HOMEGROWN BANANAS - Before I started growing these bad boys, I would call it a "banana tree." Truthfully, bananas are closer to an herb than a tree! The 'trunk' is just a bunch of huge leaves wrapped around one another, kind of like the top of an onion. It's called a pseudostem. The actual stem is hidden inside, growing up through the center to pop out the gorgeous flower and eventually, the bananas. The first time you plant bananas, you'll be overwhelmed by so many offshoots that you start wondering why you planted them in the first place. The easiest way to manage them is as a "family" - the "grandmother" banana is the one producing for that year, the one I harvested in this video. The "mother" is next year's banana. She will feed off of the chopped up remains of the grandmother after you harvest. The following season, you'll harvest that "mother" and chop HER up to feed her daughter, which would be the NEXT banana pup forming at the base. When it's time to harvest, you want to see a hint of yellow on the topmost hands of bananas. Then you know starches are becoming sugars. Cut the entire thing down and they'll keep ripening off the plant. Can't recommend growing them enough if your climate can support it - SO REWARDING!