DigitalGuy

I have two bananas in bloom right now - both with similar problems.

The first is a Misi Luki, and it bloomed in June. When the first petals opened, some beautiful bananas started developing, same with the next couple of petals. Then, as new petals open, all the little bananas just fall off.

The second is a Manzano which bloomed in July. It has not set a single banana. Each petal that opens exposes a very sparse group of dried bananas that immediately fall off.

My question is what may be causing this. I don't think I've changed anything from the time I started getting good looking bananas forming on the Misi Luki until now, but something is preventing these plants from developing fruit. Could it be water, a nutrient, weather, something else? Any help is really appreciated.

BTW, I am in Orange County (Fountain Valley / Santa Ana border). Our weather has been hot, but that just means 80s and 90s.

sunfish

I had this happen for the first time. Dwarf Cavendish.No bananas formed,In my case I am pretty sure it was lack of water.I stopped watering them since I am getting rid of this variety.

Gabe15

It sounds like you are describing two different things. The first, the 'Misi Luki', sounds normal. Female flowers come first and form the fruit, then males which fall off.

Your 'Manzano' sounds odd though.

If you can post photos of both plants, we can get a better idea of what's going on.

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sunfish

Here's my D.C. that never got fruit.

RobG7aChattTN

I took out my bad advice that only related to species bananas and not edible cultivars.

Gabe15

I don't mean to be rude, but that information is totally wrong. Edible banana cultivars DO NOT need any pollination of any kind to set fruit. There is some other issue with him not getting fruit, not related at all to pollination. Bananas are parthenocarpic, meaning they will set fruit regardless of pollination.

Wild bananas need pollination for the fruit to develop, and in those they are full of seeds.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Gabe15

In this thread, there is some more information about how edible bananas work: edible vs. non-edible

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DigitalGuy

Okay - here are photos of my two plants.

Thanks for everyone's input so far!

Gabe15

Your 'Misi Luki' is fine, it is acting normal. The bunch is a little on the small side, but that is because of a lack of nutrition and/or water.

Your 'Manzano' on the other hand, is not acting normally. I have seen this happen before, and it is usually not an issue of lack of nutrition or water directly. It could be a bad off-type mutant, or is something that is expressed under certain environmental conditions. If you can spare the space, keep it going and see how the next bunch comes out. If you don't want to deal with it, you should get a new plant and try again.

Also, your 'Manzano' actually looks more like 'Brazilian', but its a little hard to tell for sure since there is no fruit.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DigitalGuy

Thanks Gabe - I'll not worry about the Misi Luki. The Manzano could be a Brazilian - I bought two varieties about three or four years ago, both died in a cold winter, but one put out a pup as it was dying. My memory tells me it was a Manzano - but perhaps I am wrong. I'll post pictures of the fruit if I get some from one of the other plants. If I don't, I'll replace that group of plants with something new - thanks again for the help!

Nicolas Naranja

I have seen it more this year than in the past. If I were making a guess, there was some severe stress a couple of months ago. I've seen four or five trees throw a blank bunch this year. All were thrown in late may/early june. I saw it on Hua Moa, Misi Luki, Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Orinoco, and Manzano. Six months before fruiting we had a severe freeze that totally burned all the leaves off the plants. Bunch size is often determined by the prevailing conditions several months before you ever see a flower. If you ever have a chance slice a 6' tall tree lengthwise and you will get to see the primordial bud.

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RobG7aChattTN

I only grow species bananas so I don't have any reference to edible types. I didn't realize that they did not need to be pollinated even though I knew they didn't produce seed. Sorry for any bad information. My bad.

pitangadiego

They are both definitely underfed (fertilizer) and maybe underwatered. The Misi Luki should have 10-12 hands of nanners, easily. Both are showing signs of struggling in the nutrition department, hence their poor output. Limited inputs leads to limited outputs (bananas).

Restricted root zone (space) or limited watering close to the stalk can reduce root growth and reduce uptake of water and nutrients.

The good news is that future stalks can receive better care and will grow bigger and healthier and will perform better. That is the nice thing about bananas. You can live for another day.

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DigitalGuy

Thanks pitangadiago. One of the things you said is that restricted root zone can be the cause of the bananas getting a lack of water / nutrients. How do I know if my bananas are too crowded? Should I always separate pups from the parent plant? How far apart should the plants be? Right now I have about eight or nine plants of each variety in pretty tight clumps - I've just let them grow where the pups have shown up.

RAINFOREZT

That is probably the reason for you end up with no fruits.
In my opinion you should crush those small pups, or transplant them. They could give more stress to the mother plant. Leave only one or two pups with the mother plant, especially until it fruits. Then you will have better chance to get bigger fruit bunch.
And give them lots of cow manure or chicken manure, fish emulsion and water.

pitangadiego

How many pups you keep depends on the variety. Some experience will tell give you a clue about yours. I would shoot for 4-6.

Re: rootzone - if you have it planted between a house a driveway with maybe 3' of soil, crowding might be an issue. I try to have a 8-10' diameter circle of rootzone if possible. When I first plant it is probably 3' diameter, but as it grows, and then pups and there are more stalks in the mat, it starts expanding.

On fertilizer, think something along the lines of 1# of 16-16-16 every couple of weeks during the growing season (April to October here in San Diego).

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pitangadiego

These 3 are spaced about 6-7' apart, in a triangle, but have more space around the exterior of the triangle

I use that arrangement to same some space. Would rather have them closer to 10' apart, but don't have the room.

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digdeep

How tall is your Misi Luki?

pitangadiego

Top of pseudostem, 13-14'. They are tall. Beautiful sleek, light green color.

You are welcome to come and see.

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