Bananavilla

Has anyone else here practiced bunch trimming? On late bloomers I have heard of people doing this on several occassions. Trim a few hands to put all the energy into the rest. Better a small bunch of mature fruit than a full bunch of unusable.

This is the first time I am trying this to some extent. On my Ice Cream bunch last season there were quite a few imature bananas on the bunch. So, this season I have trimmed out all the unfilled looking bananas early. I actually removed the entire top hand. You can see from this pic that the majority were what I am refering to as unfilled and at least one that has started to "plump". The lower hands have way more "plump" fruit than not.
So, I will keep everyone posted how this works out.
Mike

pitangadiego

I have friends in the Central Valley that do this. Having less hands allows the remaining hands to ripen faster, which is important if your 'nanner bloomed late in the season and frost or freeze is coming.

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GATrops

I tried this last year for the first time. I was pretty pleased with the results. I trimmed about a third of the lower hands from the plants that bloomed after Mid-September and was able to get some edible fruit (although some of them did not have lot of pulp) from almost all of them. (I also bagged the entire bunch with large clear plastic bags, leaving the end open so the heat did not rise too much during the day.) They were cut in the second week of December (ahead of the first frost) and most were finished ripening by mid-January. I have also been trimming hands this year. I hate to cut them them but agree with you Mike, "Better a small bunch of mature fruit than a full bunch of unusable."

Richard

Bananavilla

This is the Ice Cream bunch I had last summer. Notice the imature fruit? Not sure exactly what the story is on why some never matured. Maybe someone here has some input.
So this season I have eliminated the fruit that I know are not ever going to plump. Hopefully this speeds up the rest.
Mike

maesy

Bunch trimming may be the only way to ever get fruits in my clima here in Switzerland.
I have a dwarf french plantain that might be blooming next year.
Has anyone made any experience with this kind?
It is suposed to be an early bloomer with only 5- 6 feet of hight.
There are also other bananas in my yard like FHIA-18, dwarf brazilian, dwarf orinoco and misi luki wish are already pushing pups. But I guess those will still need another season of growing before fruiting.

Richard, what cultivar did you have to trimm back last year?

Marcel.

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GATrops

Marcel,

Last year I cut hands from Goldfinger, Grand Nain and Raja Puri. This year the list includes those in addition to Orinoco, Rose and possibly a few others.

tropicalkid

It definitely has to do with climate conditions and the stress conditions the plant is subjected to.Although you wouldn't believe it, I have seen bunches of "Ice Cream" bananas growing in the wild, with wild grass almost covering the plant, twice as large as that one, all with plump-healthy bananas from top to bottom of the bunch.That is in the Caribeean area(Dominican Republic), as they cultivate the "Ice Cream" and whole lots of other varieties.Just my two cents.

Carlos(tropicalkid)