What’s the chances that my Namwa banana will fruit soon? It was a tiny pencil thick twig only about 6 months ago. But it’s grown massively in a 30 gal pot watered daily. The base of the stem is about 6 inches, leaves 24x48 inches and maybe 5ft of stem. I’d like to see it flower after no more than 6 more leaves. Any chance of that?
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I expect true Namwa to fruit in that environment when the pseudostem height is in the 7’ to 9’ range.
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I’m uncertain whether bunches #2 and #3 will ripen this year. We’ve somehow been short on the necessary growing degree days. Oh well, bananas in the Spring are welcome!
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I don’t know if you are as height limited in your greenhouse as I am. But I’ve always had to chop mine back around this time of year to move mine inside (I grow them outdoors in the summer). Last year, I finally had a flag leaf, but had to chop the plant and move it inside due to the incoming cold weather.
This year, my plants all got to about 8 or 9 ft… But, one of the pups (2.5 ft. tall) produced a bud! So maybe I’ve got a chance to get it through the winter and get some zone 7 bananas next year!
I’m not sure what to expect from such a small plant, but I’d be happy to get anything!
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I can get 12-14 feet pretty easily. So I shouldn’t need to chop back.
It is encouraging to see yours fruiting. I’ve got a Namwa that should fruit next spring, maybe even this fall.
I’m like you, anything to taste the fruit will do. If it’s great then maybe I’ll go in ground.
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch. You go banana man. Love the banana pics Richard. Always enjoyable to live vicariously thru your bananas. I could only dream of a bunch.
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Lookslike another right behind it?
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Yes, that is #3 discussed above 
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Probably the last good run of sun for my blue Java banana. Just happy to to still have it alive. It will be joining the fishes in the garage soon to bask in the LED light until spring. Enjoy the crumble Richard. It looks great. Honestly I don’t think I have ever had a banana crumble. Just blueberry and blackberry.
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1/8. Yesterday I finished thinning the bananas. Several stalk “stumps” remained which will either continue growing or be very slow to die. This morning I drilled 3/4" holes in their centers and poured in a tablespoon of glyphosate.
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Question:
- do you have any guidelines for cutting back the pseudostem to a shorter height for those who have to bring our bananas in and out?
- does that cutting (alone) affect the eventual flowering?
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Thanks Richard — I’ve got that saved! Was mostly curious about a cutback for height. Right now my namwa is still throwing up about a leaf a month indoors, scraping my ceiling, so when I move it out in the spring I think I might want to see if I can make it shorter
I figured we have an expert here so why sign up for a bananas org account 
. I wanted to try my luck at growing a banana here outside of the typical locale…
Is the stem color normal? Or is it rotting? Is it a cold temperature thing? Night time lows have been a bit warmer than earlier in the year but still dipping to mid 40s on some nights.
Sequence of events for reference:
- Received last year, had it in a pot all summer/winter
- Planted in ground in March '24
- Noticed some small dark spots in last week on the “sheath” of older leaves along the stem so intuitively (possibly wrongly) cut those out exposing newer “sheaths”
- I noticed yesterday there is a quite bit of pink coloration on the stem, but don’t notice any off smell now nor when I was cutting the older leaves off a week ago
No expert here but my take is the soil is too cold. Your soil is likely still below 60F. Your air temps are also too low. But it’s actually easier to warm the soil than the air. That assumes some sunshine. You might clear off the soil. Then cover with black weed barrier. And then cover that with clear plastic. You’ll have a mini greenhouse to heat up the soil.
My Namwa in a greenhouse puts out about three big leaves a month when it’s warm inside. When it was cold for 45 days during chill cycle this winter, I about killed the thing. But it’s recovered nicely and has six big new leaves.