Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

This the first harvestable bunch of PK I have grown in 4 years.

All previous bunches were did in by cold weather.

To all of you that have grown the PK --- is this bunch fully filled in or not?

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Big bunch,

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

It's close enough for this time of year. Cut and hang that bunch, I'd hate to see you loose another.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Me too! The new years eve bunch will be harvested tommorrow but not when the ball comes down! :2787:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

It looks a lot like mysore, which is my favorite eating banana.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I visited Unbelievable Acres Botanic Gardens this summer and Gean Joyner himself lead our group on a walking tour thru his "rain forest". Ran into 3 mats of Mysore and I got a close look. Same general appearance as my Pisang Klotek in height, pstem diameter, leaf shape and petiole length.

Especially checked the color of the petioles and they had a similar pink coloration. It was a distinctly lighter pink/red color than the darker burgundy/red wine color of my PK petioles.

Cutting down the bunch today to hang in the kitchen. Will post pics when they ripen.

Nick --- can't wait to see how much bigger your PK bunch will be growing in that mucky muck soil around the big lake.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

That's because it is a Mysore. I think the jury is out on whether it really is a distinct cultivar within this subgroup, but from my very limited taste tests, I reckon PK isn't distinguishable by taste from what is sold in the hobby as Mysore.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Noted! When I start tasting my PK I'll document the details. I may have to go see Gene to get a Mysore sample for comparison.

Better yet, I'll bring him a PK to plant in his Rain Forest so that a comparison can be made on equal footing.

Thanks Mark.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

That's quite a huge bunch there. How tall did the banana get? (p-stem, not leaf height)

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Ventura..nice call.

Need to keep us all on track.

I need to relabel the GA pics as Orinoco....alas I have concluded it is not another blugoe species!:drum:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

The PK bunch is still hanging on the mat. With highs of 80F and lows in the 60s everyday the bunch might as well continue maturing.

Man, everything is budding early with this weather. If a frost hits later we will have a big mess.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Finally cut it down to ripen in the house.

Weight 25.5 pounds. Pstem fruited at 10 ft.

Wife said ------- "Not another one." lol :ha:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Awesome Dan!!! :woohoonaner:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

jealous....real nice bunch..puts my last orinoco bunch to shame shame shame..

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

She might change her tune after she tries these! :08:

Nice bunch.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Ironic, cause she started a strict diet in Nov. --- no bananas!

I'll suggest she have a couple at bkfst and just skip lunch. Yeah right.

The waiting for yellow skins begins. Will post.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Your wife can keep eating bananas and still lose weight.
Morning Banana Diet — Japan's Simplest Diet: Eat a Banana in the Morning for Breakfast

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Interesting but impractical. The best way for Americans to lose weight is to replace sugar and limit carbs. Protein and fresh vegetables is the way to go. Wife has lost over 20 lbs since Nov and I have been sort of following along. I'm down 19 lbs and I still have a beer or 2 with dinner. The thing I found fascinating is that when you get to a certain point into it the cravings just plain stop. Can't wait until I can fit into the striped bell bottoms I wore in college. :ha:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

She can have some man. It's all good.

Should I Stop Eating Bananas If I'm Trying To Lose Weight? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I'm against any diet that involves not eating bananas. I wish that Japanese one would catch on over here.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Looks good Dan!

Btw I'll be harvesting the Yacon this weekend. The plant is almost dead from the cold snap we've had in So Cal. Hoping for a nice sweet crop!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

That's an awesome lot of bananas!

I think bananas are healthy and the best way for losing weight as a long term goal is to drop portion size and not overdo any 'junk' food like soda and candy and chips. But that's what works for me. I lost about 80+ lbs in a year and since I ate smaller meals, my stomach shrank so now I feel full with smaller meals and it's actually uncomfortable to eat huge meals.

