AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

This weather sucks!!! I know, it could be worse. My AeAe is fruiting after three years and we are expected to have 33 degrees Friday night. I always thought "wow how do they do it back east with that damn cold"! Well I covered the fruit tonight.

This plant is huge! The top of the flower stalk is 10 1/2 feet tall. I thought I was going crasy in the dark on the ladder protecting my babies. The overall height is over 18 feet. I hope this cold leaves and my AeAe produces bananas. I now have way more respect for those of you who cover them up.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

I hope the fruit makes it. I really think very few people in the USA were spared from cold this winter.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

I hope you made out all right. Here, we could never (?) hope for fruit on Ae Ae.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Where is al gore?? I'm tired of this cold. Hope they come through... You could always do some propane heating... But with the wind it may not help. Maybe a pipe heater if you can find it :)

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

If you cut off the fruit now the plant will use its energy to make better pups. Many people lose there Ae Ae after that first crop. I only let strong plants produce fruit. I had 6 Ae Aes have flowers this fall. I cut down the flowers of 2 of them because they were not strong.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Dang , I hope you make it.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

May you not loose the plant, I wish you warmer than predicted weather!!:jalapenonaner:

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Well Andrew, what's the verdict? It was in the 30's here in Ventura last night, but everything here looks fine so far.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Thanks for all the warm wishes! It was in the mid 30's at the airport and closer to 40 here. In addition to the AeAe I have 9 banana plants with fruit on them and a Hawaiian Guava tree covered with fruit as well. Everyone made it o.k.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

How long have you had your guava plant? You got a pic?

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Glad to hear your house didn't get hit by Jack Frost Andrew... Things stayed mild here in Ventura too.

By the way, is this one of the plants you got from Green Thumb or from Hawaii? My 3 from GT look like they could fruit any day...

Andy

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

The fruiting AeAe is from Hilo Hawaii. I have two other very large ones I got from southern California and then a small mat (three plants two are 7 footers) from Green Thumb. Send me pictures of your plants once they fruit. I will have to bring some of my AeAe pups to Hawaii when I move.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

I was in Kauai in 1998 at the Guava Kai Plantation and got a guava. I took the seeds back home and planted them. I had two nice plants that were potted until 2004 and then I planted them in the ground. Unfortunately, the Guave Plantation is no longer there. I may have lost one this winter and am trying to nurse it back (all the fruit fell off). I have one left and it is 7 plus feet tall. Last winter we got a few hundred large lemon sized fruits. My wife made jam and puree. This year the one plant has a fair amount of fruit on it. I do have one gallon plants in my greenhouse that are two years old that I planted from the seeds of the mother plants I have. When it gets warmer I will put one in the ground. The Thai Papaya didn't like the cold!

Backyard photo

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

I spoke too soon. As the day progressed, several of the plants in my front yard had some brown frost burns on the leaves. Same deal at my neighbor's house two doors down. But everything in the back yard was fine. No major damage, just some ugly leaves. It was 38 degrees when I got home at 11:30 pm last night, and I'm sure it got colder after that. What happened to that warm weather we had a couple weeks ago?

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Aloha, Andrew, how about an update on how this bunch did?

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Yeah ------ what Harvey said. What's happening?

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

Well, where do I start? It got cold for most us last winter. I lost a ten year old fruiting Hawaiian guava tree, a Thai papaya and several bromeliads. The one mat of three large AeAe's started to look unhappy. The three largest being 12 plus footers I thought for sure were goners. Two of them have come back and have thrown huge variegated leaves. The fruiting AeAe produced fruit but they never fully developed :-(. This mat gets partial sun and really hasn't done as well in its current location. I have another mat of AeAe's in my front yard that gets full sun. These have grown faster and I hope to have better results with fruit.

This is another reason to move to Hawaii! Harvey, I did see two AeAe's for sale in Kona two weeks ago at a nursery I go to a lot. Maybe I don't have to bring any with me next year.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

I'm sure you'll have better luck in Hawaii, Andrew. I heard Ae Ae sold in Kona for about $50 and someone in Pahoa said they sold on that side for $10 which is hard to believe.

Re: AeAe fruiting and 33 degrees coming
 

The Kona plants were five gallon pots and five foot plants for $100. In Hilo at the botanical gardens I saw a larger one for $150. If I find them for $10 I will start sending them over!