Namwah (Namwah) Growth to Date

Grow Gros Michel

The Gros Michels are producing their first leaves under my watch.

Princess and Marquita

I haven't observed Princess or Marquita much because I have been preoccupied with Mother Plant, hoping that she would flower. Well it doesn't look like that is going to happen any time soon. The reason why I am sort of curious about Princess and Marquita right now is because someone from Bananas.org advised me that the stacking up of leaves is a sign that a banana is about ready to flower. I have noticed that the leaves on Princess and Marquita are no longer reaching up for the sky, but all seem to be growing near the same place. It makes me wonder if it's possible that these two shoots of Mother Plant might flower before she does. Hmmm???

Mother Plant: Hard Prune

I decided to hard prune Mother Plant and transplant her to a 24" pot. I had hoped that Mother Plant would produce a bud by now. If that were the case, I would not have to worry about getting her back into the house for the winter. However, it seems that this is just not going to happen. I posted pictures of Mother Plant on Bananas.org, and my comrades advised me that it would be several months before the plant starts to flower. The reason was that banana leaves start to stack up in one area right before the plant starts to flower. As you can tell by the picture of Mother Plant pre-pruned, the leaves were not stacking up at all. So, on to Plan B. I have pruned Mother Plant. I hope to keep here low enough so that should she decide to flower, I can bring her in the house over the winter. If the plant does not show any signs of producing bananas, I may store her in my shed over the winter and let her go dormant. We'll see what happens.

Regina: Hard Prune

I cut Regina down about 2 feet. I wanted to see what would happen, and I need to start devising a plant to harbor my bananas over the winter. The issue is can I get the bananas back into my house. The top two pictures were taken June 14th, and the bottom picture was taken June 17th. That's a lot of growth in only 3-4 days.