When to harvest?
 

The flower spike of these bananas appeared in mid-October. These are dwarf cavendish. When should I harvest them? And should I start by removing the top-most hand and let the others stay on?

Re: When to harvest?
 

You have a long way to go. Looks like the bloom has been cut way too early and short. I will be surprised if they make it.

Re: When to harvest?
 

You very well might lose a hand or two because you cut the flower off too short as the stem rots back a few inches over time and any hands below that rot as well, but I don't think they will all be lost. You do, however, have some waiting to do. Most bananas take 4-6 months to ripen. You will go out one day and a few will be yellow. In the meantime, you will see them fill out and get plump and you'll learn how to tell. A week or two before they start turning yellow, my Brazilians get a kind of golden green color to them as opposed to bright grass green they are before that but I cannot say if yours will.

Re: When to harvest?
 

Thanks, hydroid and sputinc7. Another stem should produce bananas soon, so I won't make the same mistake with that one.

Re: When to harvest?
 

You learn something new every day. I didn't know you could cut the stem too short, or that it would start rotting. Is there a standard for cutting the stem? Or is it different for different varietys? Thanks for the post.

Re: When to harvest?
 

Excellent questions!

Re: When to harvest?
 

I don't know about a standard, but I let mine grow about 8-12 inches past the last hand before cutting and last time the rot got close to the last hand when cut closer to 8 inches (some experts say to remove the last hand minus one finger for bigger fingers on the rest but I have not tested that yet.) Some don't cut the bloom off at all, but it seems to make mine fill in quicker... Plus less weight...

I didn't know the rot would ruin the hands until I read it here as I was perusing older threads so keep reading to find out what else you didn't know you didn't know! :D

I, too will be more careful of it in the future. Leaving a good 12 inches should be safe enough, though. I don't know if there's a difference between types on this topic.

Re: When to harvest?
 

I still make the mistake sometimes of cutting too short, even after growing bananas for a few years, I still forget and cut too short and they die. I like about 24".

Re: When to harvest?
 

In the week or so that I took the initial picture for this thread, I've discovered what appears to be another problem. It makes when to harvest the least of my concerns. See the black spots on some of these bananas? Is this a fungus?

Re: When to harvest?
 

All home grown bananas seem to get some of that. I guess it depends on how bad it gets. I do not know much more than that.

Re: When to harvest?
 

Thanks, sputinc7. I'm hoping it's something like that--I can't imagine what's sprayed on commercially grown bananas to prevent something like this. I'm hoping it's OK to eat the fruit, nevertheless. I'm wary because this happened to the first bunch I grew last year. I was fearful enough I threw them away--must have been 50 of 'em, too. I didn't bother testing them, which I should have.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this bunch.

Re: When to harvest?
 

Oh, NO... I am sure they were ok. I don't know but would guess commercial farmers have to wash the bananas after harvest to remove it. I know they wash them, but not whether it is to remove this. What the outsides of the peels look like has little bearing on the fruits as most have thick peels. Sometimes it can be indicative of disease, but otherwise, no problem.

Re: When to harvest?
 

Good to know. Thanks! I hope you're right!