harveyc

My banana finished off with 88 fingers, though there might have been a few more as it's hard to tell as they transition from female to male flowers. In an effort to get bananas to mature before frosty weather, I cut off the flower bud this afternoon along with any male flowers and thinned out fingers from several hands with hopes that the remaining fingers will size up more quickly. I think I have about 70 fingers left. I thought about cutting off even more, but it's a hard thing to do! I figure if the flower stem shrivels up some I'll go ahead and cut off the bottom one or two hands entirely.

Wish me luck!

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jearl

I haven't ever thinned the bunches on my trees, but at this time of the year... I doubt it would hurt!


Jeff

harveyc

Another plant from this same mat sent up a flag leaf just before my recent trip and now the bud is close to opening. This puts it about a week ahead of last year. I'll post photos when there's something worth taking a shot of.

Tony now has a pup of this plant and it will be interesting to see how it performs for him.

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mjdsinsacto

welcome back!


just in time for the CAL Expo state fair--i'm wondering if there might be some banana plants for sale there?

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harveyc

I haven't been to the state fair in several years and won't be able to make it this year. I don't recall seeing banana plants for sale there in the past. There is a special day in the spring or early summer at the city zoo where our former CRFG president has sold banana plants and other things.

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Bananaman88

Harvey,

Were you ever able to confirm the identity of this banana? Those are some great photos of it.

harveyc

Brent, no positive I.D. on it but somewhere in some thread I can't find (or maybe PMs?) Mitchel guessed it might be tall Namwah and Gabe indicated he thought that was a pretty good guess. I'm hoping that Tony can get it to produce a mature bunch in his climate and get together with Jon on it to figure it out. They were great tasting bananas. I picked the bunch on 12/28 after there was already frost damage to the leaves and about 3-4 weeks later the fruit was ripening and had a nice flavor and texture, although they were small (maybe 4" long or so and 1.25" in diameter). There's a goofy photo of my in my gallery holding the bunch of ripe fruit.

Thanks,

Harvey

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harveyc

Here's a picture of my bunch from this mat in 2009. The bees are active at my hive located about 100 yards away but they haven't found the banana flower yet. This bunch has a little over 100 fingers, I believe.

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heynow

I have similar moths that like my papayas.
They like the male flowers the best and I think they help polinize. They just hover like a hummingbird.

harveyc

Here's an update on this banana for 2009. The fruit have sized up some but I'm still hoping for more. We had 3 mornings with frost this past week and I used a smudge pot on two nights and also sprayed the banana plants with water early in the morning to help warm them up (just a little help is enough). I believe I'm a little ahead of where I was at this time last year and last year's bunch turned into some very nice tasting bananas. I will cut off the male flower in the next day or two and bag the bunch, helping keep them a little warmer.

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momoese

Is that a picture of your plant Harvey?

conejov

Wow! thats looks great harvey! Did you ever figure out what kind it was? Or maybe I missed it.

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harveyc

Yes same mat as last year. Just took the photo on Friday, figuring it would be more photogenic than after I bag it!


No, Mitchel guessed it was Namwah (not dwarf) and Gabe thought that sounded reasonable. I sent a pup to Tony a while back so he can try growing it to it's full potential so we can see what full-sized fruit should look like.

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Gabe15

Looking at the photos now it definitely is a Namwah of sorts, though there are mulitple varieties. It is likely whatever the common one in the US mainland is.

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

harveyc

I forget who else from the org had a mix up from Wellspring around the same time as me. These were supposed to be Dwarf Orinoco and the mistake happened several years ago. The other person just mentioned last year or so that Wellspring had acknowledged the mistake (but I hadn't received word), but I now wonder if they ever knew what they had sold as Dwarf Orinoco. I guess I should write them, though it is somewhat mute at this point. Still, I just sent a note to Wellspring to see if the ever figured it out.

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Gabe15

Here are some photos of different Pisang Awak subgroup (of which 'Namwah' is a member) bananas for comparison.


'Kayinja'


'Dwarf Namwah'



'Pisang Awak'

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

harveyc

I wrote to Wellspring the other night and Donvan replied tonight. Donovan doesn't recall making any widespread mistake back in 2006 but, after chatting, said that their plants do come from AgriStarts and that my plan was most likely a Namwah, Rajapuri, or Ice Cream. So, for now, Namwah seems to be the most reliable I.D.

Speaking of mystery bananas, anybody want go guess what they might end up in this eBay auction???
Variegated Banana Musa Ornata Roxb 2 Seeds Rare Limited - eBay (item 180436296962 end time Nov-29-09 20:38:36 PST)

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