Namwah banana bloomed. My first one. Any advice from here on out?

Bananas take 90+ days to ripen from bloom. You will need to take this plant into the house before frost if you want to harvest the fruit.

congratulations!

These plants are in my greenhouse and it is kept nice and toasty thru the winter. Is there any specific fertilizing I should be doing at this time?

Jay, The inflorescence will bear several hands of "normal" bananas, produced from female flowers. then it will switch to perfect (both sexes) flowers, which will look like tiny bananas, which never develop. Then it will continue making male-only flowers that don't look anything like bananas. If you break off the red bud just below the last hand of "real" bananas, the fruit will grow larger than if you allow the bud to continue to develop.

If you do that, it will bleed a sticky sap for a while, and that sap can stain your clothes, looking like dried blood, and is exceedingly difficult to wash/bleach out. So be careful!

Bananas are heavy feeders and drinkers. Bananas do well with an even fertilizer such as 6-6-6 or 12-12-12, but a higher potassium level, such as found in 6-2-12 or 9-3-27, results in better flowering and fruit production. Always be sure the fertilizer includes all the trace elements. - Millet

Thanks everyone.

If you can find a source of K-Mag, it may be an easy and economical way for you to furnish the potassium your banana needs. I already had plenty around from my farming operation and Joe Real suggested it was ideal for my banana needs.

Is this the standard Namwah or dwarf? I've got some young dwarf versions and hope to have fruit from them in a couple of years. I will probably have about 20 varieties by the end of the month. I'm going bananas!

Congratulations on the bloom. You may have to cull out the other flowers in order to get decent sized fruits because of shorter time left for fruit filling.

Harvey's gone over the edge, just like Benny!

I have already climbed up the ledge, ten years after I realized there are physical limits to my tiny yard, LOL.

Will be back to be in touch with all of you soon.

Compare to the vast expanse I have been traversing the continent... indeed my yard is the size of an electron....

only 30 minutes left to be online!

Joe, are you referring to what Malcolm explained above? Thanks

Sorry Harvey...I believe it to be the dwarf Namwah. Otherwise, it would probably be pushing thru the top of my greenhouse!

very nice job Jay, should be exciting to see your progress. Is that the one that replaced the "blood banana"?

-Ethan

I actually have a dwarf cavendish that replaced the blood banana. We're pretty excited about it.

Yes, I've gone over "the edge", so to speak, as Joe says. I am realistic, though, and realize I may have an ugly brown patch in my large yard this winter. I did put in a pretty large above-ground pool and plan on planting some of my bananas around the pool for a heat source. I'm now even thinking of a netting structure like some of these from Israeli commercial operations that I posted for our friend with the flying donkey (inside joke from a Yahoo group Jay is also a member of). http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?t=2328

I suspected you had the Dwarf Namwah but heard you had a big greenhouse so I thought I would ask. I've been buying mostly dwarf cultivars myself with the thought I can protect them easier and am also hoping some may fruit easier in a shorter season. It might all be wishful thinking, but it's at least a plan!

I see Harbor Freight has the 10x12 greenhouse on sale for $600 again and am thinking of buying one this time around. I've also thought about one of those tunnels. Lots of ideas, but so little time to carry them out.

Oh, and on the flower cutting, I had been wondering the same thing myself with my Cal Gold and your question prompted me to search for an answer. Here is a worthwhile thread to read. http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?t=395

Good luck!

Harvey