Last year I decided to try something new. I did not cut the bananas to the ground like I usually do. This has created some new experiences.
The biggest banana pseudostems did not survive the freezes we had. But some smaller ones did. Will I get fruit this year because I am starting with year old plants? Maybe. We’ll have to see.
Standard bananas have a specific number of leaves they need to send up to get in the mood for fruit. There are people in Florida that cut off lower leaves to try and force the plant to send up more leaves. I tried this on one of the plants I had last year. They got taller, but in the end they looked exactly like the ones I didn’t prune, and neither fruited.
However, all of my bananas in spring 2024 started at ground level from the rootball (that is about four or five years old now.) This year I’m starting with last years pups that I cut down to about two feet high. I covered everything with a thick layer of straw, then thin plastic and finally some thick clear painter’s tarp. I didn’t know if I’d lose everything to freezes. Turns out I didn’t.
Most bananas need 10-15 months to fruit. I may have enough growth on these that they will actually fruit this year. We’ll see. I may also choose one to prune and see if that can push the plant closer to fruiting.
I love experiments. I got fruit from a short season banana last year but it did not ripen (and I was going out of town) , so I cut the fruit off. Turns out it didn’t freeze during that time, so maybe they would have ripened, had I left them on. I will try again this year. One of these days I really would like to taste my bananas. But I’d grow them for their tropical beauty even if I never got fruit from the antique standard variety I have: Gros Michel.
See you out in the garden to will our bananas to fruit!
Crazy Green Thumbs
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That is how I see it done in the Santa Clara Valley, . . . almost. Sometimes, banana foliage survives through winter. It is ugly, but not frozen. It can be cut off at the end of winter, and the silly pseudostems that remain can bloom and fruit. They look very strange if they bloom without foliage, but they can produce fruit. They must rely on their pups for sustenance. Even if the foliage freezes, the pseudo stems typically survives. Those who enjoy growing bananas do not think that their overwintered foliage is ugly, and in some areas, the foliage survives better than in others. In my neighborhood, I will likely cut the tops off, similar to what you did, but higher.
We never had much luck growing bananas. The potato’s are growing very well tho.
WTG!