Three of the 4 banana trees I dug up and stored in the shop have leafed out. I moved them to a place where they should get more water. Of the two I left in place, one did not make it, but the other has started to leaf out. I have 2 pups that are growing as well.

They are all the same variety-- I don't know what variety it is-- when it blooms I am hoping I can take some pictures and get some help identifying it. I got it from the lab where I use to work-- they had them all over --next to every air conditioner. They produce well out there on the beach (10 miles south of here)-- but the bananas are short and fat--about 4-5 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter

I need to order a known variety-- just haven't done it yet-- hoping to see some in local nurseries.

Thanks Skeet.

Joe:
Remember the Sweetheart banana you gave me? It was just a pup 2 feet tall pstem about 1 3/4 inch diameter? Well it had one leaf opened up and one spear is coming up about 5 inches long and guess what?
There is another pup coming up only about 2 inches away from the base.
I am really surprised.
I kept on looking for pups at the dwarf Brazilian and California Gold and this one sneaked out on me fast.
I'll post a pic soon.

Here's the pup from the pup sweetheart

The sneakiest of them all would be Dwarf Brazilian. Pretty soon you will have pups that is going to take over your yard if you are not attentive!!!

Here's a dwarf cav from a friend of mine''s house. I just bought a DF from him before I discovered the Home Depot Bananas.

On the left is California gold (growing fast) and on the right I Joe Real’s sweetheart.
All pics were taken on May 15 2007






California gold

Benny, your bananas look great. Mine didn't do so well this winter but I am excited because I'm getting a Cal Gold on Friday. I'm hoping to make it happy and me too.

Harvey:
Thanks for your compliment.
Wish you the best of luck with your california gold.
I have one that has fruit already. It survived the arctic but barely. It was newly planted then and had flowers. The leaves that were not protected burnt to crisp. What was left was two half leaves and the fruit.
Joe said that it will ripe just give it time.

Her's my Calif gold fruit as of 5 22 07.

Benny, I saw your Cal Gold when I rode with Joe and crew and unloaded other bananas and am glad to see that bunch is coming along. Do you have some decent new leaves on it now? I'd love to see more photos as it develops further. Thanks for the update!

Harvey, once you get the bloom and fruit, there will never be any new leaf from that stalk. it is the end of its life after the fruits are harvested. The reason why the banana stems are green and the fruits are green, they all help in the photosynthesis even if you don't have leaves anymore. Bananas have one of the biggest leaf area index compared to other plants. The stems and green fruits surface alone have enough surface area for photosynthesis to produce decent fruits.

But too bad, in the short Northern California growing season (hot summer days greater than 95 deg F are not counted because they are in stasis due to stress), the maximum yield I have observed so far is 35 lbs. Compare that to my bananas that I harvest from my small island in the Philippines, I can harvest 250 lbs easy per fruiting stalk.

Harvey:
Most of the leaves were burnt to crisp except maybe 2 square foot.
I was ready to chop it off and I was glad I asked Joe first because I thought if there were no leaves the fruit will just wither and die for the lack of energy supply.
I thought why it was not giving off pups is because all its energy was being spent on the fruit so therefore it was useless to retain the fruit in my persfective in exchange for pups.
As explained with the above explanation, I was glad I did not.
Thanks Joe.
The banana (dwarf Brazilian)that Joe gave me is starting to unroll its first leaf. But the sweetheart has 3 leaves and the mahoi 2.
I'll take a picture soon.
Benny