Banana harvest. Ohhh yeahhh!!!

Well the top of the bananas started turning yellow, since I did not want to share this with bugs etc, I went ahead and harvested. Taste like banana! I think I will let them ripen more so they are a bit sweeter but excellent harvest, after years of trying to grow this!

Super congratulations! It's a long, long wait for those green bananas to turn yellow, but oh my how much it is worth it!!! They have superior texture and flavor over the supermarket kind. I've become a banana snob and won't bother eating a supermarket banana anymore.

Su Ba wrote:Super congratulations! It's a long, long wait for those green bananas to turn yellow, but oh my how much it is worth it!!! They have superior texture and flavor over the supermarket kind. I've become a banana snob and won't bother eating a supermarket banana anymore.

Yes, I have seen the choices you have for bananas there,   awesome to be able to have so many choices.       This variety is called ice cream banana.     I had a zillion fire ants in the middle of it so had to wash it down.    I could almost live on bananas alone.

I have the same banana variety in my yard; it’s also called Blue Java and is promoted as cold tolerant (‘cold’ by Australian standards)

Bananas do grow in my climate of South Australia. There are colossal specimens greeting visitors at my local community garden, they’re grown in the Botanic Gardens, amd some people even have them in their yards. Yet mine hasn’t grown more than a few inches in two years, and I’ve moved it twice.

Last week I moved it one more time. Will see what happens next. I love the tropical jungle look of banana plants; if I could I’d have them all over my yard.

And it’s good to try let them ripen on the plant, though even here ants and insects are a problem with them. They’ll be at their sweetest then. Supermarket bananas aren’t as sweet because they’re picked green.

I really should move to Queensland one day. Sure, fruit fly ruins everything once the fruit are ready, but at least with its ideal climate of rainy summers you can easily pass the first stage of getting beyond two feet high!

much nicer looking bunch than my first:

actually i did have one a couple years ago which flowered indoors but then died
but this is my first bunch which should be edible


Tim, the variety Mart has is "ice cream" which means it is most likely musa namwa

if you have the real blue java it will have blue fruit right from the get go

reports from texas say that the namwa is slightly more cold hardy and better tasting than the blue java
although both rank well for taste and cold hardiness

When I helped harvest some bananas, we immediately separated them out into bunches that were not touching one another, to allow some air flow. We also put some up on a table where they would catch some sun and others we put under the table where it's  possible to wet the floor and have some evaporative cooling. We also used the hose to get rid of ants and stored some of them in an air-conditioned room. In this way, we stretched out the ripening from a single bunch, weighing about 60 lb, to 3 weeks. We found it easy to use up 20 lbs per week, with the number of people around.

What do your feed your banana plants to let them thrive?

I’ve now re-planted my Blue Java to a spot with better soil and more ground shade (the leaves get full sun though), and I’ve added heaps of fresh arborist wood chips around it, but I still want to feed it more if it’ll benefit it. I could get lots of spent coffee grounds from a cafe if needed, and fresh horse manure if I like.

Tim Kivi wrote:What do your feed your banana plants to let them thrive?

I’ve now re-planted my Blue Java to a spot with better soil and more ground shade (the leaves get full sun though), and I’ve added heaps of fresh arborist wood chips around it, but I still want to feed it more if it’ll benefit it. I could get lots of spent coffee grounds from a cafe if needed, and fresh horse manure if I like.

Well lets see...

composted cow manure,
rock dust
biochar
beneficial nematodes
banana peals
the gunk from my fish tank filter, have 1000 gal tank
Korean natural farming, I make compost from bolivian sun flowers

The first bunch of this year,    I have another bunch on...

I love it when you make it to the finish line.

I'm curious do you harvests the leaves as well?
I'm considering planting cold hardy bananas for the leaves, for  my immigrants neighbors.

William Bronson wrote: I'm curious do you harvests the leaves as well?
I'm considering planting cold hardy bananas for the leaves, for  my immigrants neighbors.

No, I do not harvest them other than use them to compost with them.       How do you / they use them?

Thanks.

I think most of them are from Guatemala or Honduras and they use them to wrap their tamales in.

They also will use corn husks, unfortunately my corn failed this year, so I has none to share.

I figure If I could grow the bananas for leaves, I could trade, share and sell them and maybe the pups as well.

The fruit of truly hardy bananas is said to be inedible, though if I ever get any, I will certainly see what I can do with them before I give them to the chickens.