my dwarf puerto rican plantain i only gave chicken poop once (a large amount) and fish emulsion once since planting as a sword pup with about 8 leaves (about 1 foot tall) in April and it flowered at 7 months.
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not fun. it takes several hours to wrap all the bananas, there’s more in my yard than what’s in this pic. many layers of blankets and tarps on top. outdoor low of 27F this morning, about 8-9 hours below freezing, low of 40F for 2 of the bananas (i don’t have enough sensors for all the bananas).
loquat there on the far right, it doesn’t care how cold it gets here, undamaged even last winter from 15F but i never get fruit from my loquat trees because the freezes always kill the flowers or fruits.
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I didn’t do much, I had a low of 20 and it’s been below or at freezing all day. Then back to the 60s again, makes things tough
Looks like something out of a Startreck episode.
i’ve been eating bananas everyday for a few weeks. kokopo/patupi is by far my favorite. it doesn’t really taste like a banana, it’s tart and has other tropical fruity flavors that i can’t really describe. it is super creamy/melt in your mouth without being mushy. namwa is closer to the flavor of regular store bananas but more dense/chewy so it’s better than store varieties that get mushy and gross. they ripened fine even though picked a bit early. i would have let the namwa ripen longer if i could, if it didn’t get so cold, next time, hopefully. kokopo on left, dwarf namwa on right.
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i had some dwarf cavendish that turned soft, they weren’t yellow like a store bought banana, instead turned light green with a smidge of yellow with some brown/black on them, most likely because they were picked early, but i was pleasantly surprised how creamy they were (slightly denser in the middle) and sweet but not super sweet, a bit better than store bought cavendish despite being picked early. i thought they would be starchy and seedy.
here is a dwarf cavendish next to a dwarf namwah, still much smaller than store bought cavendish.
i foresee making lots of banana muffins as well as dipping slices of these in peanut butter and chocolate and freezing them.
by the way, kokopo only has a short window where it tastes really good, when it’s over-ripe it’s disgusting and bitter. kind of like feijoa, when over-ripe it’s better off being in the compost pile than eaten.
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So inspired by the wealth of detailed information you have provided on your banana cultivation journey. I have experimented with 8 different cultivars in Mobile, Alabama. In my experience I Have been most impressed with “Sweetheart” hybrid cultivar. Curious to know if you are in the Florida/Bama vicinity.
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i’m about 2 miles from the Gulf, but we probably have similar temps. i have seen pics (online FB) zone pushing edible bananas much further north than me in midwestern states.
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snow this AM…last year the Gulf coast had a snowpocalypse but this time around, not too bad, just a dusting, it all melted by the time the sun came out.
bananas and tropicals staying warm
this is how i wrap the bananas
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I am never going to be growing bananas, but I love these updates. Your organization and care is so impressive and fun to follow. I can only imagine how long it takes to put your whole orchard to bed at night!
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@Ijendu welcome to the forum!
i won’t be able to do this for long, just a few years, it’s a lot of work every winter, i’d like to be able to relax, i haven’t taken a vacation in winter since i started growing tropicals, so when i do get tired, my backyard orchard is going to be all temperate climate fruits.
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Will you grow any bananas indoors?
nope, they don’t do well in pots indoors, they take forever and the yields are low
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We are about to get some very rare cold here for a couple nights this weekend. Depending which forecast you look it they are projected lows for Saturday and Sunday night of 26 and 28 or thereabouts. I usually am anywhere between 2 and 5 degrees warmer at my house than the forecast so I am hoping that I only get down to about 30.
But, I currently have two bunches on my tall namwa that aren’t really that close to being ready. It flowered (twice at the same time) around mid October so it’s probably only about halfway to being ripe. My question is do you think I should cut the bunches down and bring them inside to hopefully ripen and get something out of them even if they are small? Or should I leave them and try to protect them?
This is what they look like as of now.
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i’m late answering, was a busy week for me, sorry! those are not ready, they mature very slowly in winter.
Yes, I knew they weren’t ready. But I was going to lose them anyways so cut the one that was slightly further along down and just let the other one get blasted :(. Hopefully they come back once it warms up. If not I have pups that i protected in a shed that survived so I can replant if necessary.