When are these pickable?

They'll get fatter. It takes many months for bananas to ripen (especially through winter months).

I agree, it's too soon to pick now. Wait until you see a hint of color. Important to remove the flower buds before they bloom.

Ok,I will wait longer.

Stan,

Yes, by spring they should be ripening.

This is Ice Cream bananas, right? If so, those are really good-tasting bananas. I have them in the front yard.

Bathgate:

You're thinking of the male flowers (at the tip of the inflorescence) . Yes, it's always good to remove the male flower to have all the energy concentrated into fruit production.

I've been growing bananas for years. Home-grown bananas are the best you can ever eat. I grow 6 varieties, which haven't done well over the last year due to the extreme drought.

They sound wonderful. The only bananas i know of are the ones from the supermarket which i believe are clones. I'm eating the same banana over and over again-is that right Del?

Has the drought ended?

Yes, it's so nice to eat home-grown bananas. They taste so much better than store bought ones! :>)

Most bananas are hybrids. The ones I grow are all hybrids (Mysore, Golden fingers, White Iholena, Ice Cream are some hybrids I grow). Mysore is my favorite.

The drought is not over here, unfortunately! We are getting some rain this year, though. December we had twice the normal rainfall, which is a good start. We need a lot more rain to break this drought. The ground is at least moist this year...that's good compared to the last six past very hot, dry winters. It's starting to get green here. I haven't seen that here in years! :>))

Looks like they have been enjoying the recent rain...when I was a child my dad worked on the dock. Banana boats unloaded massive trunks of bananas which ripened in the sheds built on site.. Thee were always bananas in our house...lol

I'm told by banana people- or are they people who are banana's? bada -boom!...that it is actually Namwa. Very small finger banana's that are said to be very sweet even in moderate climates.
BG,The drought for the bay area has been called officially over. Its the 60% rest of the state that has to catch up...but they are slowly.
Bay Area county's like Marin are actually 100% at capacity already and letting the precious overflow go to sea. Kind of a shame- but where can you keep hundreds of billions of gallons extra?

Lady finger bananas are extremely popular. Most of the ones I have are lady finger varieties.

Yes, it's looking very optimist regarding the end of the drought. I'm thinking soon we may be close to the end or easing of drought conditions. The ground here is wet. I just saw on the news it may be raining off-and-on from Thursday through next Tuesday. That could be a lot more water.

California's water departments really need to catch all the excess water and store it somewhere. We can't afford to let any excess water get wasted!

I heard about the epic snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that I understand will supply you with sufficient water all summer.

Yes, the snow fall in the Sierra Mountains are at record levels. It's great! Yay! :>))