I think they are very heavy feeders and very thirsty plants. Wonder if that could be the culprit?

It takes several months for your young bananas to get to their full size. Be patient.

a banana grower once told me to use citrus fertilizer and then add potash on top of that. That is what I attempt to do but not alway on top of it. Mulch heavily. Use oak leaves in the spring and whenever you trim your bananas use that as mulch too.

I have plants that fall over too. What you can do is support the plant at the top. I use a 2 X 4 with a second smaller 2 X 4 at the top to form a "Y" with a long tail and wedge this under the stalk.

Bananas that set in the fall may not ever develop into edible fruit. The cool weather stops fruit development.

I hope this helps. Good luck

Ana, do you know the type of banana that you have? it is very important because not all of them are equal in fruiting, resistant to disease and other things. Does it get full sun? Do you fertilize it? Do not cut anything till it finishes fruiting, did you say you cut the bell? from the flower the next branches grow...

I had 12 varieties once and I simplified to one that I like the best, because I have a nice microclimate my bananas that fruit in winter usually ripen with no problem that is if we have a mild winter like last year. Laura is right, they take a long time to ripen, like 3-4 months.

My bananas today are flowering in two stalks.

Silvia

Silvia, what bananas did you start out with? and what did you narrow it down to? I inherited 3 or 4 patches that I just cut down. But in the past I've had ice cream and cavendish. They're beautiful but alot of work to keep from taking over the whole yard!

Hi Wanna, I started with Mona Lisa, SH-3640, French Horn, Hua Moa, dwarf Brazilian, Phang Raja, Raja Puri, Ice Cream, Red, Nam Wa, Klu Nam Wa and I kept the FHIA-23.

I also love bananas but not the hard work after they all fruit, one banana is enough for me. For some reason it always fruits on two stalks out of three that I keep. They are delicious and the variety is very healthy, it is a hybrid that was develop for disease resistance and it works in my garden.

Recently when I was in St. Lucia, banana plantations were huge but theirs are dwarf like around 6 ft tall and the fruit was covered in blue bags, they said that speeds the ripening and protects from bugs, the taste of the bananas was superior than what we get here in the market but they only export to Europe.

Silvia

Thank you all for advises!

I planted two types, one was ice cream, and that winter only one survived. I am not sure now if i have the ice cream type left. It is 20 feet tall. I definitely need to fertilize it. I didn't think that need that much! Waiting for ripening is not a problem. But as i wait they all die one by one before they ripen. As of now they are all gone. I cut the bell only on one stack and it didn't make any difference. When i see the stack starts drying out i cut down the plant since there is no more hope. it's all black, like rot, inside.

I suspect it may be the weather as laura1 states. Bananas like it warm. You may have better luck moving them to another part of the yard - where you think it will be warmest.

Ana, what zone are you in? Your plants look very healthy to me. I do have some fall over when the fruit gets too heavy, but a stand made from pvc can prop them up and stop it from happening.

they don't look like they need fertilizer to me. You wouldn't get growth that high, or that many hands of bananas if they were missing something.

I am in 9b zone. It's very hot for the last 2-3 months and lots of rain. They get full sun all day and mulched. Water, temperature and sun should not be an issue. Fertilizer maybe since I don't remember when I did it last time.

They look heavy on the picture but in reality they are tiny skinny and not growing for weeks and then die. Funny thing is they look perfectly healthy to me until they bloom. I am ready to get rid of all of them since it's so much work cutting them down and take away with no bananas :) Everyone said bananas are easy to grow!!

I saw some pictures on the internet where plants bend but bananas still growing and ripening. I waited until the stalk started getting dry and black and bananas were getting wrinkled dry. when i cut the plant down it was smelling like rotting.

There is a forum here on gardenweb titled: "edible bananas for zone 9" and this page has pretty good info: www.tropicalpermaculture.com

Sunny, I 'm near Tampa and I can vouch for the rain and the heat. If it's not the fertilizer, the other thing that it could be is...competition. Are there too many in one small area? I think they say the heir and a spare or two, and the rest get chopped down or transplanted elsewhere. Or it maybe some kind of fungus in the soil?

Do you see any of these symptoms?

Red/brown flecks or spots on underside or topside of leaves; spots with dark or yellow border and grey centre; death of leaf surface; bunch not developing

Alternatively, check this website:

https://www.plantvillage.com/en/topics/banana/infos/diseases_and_pests_description_uses_propagation

To me, sounds like corm rot, or something else.

Interestingly I do see some spots... It has to be fungus or potassium deficiency, or both :(

Potassium Deficiency Symptoms: Deficiency of potassium causes marked
reduction in growth, interval profusely smaller, premature yellowing of plant. Purplish
brown patches appear at the base of the petioles and in severe cases the center of
the corm may show area of brown, water soaked disintegrated cell structures. Fruits
are badly shaped, poorly filled

My parents had a huge clump in the back yard that came with the property that was once a nursery. It produced the sweetest little fat bananas but your right the trunks are not strong one good storm with high wind and they're on the ground especially if they have fruit hanging. He built a support that had a large horse shoe shape to cradle the branch on one end I can't remember how many of these supports went on a tree maybe just the one in the direction that was closest to the ground. the falling direction. He also cut off the stalk when the majority of the bananas were plump and very close to being ripe then it would get hung in a patio to finish otherwise the raccoons and everything else would get them.