To think, in my 20s I would eat entire extra large deep dish pan pizzas by myself and was STILL underweight. Sigh. Getting older sucks.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I'd question the actual health benefits of any diet that restricts fresh fruit. The vitamin, mineral, and anti-oxidants of fruits probably far outweigh any weight gain they might cause. The low-carb diet basically force the body into ketosis (which is what happens when you are starving) and it's not all the healthy a state to be in. Slimmer and healthy is the goal, not slimmer and unhealthy. Cut out the added sugars and refined carbohydrates, but for actual health (not weight -- don't confuse the two), eat those fruits!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

The classic "no carb" diet is ONLY supposed to be no carbs to begin with to start your body into that state. It was never intended to be a state that the human body survives in which is why long term you end up with issues with it as a diet.

Fresh fruit is healthy. Natural sugars don't outweigh all the good benefits included in the food itself.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

That's great. Looking forward to Yacking it up.

Can they get planted after harvest or do they have to dry out/mature some?

Man is this thread all over the place. First dieting then yacking. :ha:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Last year I stuck the freshly dug (laid a an outdoor shaded table a day or so) growing points straight into potting soil in small 1/2 Gal containers and kept them on the dry side. As soon as I saw growth I laid on the water, then after some nice growth right into the ground.

I'll let ya how the harvest goes this weekend.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I was reluctant to get into detail therby hijacking my own thread. However, let me clarify. Both of us eat fruit on this diet. It's supervised by Quick Weight Loss Centers. There are offices all over the USA including San Diego, Tony.

All kinds of fruit are allowed --- except the banana! Except for the holidays, this is the regimen 7 days a week.

I personally eat fresh sour cherries or a banana at bkfst with cereal - no more gout. Dessert is one or 2 fresh Honeybell tangelos while they are available.

Lunch it's a cup of fresh blue berries and a yoghurt. I'm a b-berry addict.

Din-din it's broiled, grilled or roasted meat or fish with steamed fresh veggies.

No rice --- potato baked once a week (we split it), no bread or crackers.

I'm down 2 pant sizes and feeling gooder - a lot. Can we get back to Pisang Klotek now? Will post taste report when fruit ripen.

Dan the B'mal --- who is now down 2 pants sizes!!!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Beautiful bunch. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

More power to you. Best wishes :waving:

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

My official taste tester is helping to speed up PK ripening using body heat. This hand turned all yellow this AM. Will wait 2 more days to taste.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Nice Dog

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

So the pisang klotek has a different color than the common mysore? Undersides of the leaves come out Lighter? Was wondering what made people call it a variant??

I have a mysore from tony. I get all kinds of colors from the leaf undersides. I get light red.. Light red with dark red squares and bars .. Sometimes The undersides have no red color at all. This probably came about after the corm's growing point was destroyed? Im just saying with mysore Weird color variations are possible.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

The gentleman I bought the original Pisang Klotek from imported it from Sri Lanka. He said it was called Pisang Klotek. Over the years it was ID'd by Gabe and others as Mysore. Are there any differences, who knows. I don't think anyone has grown and fruited PK next to Mysore yet.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Ok thanks. I was checking out the few pics of online and was wondering if it was just a mysore with less red pigmentation. The leaf undersides have red coloration and everthing huh? I was gonna try to get one and put it in the ground with my mysore and take pics as it grew. if theres one thing I can do its make comments based on observation. :) People who I asked didn't want to speak on parting with one easily. it had become kinda exclusive.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Can a diabetic chime in, here? Bananas are FULL! of carbs!

That is why I cut my bananas in half: half now and half later. That keeps my blood sugar steady and helps to keep my weight down.

No food is bad: some are just richer than others!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

You should consider growing Yacon!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

It gets the redish bronze color on the newly emerged leaf undersides. As the leaves mature the color fades or turns all green except the midrib which stays maroon.

As for availability it should be getting easier to find as time goes by. More and more people are sharing pups.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I *HAVE* considered raising the smaller bananas, but first things first. If I can get a basjoo to bloom, then I will try out the others. I live in zone 6.

