Princess

I am watching Princess carefully, as she is showing signs of an impending flower. I attempted to mix up a foliar spray cocktail to get some calcium to the plant. I crushed up two vitamins and mixed them with some powered milk and water. I sprayed the leaves with this solution. I don't know if it did any good. The cigar leaf is still pale but is coloring up slowly. It would probably be better if the plant would wait until it can produce a few more large leaves. If not, I hope the current cigar leaf will be a decent sized leaf so that the plant can photosynthesize as much as possible. Another concern is that I have cut back a lot of the older petioles because they were decaying due to the low temperatures and the slow down of growth while in the greenhouse. Now the pseudostem is very thin. I may have to brace the stem with some bamboo if the plant flowers as I anticipate.

Mother Plant Fruit Update

The fruit still look good.

Mother Plant's Last Pups

Mother Plant has raised the population of banana trees with all her offspring. Since she is fruiting, I don't expect her to produce more pups. The last two pups are quite healthy and have grown more vigorously than all the previous pups. I think they will be able to fruit within a year's time, give or take a couple of months.

Gros Michel Update

I have one Gros Michel plant indoors and one outside in the greenhouse. I have contemplated putting one of them in the ground this spring. Perhaps if I place it beside the porch, the plant will stay warm enough for the pseudostem to survive the winter.

More Bananas???

I noticed ants coming out of the pseudostem of Princess, the banana. After I sprayed the ants, I noticed that the last leaf to emerge is smaller than previous leaves. The current cigar leaf seems smaller too. I wonder if this plant is about to flower. The leaves may be because I interrupted her dormant state in the colder greenhouse to bring her inside the warm house. However the last time I attributed smaller leaves to change in conditions, but I later discovered a flower was forming. If this plant flowers, it will be about sooner than I expected--only 1 year and 7 months to flowering. I may be overly optimistic. I guess we will see soon enough.

Inflorescence Update

I removed the bell from Mother Plant. All the remaining flowers were male, and the bracts was taking a long time to lift--just another sign that the banana's energy reserves are limited. So that the plant does not have to expend unnecessary energy, I decided the bell should be cut off. Noticed the one picture with the fused fingers in the middle.

Propagation via corm pieces???

I brought my small dwarf Cavendish plants indoors to get them growing. On top of the soil in one of the pots I found a piece of corm with a bud on it. I kind of wonder if it will grow, so I potted it up.

Give me the finger: Banana Inflorescence

Mother Plant, the Dwarf Cavendish, continues to develop her fruit. The conditions are far from ideal--indoors, overcast skies, overly pruned, and containerized. Even so, she is trying to support her fruit. I hope they make it. It's hard to believe that my 2-year odyssey with Mother Plant will come to an end within the next few months. However, her pups live on, Lord willing.

Banana

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html

Going Bananas!!!

I have been sneaking looks at Mother Plant's inflorescence. There are little green bananas peeking from beneath the red bracts. I am trying to guesstimate the amount of hands the plant will bear. At present, I am believe there are at least four hands. However, I am hoping for more; I just cannot tell until some of the bracts start opening up.

Truly Tiny, Truly

I have been cutting my bananas' pseudostems to keep the heights manageable. I thought that perhaps I should investigate some shorter bananas, so I purchased two truly tiny bananas. I was originally looking for super dwarf Cavendish or Mauritius bananas, but these were not as accessible as the Truly Tiny. I am also a bit curious because some sources say that truly tiny bananas are versions of dwarf Cavendish, and other sources say that they are versions of dwarf Brazilian. I have no idea which is true, but I sort of hope that they are Brazilian, as I already have Cavendish bananas. Another issue is that I am not sure that the truly tiny bananas will fruit. Sources say that they are rumored to fruit, but I find it difficult to impossible to find a picture of a confirmed truly tiny plant with fruit on it. There seems to be much confusion between the characteristics and facts as they relate to truly tiny, little prince, and super dwarf Cavendish plants. Seems like a mystery that needs careful studying to me. That's my cue.

Mother Plant Pushing the Inflorescence

The inflorescence is still emerging from the center of the plant's pseudostem. I am so excited that I have to keep myself from tampering with the bud to peek at the forming bananas. Notice the lumps under the bracts. I think these are bananas. I don't know how to distinguish female bananas from the neutral and male bananas. If all those bumps and bulges are female bananas, then Mother Plant is about to make a large quantity of bananas. If not, at least I'll get some bananas, Lord willing. :-)

Banana inflorescence

I'm excited.

Mother Plant

Banana inflorescence update

Gros michel

This is the gros michel plant that I am over wintering indoors. The other is in the drafty greenhouse. I will plant one in the ground and grow the other in a container.

Inflorescence update

I carefully dislodged the emerging bud from the flag leaf.  Nothing major to see, only a pointed tip of a bract.  I am using the grow lights more this week due to overcast skies.

Banana inflorescence

I am marking the plant to see how fast it is growing. Since yesterday, the inflorescence has emerged 1.5 centimeters or 19/32 of an inch. I was thinking the bud would emerge soon. However, I have been looking at the progression of the bud emergence of kcj1219's dwarf cavendish plant and have concluded that I will be lucky to see the bud by Christmas or the end of the year. His plant required about 10 days to progress from my banana's current stage to a fully emerged bud. His plant was outside in a sunnier, warmer climate in late October. My plant is indoors in a sunny window with grow lamps in a temperature-controlled environment.

Inflorescence update

Mother Plant is still pushing out the flag leaf. I can't believe it.  Two years of tending and observations coming to fruition.

Pups