A Rare Banana

[Moose]

Can't wait to try the fruit on this kinda rare banana.

[realarch]

Ron, ours took forever to ripen and the flesh has a nice pale orange cast to it. Very meaty and not quite as sweet as say an ice cream banana. Very good though

and really showy.

[dalmatiansoap]

Thats Musa AeAe, not so rare as its hard to grow due its gowing habits

[Kim]

However it may taste, it's a feast for the eyes. Be sure to give us your gastronomic opinion, Moose!

[Moose]

Ron, ours took forever to ripen and the flesh has a nice pale orange cast to it. Very meaty and not quite as sweet as say an ice cream banana. Very good though

and really showy.

Thanks Tim. How long is forever? Mine are fattening up rapidly. This banana is planted near the property line and invitingly available.

I had one fruit last year. The banana was about 16 ft tall at the time. I had a "wind event" that caused it to fall over. Righting it was not successful. I left it prone and leaning against a short wall. The fruit never increased in size for the next month so I removed it. Gave the little green naners to the neighbor for cooking.

Kim - I hope people just feast with their eyes only.

[realarch]

Ron, it seemed like the fruit got fatter and fatter and was on the stalk for months. We finally saw the top fruit starting to split and that's when we cut it off. Holy crap it was heavy so we ended up cutting the stalk a bit

and let it slowly bend in half and then cut the bunch off. We get so many that we freeze a lot of them and use them for banana bread or smoothies.

[Manolitus]

Can't wait to try the fruit on this kinda rare banana.

Ron,

Let me know how they taste. Maybe I can trade you some sapotes ( nispero ) or mammy ( when they ripen ) ?

Manny

[JD in the OC]

would love to see those in the local Publix

[vincentmolino]

thats badass

[rprimbs]

That is cool! Is that Musa Ae Ae?

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Very nice!

[Moose]

Oops Look what popped out of da udder one

According to Don at Going Bananas (saw him at the Fairchild Spring Sale), you cut off the flowers 12" below where the bananas stop developing. He told me also that when you see some blushing of yellow on the fruit, cut them off and they will ripen like a typical banana.

[Moose]

The first stalk (post #1) got harvested last Saturday with the help of my son James. The stalk weighed around 70 Lbs. It was taken to the Tropical Fern and Exotic Plant Society Show for display. (see photo).

They should be ripe pretty soon.

[Stevetoad]

Man that's cool!

[Moose]

Update (photos taken this morning): Here is the daughter (pup) of the plant in the first post. She is ready for harvesting. Then the trunk will be cut down to 12 inches and then I'll get some puppies

[Cindy Adair]

Congratulations! Glad to see they aren't impossible to grow well!

This is one we want on our farm! We got a small one off ebay a few years ago and planted it in Puerto Rico, but alas it was dead when we next visited.

Amazingly we found one so big we weren't sure it would fit in our car at the Raleigh, North Carolina Farmer's Market last month. Not exactly a tropical locale, but we snapped it up for less than the cost of the smaller one and no shipping! We lost a couple of leaves in the transport to Virginia, but it has grown at least 3 new leaves since then. There's a tiny pup at the bottom. We hope that pup can eventually go to PR since I don't think we have the heart to chop back the big one for transport as baggage. It's dark now, but will get some photos soon.

[dalmatiansoap]

Nice bunch Moose!

[Funkthulhu]

I need more bananas in my life...

[Zeeth]

How do they taste?

[Cindy Adair]

Finally got a chance to grab some photos.

This banana loves the mister and is really growing fast! Any ideas on how tall they are when we might expect a bloom?

Pepsi can for scale.

The leaves of this variety are certainly lovely. FYI: The damaged leaves were from transport in our car.

[Funkthulhu]

That looks so cool with the verigation(?) on the leaves. I hope it doesn't outgrow your green house!

I read threads like these and feeling my banana envy rising.

I put my two dwarfs out on the deck, they're getting lots of sun and are quite happy for it, but it isn't enough!

There is this wonderful nut from Zone 4 Utah who puts his huge bananas out every spring and they go nuts. I figure I can try that too, so I ordered a packet of Musa ensete seed from India.

here's to giant ridiculous tropical plants!

[Moose]

Keith - the pretty much taste like a typical banana IMO. No that I am any banana connoisseur. Generally I eat the ones that are sold in the stores, I believe these are Cavendish? The flesh seems a little firmer with a faint orangish pastel hue. There is a subtle difference that is difficult to describe. I grow the AeAe because its a nice looking plant. The fruit is a bonus.

Cindy - the AeAe can reach heights of 22 ft. I just had one blow over two weeks ago that was 18 ft and had yet to bloom. At that height it was nearly impossible to upright, It got chopped up and the stump was dug up. The stump ended up planted in a 25 gallon container to encourage some pups to emerge. There were buds found on the stump.

My in-laws were visiting from Iowa. The bananas previously pictured got harvested yesterday so they could take some home. The stalk of bananas were @ 15 ft off the ground - so the overall plant was @ 17-18 ft.

The stalk had @ 70 bananas and weighed approximately 65 lbs. I nearly fell off the ladder trying to keep them from crashing after using the loppers.

Here is my pudgy hand for scale. Sorry for the fuzzy photo - real humid, lens fog.

