freediver

Hi all, I am looking for some general advice on this. Not sure if bags are the answer.

Do the bags speed up the ripening process, and does it come at the expense of taste? I live in southern QLD, Australia. So subtropical. The fruit seems to ripen year round, just more slowly in winter.

I have some dwarf cavendish that always have problems. I am thinking of getting rid of them. The trees need propping up or they cannot support the bunch. The fruit splits down the side well before they ripen. This might be something to do with all the rain we have had recently. The pests get into them - mostly rats and fruit bats I think. Probably because it splits.

I have just picked my third bunch. The first one went spotty and did not ripen. The second one got attacked by pests. I picked it when about half of them had been destroyed. They were not ripe yet. I ate a small number of them and threw the rest out. They didn't taste real good. I just picked the third bunch. Lost maybe one quarter to pests. Some were turning yellow so fingers crossed they are at least ripe, but a lot were still green and splitting.

Is this just a bad variety? Will those bags to cover the fruit help me? There are two other varieties growing nearby that do well, but they are in flatter, wetter ground. The bunches on the dwarf cavendish are big and there has been plenty of rain, and the fruit is splitting, so I I doubt water is the issue.

I have been killing the rats slowly, but they just keep coming. It is illegal to harm or interfere with fruit bats here, so you just have to put up with them.