First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

15 months ago I planted 2 ice cream banana trees in my backyard in the Houston, Texas area. Over the past week or so, an inflorescence flower popped out on each. My whole family is very excited about this. This being the first time for everything banana-related for me, I've got some questions for you more experienced growers:

1. re: diagram for PVC support (one tree is starting to lean), where can I find such a diagram?
2. approximately when should I expect the naners to be ready to cut and hang? Being a newbie, I have no clue, and my kids are peppering me with questions.

Thanks for all your help!

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

First of all, Congratulations!

Diagram for PVC support - not sure where to find this, but I've always just used a padded 2x4 propped against the pseudostem under the bunch to keep the tree upright.

Cut and hang - here in Ecuador, about a month after finger formation. Your tree will let you know; the nanners will stop getting bigger and fatter. At that point you can cut the bunch and hang it. But be warned - a bunch of bananas is heavier than it looks!

Once the fingers have all set, you can actually cut and eat the remaining flower - I think the recipes section has a how-to on banana flower preparation.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Hey Fred, do you have a brother named Paul Biddle?

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Congrats!!!! That is Awesome!! So where are the pic's...LOL
Kylie

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Welcome to the Org. and congrats on fatherhood. Yea if you could load some pics I'd love to see them. Again welcome :bebe::bebe:

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

welcome to the org! congrats on your flowers and fruit!:pics:

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Hey, Fred! Glad to see some more people from the Houston area joining the forum. You're the second new one in about a week and a half now (BigTex is the other). What area are you in? I'm in the Pearland/Friendswood area. We'll have to get together sometime.

From my experiences growing bananas here, you can expect a wait of around 4 months before harvest. That's how it's been for me with my 'Orinoco' anyhow. 'Ice Cream' may be a bit different.

For the PVC support diagram, I think that Jarred (MediaHound) posted that sometime back. Do a thread search with "PVC support" as the keywords and see what you come up with.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Ok, ok...I get the hint....I uploaded some photos to my profile, so take a look at my babies!!

Lorax, when you say the 2x4 is "padded", it is padded with what?

Momese: nope.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

bananaman88: I tried the search function first, but got nothing. Thanks for the welcome. I had just been scrolling through your photos earlier today when I decided to do my first post.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

If you don't mind my asking, what is TTP?

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Back in the mid 1980s, Fred Akers was the head coach of The University of By God Texas Longhorns. Though we had some decent defenses, our offenses stunk because Akers had no imagination. His playcalling was predictable and relied on only about a handful of plays. Opposing defenses usually knew exactly what was coming. "Turn the page, Fred" was what we students would scream from the stands in a futile effort to get him to call something, anything, different.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Cool story, that must have been really frustrating! Thanks for the info. The reason I asked is that there used to be a collectable buying and selling website called TTP or The Toy Peddler and it was run by Paul who had a brother named Fred who was also into buying and selling old collectable toys.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Hook'em Horns!!!!
Can you see my hand a wavin???
ROFL!!! Priceless!!!!!
Kylie

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

I use burlap folded up and then tied on with twine. I've also used cut banana leaves, wodged up grasses, and an old hoodie. :raftingnaner:

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Fred, I just sent you a PM.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

No "plans" for it but its just a PVC tee, two elbows, and some various lengths of piping.
3/4" works but bends over time, so use a thick schedule if you can.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Also, I since painted it with green spray paint.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Another word of advice on propping or staking: Don't be content with just staking alone if you have a large bunch of fruit. I made this mistake last year. I had staked one of my bananas just to keep the pseudostem from leaning over too much and breaking. Unfortunately, we had some high winds and the pseudostem broke at the level I had it tied off to the fence post. In retrospect, I should have propped the fruit stalk as well. I think the extra prop really would have made the difference.

Re: First time father of two flowering banana trees--Qs
 

Thanks, guys this is some great advice us learners need to know....Very helpful.