There not ripe yet, should I leave them on the stalk?? How do I ripen them?? Help, this is the first time they have produced fruit!!

If you take them off of the stock then they'll ripen faster.

If you leave them on the stock and hang them on the wall then they'll stay green longer. It tricks them into thinking that they are still on the tree.

Oh, and don't stick them in the fridge or they'll turn brown.

Alex

Do not put in refrigerator it blackens them. Place in a bowl in a sunny area. Also try putting some in a plastic bag with a Apple in it. The apple will give off ethylene gas and may help them ripen.

Green bananas, if they're not TOO green, will ripen on the stalk. The other side of this situation is that banana trees only produce once and then it's time to grow another. Or at least that is the situation as I recall from my HS Botany classes. But what the hell, enjoy 'em while you got 'em.

Don in Ohio

Leave 'em in your lunchbox on the frontseat of the car for a couple of days.  They'll be ripe, alright.
Or, alternate between the frontseat/fridge.
I don't like UNripe bananas.
Gimme the soft, squishy, brown and ready for bread making bananas----ooooh, that sounds nasty!

Aloha from Hawaii.
Bananas...got plenty of them..
If you take them off the stalk in "hands"..the bunches...they will tend to ripen together...so if you take them off....you will have a lot of ripe bananas all at one time. Best to keep them on the stalk...and cut off the hands as you need them. Hang the stalk in the garage or someplace.....hang it upside down so gravity wont cause the bananas to pull off as they ripen. Loop a cord around the stalk a couple of  hands of bananas down from the top. Assuming that the bananas are green, the way to tell how close to being ready to pick they are is by noticing a softening or rounding of the edges of the fruit.......as they ripen they get rounder...if they are too immature they may ripen eventually but wont be that good a quality of fruit. A final hint....very ripe bananas freeze well..........think smoothies and banana bread. Good Luck!
Wabi

Hey wabi,

Is it correct what DonOhio39 said about having to replant them once they've produced fruit?

I am wondering as i've considered getting one of the dwarf trees but don't want to have to buy them again and again.

misterhemi....as the banana tree matures it produces an off shootm or sucker at the base of the plant. It is called a "keiki" (which is hawaiian for "child"). Once the banana tree produces fruit it dies, falls and rots. The keiki produced grows into another tree. Of course here we are over run with keikis in various stages of growth going on to produce more bananas. I would imagine that in a climate that is marginal for banana production, only one small keiki may be produced, or it could be damaged by the cold.....thus not perpetualizing the plant. I may be going out on a limb here, but I would imagine that if the keiki is protected from the cold, or more likely, seperated from the old plant and potted up, then put in the house or greenhouse would survive the winter and go on to mature and produce fruit again. Stokes Tropicals has a wide variety of banana plants for sale including some of the more cold resistant varieties. They also may be a source of info on winterizing them. A couple of caveats however...when working with banana plants wear junk clothes as the sap which is otherwise clear, when contacting clothes produces stains when washed that do NOT come out.

anothergene.......the little stickers are put on by union fruit flies, it marks their turf.
Aloha,
wabi

We get cold weather and snow, my banana trees are planted on the south side of the house, when the first killing frost hits, I cut the plants off about six inches above the ground and cover the stumps with a bale of hay to prevent freezing.  This has worked so far, I never have to bring the plants in..[:D]

Confederate.....good idea..I am sure that works. Is the next seasons growth from keikis next to the stumps?
wabi

Yes, the stump area just keeps getting bigger and bigger, may have to split it off next spring and make two banana tree groups.

That is how we propagate them.
wabi