lwabirds

I have a musa basjoo that is flowering out in my yard. The flowers and the little bananas attatched to them are falling to the ground. I've rubbed my fingers over the flowers to pollinate them. Any ideas? Am I doin't some thing wrong? Do they need a pollinator (other plant)?

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Lagniappe

Those are probably just male flowers. They're ejected almost daily. No worries, just enjoy watching it bloom.
Did it have any bananas?

lwabirds

The flowers have the "little Bananas.ovary" at the base of them. They both fall off. Will male flowers also have these? Will insects pollinate them?

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lwabirds

Do I need to pollinate them by hand? Could it be that the "bananas" are not being pollinating and are falling off?

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Lagniappe

Yes, the transitional and male flowers will have little 'fruits' but much smaller than the females.
Someone more qualified will need to answer the latter question, but I think they would fall off regardless, this being their function.

Gabe15

Yes, those are the male flowers, they do have a little vestigial ovary thing at the bottom but will not become anything. You might have been able to pollinate the last of the female flowers (whose ovaries should still be clinging to the stem) with the first of the male flowers, but if you are seeing all these male flowers then the female flowers are already done. The fruit will not become anything, so just enjoy the plant as it is.

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

tony palmer

I don’t know if anyone has tried this with basjoo pollen, but it may be possible to store the male pollen in your freezer for up to a year then use it next season as soon as the female flowers appear, it works with Rhododendrons Snowdrops and Aloes.

Gabe15

Of the references I have seen, banana pollen can only be viably stored in refrigeration for up to 3 days.

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

tony palmer

It does depend on the plant species but I can’t find any information on storing musa pollen the way it should be stored.
Gabe you are right in saying musa pollen can only be stored for three days in a fridge but the same goes for most species of pollen, Some pollens can be dried and frozen for lengthy periods, other pollens do not survive for more than a few hours (or less).
Binucleate pollen (pollen with two nuclei) can often be stored more easily than trinucleate pollen (with three nuclei).

The most important factor when freezing pollen is it must be dry!!

if anyone is interested in giving it ago, this is the correct method to follow.
Collect the pollen in a small container, place it in the fridge for two to three days at the most, without a lid on the container so it allows the pollen to dry out, there are two reasons for drying the pollen first before freezing it, one is if it isn’t dry when you place it the freezer the cells in the pollen will burst and the other is mould can attack the pollen, Once dry place the lid on and then the pollen can then be placed in a freezer for up to a year or more

I,m going to give this ago my self but it may well be that musa pollen isn’t viable once frozen, if it does work though you could be the first person in Europe or America to have a full crop of seeds from your basjoo

lwabirds

The flower head is still opening. I have what looks like 2 little bananas from the first go-round of flowers. Every other day the flower head opens up and then the flowers fall off. It still has several more rounds of flowers to go. I'll post pics in my gallery. Any help is appreciated.

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May you be in heaven a half an hour before the devil knows you're dead