Forgot to post this last week. At the end of Sept. I had another huge Ice Cream flower. I hope they plump up before we get a frost. If they fill out, they should ripen in the house without a problem. This bunch is bigger than the first...

Nice picture Lazz, is that two trees with fruit that I see?

Ned

Hi Ned. Yes it is. The first tree flowered in July & the second in late Sept.

Hi Laaz, I asked you a few weeks ago if you ver got your bananas to ripen...the big beaut's that flowered in July that you posted then. How are they?
How will you get this batch to ripen in the house????? If they are so huge, how will you dig it out & where in house could you put them???
You said they are taller than your house
My 2 are still outside. They were in 2 inch pots last June & when I got them & one will go in sunroom (transplanted in huge tree pot) & one as experiment wrapped & under 20 inch sunroom under- floor space. I don't think it will survice, but I'll try.
Did you get to eat any yet?

Hi Patty

Is it possible to get bananas in your zone, the foliage looks nice.......................I might give it a try...

thanks Frank

Hi Patty. The first bunch is still on the tree. If you look closely at the photo you will see them half hidden buy a leaf in the lower left corner.

When the bananas first emerge they are skinny little fruit. After a month or two they fill out (Something like a citrus stem). Once they have filled out they will usually ripen in the house in a dark spot. You can use apples or pears to help with the ripening process as they omit gasses to aide in the process...

Frank you could probably grow bananas in your zone as ornamentals, but not for fruit unless you get a dwarf variety that will need to come inside in the winter.

Hi Laaz:
I envy you.
I am a failure growing bananas in my zone. I can not make them fruit. I have lushful leaves but no fruit.
Benny

Hi Benny. Depending on the variety they must be very large to fruit. These Ice cream bananas are about 16 ft before they fruit. If yours do not fruit this year, cut all the leaves off once the frost kills them & just leave the large stalk. Next spring it will continue to grow & should produce fruit.

Joe has a California Gold that I would love to get a pup of. They are supposed to be very good producers every year.

Problem is, Ca gold have very few pups. If i give away the pups, I lose fruits for that year, usually and only have fruits every other year. But that's okay as long as I can give away to others.

Benny, do not conclude you're a failure when it comes to fruiting bananas, 1 or 2 more years and you shall have them. This is unlike the Philippines where you usually get blooms between 3 to 18 months after planting depending on variety. Here in the US, you count the number of warm months before they fruit. Thus each year we get only 3 to 4 months that are good, and so effectively would need one to 7 years (ie, Saba) before they bloom. And much longer if you started out with tissue-cultured plantlets instead of pups. I gave you tissue-cultured banana plantlets, so it could take a while before they bloom.

7 years?
My tears are flowing...........

Benny its time to build your greenhouse. Then you could pay to heat and ventilate the greenhouse. Then you too could have $10.00 bananas and $7.50 oranges. - Millet

I read your post how much you pay for electricity and gas to heat your greenhouse.
I can't for the life of me understand it.
You don't sell your fruits or plants.
When I go fishing, I want to catch fish as much as I spent on gas, parking and bait.

Millet I think for how much you are paying for hydro and heat you should buy a home wind turbine (the small ones for home use) and by how much you pay in winter it should pay for its self many times over.

Joe, how do you grow a plant from "culture"? I think that is what mine grew from & now I'm so dissappointed that it will take so long to grow & fruit.
Laaz, do you have a chance to get ripe bananas on your tree this yr with the cold coming? I still don't understand how you will get that 'nanna plant in your house!!! Do you have a ceiling that high? Or, do you mean cutting the fruit off & bring the FRUITS in house?
'nannas need to be in dark to ripen the fruits? I did not know that.
Ahhh, good old apple gasses...makes bromeliads flower too!
Sorry for all the quests again, but I never grew bananas before.
Millet, you should get a windmill. Ppl in the burbs here are getting them & it's paying their E bills & more. Seems you have enough property to have one as it won't interupt your neighbors quite. Nice part is, if you don't use all the electricity it produces, the E co. ends up owing YOU. It's a one time big investment but will pay off in end. Sounds good for you.

Patty,

There is a process called micropropagation or tissue culture that is used to propagate banana. What is commonly done is to get meristematic tissue (similar to potato eyes) from the corm of the banana plant, keep very clean and grow in various nutrient media until thousands of plantlets form. The plantlets are then isolated and grown further until they are ready to be potted. One corm can potentially produce thousands of thousands of plantlets if you have the space and resources.

Bananas are climacteric. You wouldn't transfer the whole plant for the fruit to ripen. You just cut the fruiting stalk, or the banana bunch, with as much stem you can get (the stem's nutrients will continue to be translocated unto the fruits), then simply hang it in a warm spot inside the house and the bananas will ripen. It doesn't matter how young the fruits are, they will all ripen, but will not significantly increase in size after harvest.