You may want to give these nurseries below a call and check them out. JRN carries alot of exotic plants. Joseph, in Pearland, is a humongous nursery that also carries exotic plants. Last time I visited Joseph, about a decade ago, they picked us up in a golf cart to directly go to this greenhouse dedicated only for yellow chrysanthemums. I can't imagine how large it is now. JRN Nursery 4809 Breen Dr Houston, TX 77086 Tel: 281-448-6107ý 281-448-4127ý JRN 2nd location in the SW area: JRN Nursery 2 11701 Alief Rd, Houston, Tx Tel: 281-495-5450 RCW Nurseries 15809 Tomball Pkwy. Houston, Tx 77086 Tel: 281-440-5161 Joseph's Nursery 3723 Fm 1128 Rd Pearland, TX 77584 Tel: 281-489-9786 Good Luck and have fun with plant shopping! Natalie PS: Here's a tip: Leave your credit cards home and bring only enough cash that you're intending to use. Unless, you have great self control =o)

Once the bananas puff up they are done , just wait till they get a little yellow then pick them and hang them..... The pups are how the plant reproduces you are not getting any benifit from removing them at this point... 3 plants in a group is best for producing fruit .

Raimeiken, I bought some pups from Wellspring Gardens over 1 year ago and they are really pushing out pups. I am pretty sure that they are Namwah variety and not Ice Cream like they said. I have 3 pups that I have gotten from my 2 plants and 1 has been fully potted and is growing great. The other I just cut from the corm Friday and the third one just came up from the corm this week. If you want a plant I can give you one in exchange for a 15" or larger pot. PM me for more details. I am probably not far from your area.

Stanofh, Congratulations on your ice cream banana bloom. From my own experience, bananas take about 4 months to ripen. So, that means by October you should have your harvest. You've indicated your planting zone as 10a. Where I am, it's 9b and where October is still a rather pleasant month with no chills at all. So, I would imagine, yours should do well there. I'm glad to see your bananas being planted close to the house. That's the way to go. Those that are planted close to my house fruit rather regularly for me. By the way, I also have an ice cream banana in a huge pot and it's right now blooming too. I dug it out from the ground because it wasn't doing anything for many years and I was wondering what was wrong with this variety. Those bananas that have been planted close to the house are all of the Raja Puri variety and they really thrive well there. I love the pictures posted--post more when the fruit start developing. All the best to your first edible banana harvest!