About six weeks ago the banana tree in my backyard started to produce its first stalk of bananas. When will I see edible fruits?
We will keep our fingers crossed, but this quest for a first harvest is almost sure to have an unhappy ending. Bananas that begin the fruiting process during the fall months seldom mature their fruits because of the cold winter weather. The foliage usually turns yellow, which stops good fruit production, when temperatures dip into the lower 40s; this occurs most years. At 32 degrees, the plant foliage burns back or freezes. Even if the banana fruits make it through the winter, they usually have a cardboard texture and taste when they turn yellow. Perhaps next time your plants will start flowering by early summer so the fruit can ripen under warmer conditions in about five months.
