Greetings!

Last year I bought this terrific home here in Delray Beach, Florida (south Florida)...one of the reasons I loved the place is the large yard, where 2 huge banana trees sit.
The owner told me every year she gets oodles of fruit all year long...
Guess what? Despite the ample rainfall we've been getting and the trimming of dead ponds, I have yet to see one purple flower or vine, not to mention any bananas!!!
And it's nearly August!!!
Is it true about 5-year banana tree cycles?
Maybe I need to fertilize or do some ancient indiginous banana tree dance by the moonlight?
Can anyone out there give me a clue???
I'd so much appreciate the advice...
Robert

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Last year I bought this terrific home here in Delray Beach, Florida...one of the reasons I loved the place is the large yard, where 2 huge banana trees sit.
The owner told me every year she gets oodles of fruit all year long...

Guess what? Despite the ample rainfall we've been getting and the trimming of dead ponds, I have yet to see one purple flower or vine, not to mention any bananas!!!

And it's nearly August!!!

Is it true about 5-year banana tree cycles?

Maybe I need to fer

You've been had! The owner told you what you wanted to hear & you never did the research to verify the truth. When the plants produce bananas, the plant will die. The next 'tree' will come from one of the pups. You are NOT going to get 'oodles of fruit all year long, every year' from the same plant.

exactly! but be patient, as long as the banana plant looks healthy and keeps sending out new leaves, it will eventually produce a bunch and then the subsequent fruit will come from the pups, try to keep only about 3 pups with each mother, so she can put more energy into producing fruit rather then raising daughters.....and try the dance,, u never know!

The banana takes time. Be patient my friend.

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Christopher Freville
Boulder, CO

I grew up in Hawai'i. We had a banana patch everyplace we lived--if there weren't any when we moved in, there was a patch when we moved out. This was what I was taught: "after they when fruit, you gotta knock 'em down, let the baby trees come up, otherwise the bananas just when get smaller and smaller, 'til you get no more." Basically, what others have said is true, AND it is possible that the seller was telling the truth, too--she may have had virtually year-round banans, progressively smaller if from the same trees, and she may have had her patch thinned before selling. When you see babies, knock the big tree down, or, alternatively, knock one down and watch babies come up (we usually did the latter). Good luck! By the way--you know to cut 'em (the fruit) green (after they have sized), and hang to ripen in a dark place, yeah?

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RLM