My fingers never plump =(
 

OK,

Zone 8a here. I dutifully wrap a couple of my Braz with circulating water-filled pvc, and bubble wrap. I have gotten several flowers in the June-July timeframe, which should get me enough time. However, when the flower develops and I get little 4" fingers, they just stay that way for months! What am I doing wrong? More/less water? More/less fertilizer? Somebody throw me a bone here. . .

Cheers,

Ed.

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

0-0-50.... (npk) :^)

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

What's your fertilizer, amount and frequency? Post a pic too. Average time to fill in fingers to harvest is 4 months, more or less.

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

Many varieties can take up to 6 months to mature fully. Are they at least plumping up a little bit?

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

Watering schedule: about 1" per week. . .the soil is somewhat damp under the mulch

Fertilizer schedule: 1 lb 15-15-15 per month

Pix: see below, the ladder is about 8' at the apex. I don't know if these are dwarf or regular Braz, they are about 15' at the point where the leaves emerge.

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

I have that ladder.. :^)

Re: My fingers never plump =(
 

Sounds like enough water and fert.

That variety (it's regular, or "tall" Brazilian, BTW) is slow to fill fingers. Even in the tropics, that one usually takes 5+ months to ripen. And they do most of their filling towards the end of that period.

But if that plant in the photo flowered in June or July, something is causing it to be unhappy and move really slow. At 2-3 months post blooming, it should have already made many male-only hands, and it hasn't.