not have pretty leaves, but you will have a flower!
3. Continue pushing the plant with nitrogen and potash all the way until a flag leaf.
4. Only apply Potash after the flag.
5. Prune hands off depending how much time is left in till winter and depending on what variety your pruning
Pruning works! Plantations prune bunches and fingers!! If you were at the grocery store and you come across some HUGE cavendish bananas. These were made larger by pruning. So by selectively pruning a bunch you can make the remaining fingers/hands fill faster and fill larger!! I do this every year!
This works for me in my area! It may not work for you!! It's worth a try!!! Before this, it would take my Orinocos a full 2 years to make fruit! I'm happy to help! PM or email me and I will show pictures or answer questions.
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150+ Varieties!!. See profile for list. Help me add more!
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