I figure on bringing pups in from my Basjoo to experiment with, first. I have not yet gotten a banana to survive the winter inside!

I intend to get serious about it next winter. Meanwhile I am reading all of the threads for indoor and cold hardy bananas.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Yacon is not a banana, it's a sweet tuber that is safe for diabetics to consume. It's like a sweet Jicama. I grow it.

http://www.bananas.org/f8/yacon-14705.html

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

OH!

I shall have to look it up!

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Speaking of diabetes. There were a couple of plants on the auction table at my rare fruit club this month. Called the insulin plant. Eating one leaf in the AM and one in the PM is said to regulate blood sugar to the extent that insulin is no longer needed. Anybody heard of this?

And what Terri said about bananas --- that's why they are not allowed on the diet of the Quick Weight Loss Centers. Most other fresh fruit is.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I agree that at this point, no one knows if Pisang Klotek is a distinct cultivar of Mysore or just Mysore with an exotic local name from Sri Lanka. I think the only relatively strong piece of evidence for it being a distinct cultivar within the Mysore subgroup is that it doesn't seem to get quite as tall as Mysore sometimes does. But as for appearance, I'm growing Pisang Klotek immediately adjacent to Pisang Ceylan (a Mysore clone that doesn't have the banana streak virus in its DNA), and I don't think it is possible to tell the two apart. Maybe they'll end up being different heights, but overall appearance is identical. Hopefully I'll get them both fruiting regularly and I'll be able to say something informed about whether there are any detectable differences between the plants or the fruit. From very limit experience, flavor-wise, Mysore is very similar to PK, but I've never tried them at the same time to compare them. My guess is they'll taste the same if grown in the same place at the same time. The best bananas I've ever tasted were Mysore. (For the record, I've had some pretty unimpressive Mysore, too, that were scrawny and undernourished.)

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I've heard of Yacon refereed to as insulin plant and a study was done recently on the effects of Yacon leave consumption on diabetics but the results were not favorable.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Today was the second taste of the first yellow PK's. Day 3 after skins turned yellow. Much better but still firm and taste not fully developed. Skins show marks and spots but fruit is clear. Flavor is so deep and complex I have no idea what the final result is. I'm tasting these for the first time too. Will try again mañana.

Amazing --- great tasting naner with unrefrigerated shelf life. The hands left on the bunch are still all green.

No other musa cultivar I've grown and harvested has these qualities.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I've found that just like other bananas the weather while the bunch is hanging on the plant plays a role in the flavor and texture of the fruit. Are you getting any pineapple overtones?

Btw please pm me your address so I don't have to search for it. I'm not sure if the growth tubers are going to make it as all the ones I've taken off the main bunch have gotten soft the next day. I think they need a little moisture. I may send a whole plant bottom.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Here many people use alpiste to control diabetes, wholesale cost $0.60 per pound.

Alpiste retail price is $5.00 to $8.00 per pound, while Canaryseed retail price is $1.50 per pound.

The interesting thing is that they are identical except for the labels, and both came out of the same exact 1000 kg bulk tote bag.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Weather influence - true. Getting pineapple, soursop, guava, cumquat --- you name it flavors. And the tastes linger way longer than supermkt naners. When they are fully ripe and the flesh has softened I'll try to nail down the tastes. Gonna fry up a few when the skins blacken too for Nick's sake.

And I almost forgot --- the smell!!! The kitchen is gonna smell awesome in a few days.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

Might need some tall boots for the rest of this thread.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I just realized that my PK leaves held up better to that bit of arctic cold we had than the Namwah, DB, and the FHIA18, like apples and oranges better! This plant can handle some pretty cool temps. It's leaves are almost fully green while the others are almost fully yellow and brown.

Re: Pisang Klotek bunch - ready or not?
 

I wonder if that is due to microclimates in your yard. My PK doesn't look any better than those ones you mentioned, looks way better than the Cavendish types and Rose, and not nearly as good dwarf Namwah.