The upper banans were starting to split from all our heavy rains.

Here is my fat hand again for scale so you can see how fat these suckers were

It generally takes two to three weeks for them to ripen if put in a bag, They yellow up just like regular bananas. You gotta look real close to see a slightly softer yellow were the variegation was.

[Moose]

Ooops - screwed up my edit

[aloetom]

Wow, a must add to the collection !

[Cindy Adair]

Our AE AE is doing so well inside our greenhouse (with the mister and wind protection) that we've let it stay protected so far. Such a nice plant! Here are some updated photos:

[Moose]

Here is an update.

I last harvested my AeAe bananas in the beginning of July. I had two stalks fruiting at the same time.

Now a mere 6 months later one of the pups developed is providing the next bunch. Looks like I may have it down to getting AeAe bananas twice per year.

This harvest is going to be a difficult one. I gonna need my son to assist, they is some substantial weight to them. Gonna back the Pick Up Truck right to the fence, then put an 8 foot ladder in the bed. It's gonna be precarious atop the ladder getting these bad boys down. This is the tallest stalk I've grown so far - those nanners are about 14 feet up there.

I bitch and moan about having to live in South Florida, its a people thing. Weather wise and growing plants - its fabulous. Hey I'm harvesting bananas in January - whats not to love.

[NApalm]

Awesome moose. Let us know how they taste!

[_Keith]

Here is an update.

AeAe XX.JPG

I last harvested my AeAe bananas in the beginning of July. I had two stalks fruiting at the same time.

Ae Ae 1.JPG

Now a mere 6 months later one of the pups developed is providing the next bunch. Looks like I may have it down to getting AeAe bananas twice per year.

AeAe 2.JPG

This harvest is going to be a difficult one. I gonna need my son to assist, they is some substantial weight to them. Gonna back the Pick Up Truck right to the fence, then put an 8 foot ladder in the bed. It's gonna be precarious atop the ladder getting these bad boys down. This is the tallest stalk I've grown so far - those nanners are about 14 feet up there.

I bitch and moan about having to live in South Florida, its a people thing. Weather wise and growing plants - its fabulous. Hey I'm harvesting bananas in January - whats not to love.

Awesome. I love that banana, but it is a fussy thing in all but the exactly right climate and conditions. You done good my friend.

[Kailua_Krish]

I bitch and moan about having to live in South Florida, its a people thing. Weather wise and growing plants - its fabulous. Hey I'm harvesting bananas in January - whats not to love.

Totally understand, thats why Im leaving Miami...

I'll miss the weather though!

[Ken Johnson]

Ladder in truck? OH no...

Why not notch the stem and let it fall over slowly?

[Jeff Searle]

That's a good idea Ken, and I have done this before if open space warrants it.

[dalmatiansoap]

Just cut slightly the back of the stem untill it bent. Bunch will come right to your arms.

[Moose]

Ladder in truck? OH no...

Why not notch the stem and let it fall over slowly?

I know Ken, its kinda stupid but notch and drop is not very slow. Plus I need to make it fall away from my other plantings. Got a bunch of split, cracked and snapped off ones back in mid summer when it came crashing down.

Your probably right though, sometimes I get a stubborn idea in my head. Hitting the ground in a fall at 30 hurts, hitting the ground at 50+ hurts real, real bad. Don't want to waste any but realistically I can't eat 70 lbs of bananas that all ripen within a week. I think I will heed you advise.

The wife is a Pre-School teacher, I send a mess of them to her kids. Believe it or not, two year old's enjoy watching the ripening and eating process. Especially after their amazed parents make a big deal about them. They all think they are special because they came from Miss Pam's garden. Oh, they call be Mr. Pam. LOL

The harvesting is not the hardest part, its getting rid of the stem. Very fat and heavy with water. I chunk up the stem and then distribute them in out of the way places in the garden to break down. You know in Florida if you leave it you end up with a stinky mushy mess full of fiber that is even more difficult to remove.

[Moose]

Nice cool morning and it was garbage day. Perfect time to harvest those bananas. I used Ken's advice and notched the tree. It was leaning ever so slightly so I went to retrieve the camera. I fully expected that further notching would be needed to coax it over. Back in two minutes and this is what was found.

[Moose]

Found the fruit tucked underneath

[Moose]

This best tool I have found to rapidly remove all the leaves is just an old serrated steak knife. Took less then 10 minutes to cut up the leaves - they filled both cans to capacity. That is the reasoning to do it on garbage day. I can hear the truck circling the neighbor hood already - the cans will be empty shortly.

[Moose]

Now I can get to the banana stalk for removal of the fruit. Its difficult to see but the stalk actually split and folded back underneath itself during the forced landing. Fist for scale to see how wide the stalk is near the top where it attached to the plant. Glad I listened to Ken, if I had fallen from the ladder, that could of been a broken bone rather than just a split banana stalk.

[Moose]

Fruit stalk is severed by using loppers. Stalk had to be cut where is was cracked and folded over. There were casualties, but an acceptable number.

[Moose]

Here is where the main stem was notched then gravity took over rest of the operation.

[Palm crazy]

Someday there will be a true variegated Basjoo! Some day? BTW I always leave my banana leaves right on the ground, even the trunks make good compost. It makes the garden smell like bananas. Congratulation awesome plant.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Palm crazy