Banana in flower

It looks like something you would attach to your hoover for those awkward to get areas :)

LOL! Or something from a sci-fi movie not yet made! :))

My thought too - something from the Alien films maybe!

An episode of Dr Who!

As long as it doesn't come snaking in through the windows... :o

Little shop of horrors!

Attack of the killer M(ed)USA!!!

I see this here all the time. Some people don't know to cut the male flowers off after the last hand (the male flowers take energy from the bananas).

I'm going to have to take the bananas in hand (excuse the pun!) - the garden has been neglected for a number of years...there are a few like this...

LOL! :>)

If you cut the male flowers off, the bananas will grow larger.

Should that be done at any particular time in the formation of the fruit? Looking at the photo, should it still be done? Although, I really would like to see the flower open... :)

Yes, at the emergence of the males flowers.

On the photo above...most of the male flowers have already bloomed. Male flowers are not showy at all!

Ah, well...too late now anyway...
A man with a machete got there first this morning!
Yes, we have no bananas - as the song goes...

Hopefully he cut the whole banana trunk down. After it blooms they die. Although, as you know many pups appear from the bottom.

Yes - the whole thing! It was in a bad place anyway...right outside the kitchen door...so it's coming out all together now. Maybe I can plant another one somewhere more sensible...any idea how long it would take a new one to produce fruit, Delonix?

The banana pups move pretty easily. Removing all the rhizomes from the ground, is a very different story, though...it's back-breaking work.

I have banana plants which grow from 1ft/30cm to 12ft in 4 to 5 months. In the wet tropics expect much faster growth! Banana plants can produce a flower stalk in about a year...then 3 - 5 months for the bananas to ripen, most likely sooner in the wet tropics. :>)

Ah, that's good to know...luckily it won't be me having to do the hard work! :)

You're very lucky! :>)

I know!! :))))