Both of the dwarf Brazilians that I planted (in ground) this spring just flowered. I had no idea that they would try to fruit this quick. How long does it take the DB to make fruit from the time it flowers? What a waste, I think the first freeze will come before the fruit develop. Is there any way to control when they flower and fruit?

Oh no Joe, Don’t stop with unless, unless what?

Sorry to mess with your excitement, just have no time to write it now. Will post later today. It would require some writing.

ben,
Yes the leaves do look like they have spider mite damage.. also looks like something has been chewing on the leaves pretty good..
I can't see webbing but the molted leaf color does strongly suggest it..
something sure is sucking the life from those leaves..
Fruit looks yummy though!!! Bag of apples for my diagnoses and prescription.. LOL
I hope it works for you!
Still no pups here.. but I haven't checked in a few days.. been busy with Neewollah (local celebration) and getting ready for Halloween..

Hope every one has a great evening!!!

Gina *BabyBlue*

I thought the overwintering of fruits can't be done. But Benny and I have witnessed how the California Gold survived the Arctic Blast this year and went on to develop plump fruits for Benny. The California Gold bloomed in November. It was dugged out from Antioch in December and planted at Benny's yard. Then was covered in canvas the whole winter to protect against the upcoming Arctic Blast. Benny was discouraged and wanted to cut it down after the blast, but I protested and followed my advice on what to do. Now we have a true-to-life banana bloom that has survived near 20 deg F prolonged freezing nights, and the fruit is now ready, unless Benny wants it ripened on the plant. Based on those experiences, here is a modified procedure that I am going to do this coming winter. I too have a late fruiting Dwarf Brazilian, and below would be exciting to try out:


At the end of summer, stop removing any dead leaves or dead sheaths from your bananas. Any dried material would help as insulation or frost cover.

Now follow the minimum temperature forecasts religiously when it starts to dip below 40 deg F. Watch out for the first forecasted frost of the season. Frost can form when minimum temperature is 38 deg F, on clear, windless nights. But when there is cloud cover during the night, frost seldom form even at 30 deg F. Anyway, at least 2 nights before the forecasted frost, prepare your fruiting banana stalk as follows:

Take the three to four nearest leaves and bend them to wrap the bloom or young fruit bunch and tie securely with twine or garden tie. Then wrap Christmas tree lights around the trunk, and up to the leaves that you wrap around the fruiting bunch. Then drape over the whole banana plant a floating row or breathable cover and secure it so that it will not get blown away by the wind. Turn on the Christmas lights between midnight to 1 hour past sunrise, or whenever there is freezing temperature. If there is extended frost forecast, you will have to drape the banana with a canvas and secure it around the whole clump.

Cover the base of the banana with dried leaves, and then drape over plastic sheets over them to drain away the rainwater. You have to keep the banana roots dry so that they will remain dormant during the winter.

Come spring time, when minimum temperature consistently stay above 40 deg F and maximum temperature stays above 65 deg F, untie everything, remove the covers. You would have saved some leaves and they should stayed green if the minimum temperature during the entire ordeal did not go below 26 deg F. Later, when maximum temperature consistently reach over 70 deg F, remove all the dead parts from the stems, take out the dead leaves to encourage whole plant photosynthesis. Even if you lost all your leaves, the fruiting bunch or the bloom should have stayed alive. Even without a single leaf, by removing all the dead outer sheaths from the pseudostem, there will be enough photosynthesis so that your fruits will develop and will become plump, even if slowly. And by Fall, they should be ready for harvest and then you can ripen them inside the house if they haven't ripened on the plant.

Thanks for giving up your secret-- I did not know it took so long for bananas to mature.

Thanks Joe
I will try it, and let you know how it works.
Karl

Some banana cultivars like the Kenandrian and Senorita, they ripen 3 to 5 months after they bloom.

Some added contribution to what Joe said:
What I did with the California Gold leaves were:
I tied all of them with string so that the leaves went straight up so in the end it looked like a spear at the tip. It looked like a new transplanted palm tree where all the leaves were tied together straight up.
What happened was the leaves that were covered with canvas and Christmas lights and the outer layer that were covered with clear plastics survived the arctic blast but the leaves that were covered with clear plastics only... dried out.
I wrapped more Christmas lights around the fruit and the bottom trunk thinking that heat rises.
I wrapped the trunk and the fruit and about a foot above the fruit with canvas and Christmas lights and followed with clear plastics wrapped tight against the P-stem and the fruit. I planned on wrapping the whole plant with canvas and Christmas lights but I ran out of the materials so the leaves that were not wrapped with the above did not make it. But the part that were wrapped with canvas, Christmas lights and clear plastics , to my surprise, stayed green. There were 3 stalks altogether but only about a foot above the fruit that were saved. This was evidenced when I opened the canvas came Spring time.
Had I had enough canvas and Christmas lights to wrap the rest of the leaves, the outcome might have been different.
Also, I insulated the ground with 6" insulation that was used to insulate the sheet rock walls and then I put Christmas lights again around the plant on top of the insulation and then I covered them with black plastics so that the water drained outward. We had quiet a bit of rain here and the soil stayed dry during all this time.
I got those fiberglass insulation at the trash bin of a house being constructed.

Joe:
Is there anyway possible I can get hold of the Kenandrian or Senorita?

Jon Verdick (pitangadiego) has lots of Kenanderian. I hope it survived the San Diego fire. I don't know a good source of senorita. I have lots of senorita growing in my island in the Philippines.

I sure hope I'll get in touch with Pitangdiego once the fire and everything turns to normal there in SD.
Thanks!

I have been looking at minimum temperatures for bananas growth (57degrees), citrus and other fruit and vegetable crops. Tomatoes 65 degrees.
Joe’s save the banana post got me thinking that a greenhouse could delay fruit crops just by keeping them above the cold damage temperature and continue to fruit when temps rise.
Millet, I know you keep your greenhouse at a high or let’s say a temperature that promotes growth during the winter. Your bananas, citrus etc thrive through the winter because of these temps. You also see colder temps in November than I do in January.
Here in the heat zone 9, we really don’t get the cold temperatures that you face almost every winter night in Colorado, and the daytime temps are rarely below freezing.
With my greenhouse here in Zone 9, I will see wide ranges of ambient temps ranging from very warm to minimum of 25 degrees overnight temps approximately two to three times per winter, I would say that average temps are 75 high and 45 low.
Now in a greenhouse, I can maintain a low temp of let’s says 60 degrees but in the daytime the greenhouse is going to spike at 90+ degrees with fans running.
I may not have articulated this very well but I am wondering how the plants, trees etc would adapt to wide swings of temperatures. Would dropping down below 45 degrees at night and up to 90 degrees drive them crazy or would they adapt to such temperature swings? If I maintain a 45-degree low, my heating expense would be very low.
What would the ever-spiking daytime temps do to these plants? I don’t need winter bananas, but I would like to see them survive and produce in the spring.
Millet, I remember your statements that bananas need uninterrupted growth to produce bananas. Would not freezing qualify as uninterrupted?
Karl

Here’s a couple of pictures that I took today of the Dwarf Brazilian flowers,
It’s just so strange that they were both planted the same day and flowered the same day. What are the chances of that happening?

What’s the liquid and what do the bees get out of this?
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/karpes/DSCN1486.jpg
Just beautiful!
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/karpes/DSCN1489.jpg
Karl