Originally Posted by RandyGHO

I had wondered the same thing about bloom size.

I have an observation that may be true but I don't have enough experience to back it up. As a hand forms under a bud petal, it draws energy from the plant. The next petal puts out another hand but this time the plant is supporting two hands. As the hands keep forming the stem and the plant become like a multilane highway and gets overloaded and the hands slow then stop.

I think that is why the first few months of a banana plants life are so important. The bigger the highway the more hands that will be made.

In other words the number of hands is built in as the tree matures. So it is not the number of petals but the strength of the plant to support multiple hands.