July Banana Update

21 years ago

This is more or less a continuation of an old thread. Just wanted to post an update for those interested in how my bananas turned out from being underneath the house all Winter. Some thought that they wouldn't survive, others thought that they would do well. Truthfully, I did lose one plant. It had almost no corm and not quite two feet of pseudostem, and died. I also cut two stems back quite a bit because they weren't growing at all and I suspected center leaf rot, which was the case. When I cut them back to a green center, they shot up quickly. The first picture was taken April 17th, about three weeks after planting:

Second picture taken June 4. If you remember, for those of you living in the eastern half of the U.S., early May was quite cold! Not much growth is noted here, although they were just starting to really get going.

This picture was taken July 16th. I've been feeding them horse manure and Peters 20-20-20. I've had to water quite a bit too, as we haven't had that much rainfall here in Nashville this summer.

So, as you can see, this method works pretty well. My crawlspace is a bit too damp, but not enough to do any serious harm. Oh yeah, I found this last week too:

I'm expecting another bloom or two, but there won't be enough time for them to plump up before first frost. In fact, there may not be enough time for this bunch to plump up. We'll see. BTW, I'm fairly certain the variety is orinoco.

I also stuck some sunflower seeds in between a few of the stalks. They tried to take over the garden!

Happy banana growing!

Here is a link that might be useful: continuation of THIS thread

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Comments (10)

AnnaJW
21 years ago
Great pictures!
bananalover
21 years ago
I really liked this. Just amazing the difference from how they first looked! I think the sunflowers and other plants are just wonderful out there with the bananas. Thanks for sharing this.
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gardenguy_
21 years ago
fglavin, that is beautiful man! My heart sank when I saw the bloom, and you mentioned that the bloom most likely won't make it before the first frost. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of a white Christmas just to have a mild damp winter above 50 degrees all winter long. I'll have some pictures in my thread for my update by this Sunday. Great job on your garden and keep up the good work.

BTW, where did you get the Peters 20-20-20?
fglavin
Original Author
21 years ago
gardenguy:

I should have been a little bit clearer. What I meant to say was that I don't think the bananas will have time to plump up before our first frost, not the bloom. I'll pick them anyway and let them finish ripening in the house.

Got the Peters at Lowes or HD, can't remember which.
AndreaZn7
21 years ago
fglavin,
How long did it take for that orinoco to bloom?
How tall is the pseudostem?
Hope you get some nice hands by frost.
:o)Andrea
fglavin
Original Author
21 years ago
Believe it or not, that came up as a pup early last Spring off of a large mother corm. Pseudostem height is around 8 feet or so. Thanks!
hydro_grower
21 years ago
congrads,

they're all looking good..
i'm getting too old to be digging all those stems..LOL

i've got two blooms about the same way as yours.
i feel they'll plump up just enough, before first frost..

oh about end of nov. to dec. for first frost..
when it gets cooler they'll jump into action..

more encouragement
had 4-5" bananas on orinoco last year and they were just fine..

happy growin,

hg
another cold state growing bananas with success..
yendis
21 years ago
Fantastic. Bravo. You are an inspiration to us all. Thanks for the update. They all look so healthy !
How I envy you your climate.
I try to grow in England. My tall plants (Basjoo and Sikkimensis) get torn to pieces by cold strong winds.
Can we have more pictures to drool over ??
Best wishes.
fglavin
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks for the nice words, Bill. Last year, first frost was pretty late (Thanksgiving) for me. Usually it's somewhere around Nov. 1, maybe a little later. I hate that I'm already thinking about November! Not really looking forward to digging them all again either. I do have several other varieties started this year, like DO, ice cream, belle, 1000 fingers, fhia 03 sweetheart, goldfinger, and raja puri. Anyway, I'll let you know how the bananas turn out, and thanks for the encouragement.

Yendis, are you sure you're envious of my climate? I do get some fairly cold temps in the Winter! Last year and the year before was mild, but we got down to 1F in 2002-03 Winter. Summers are hot and humid, great for plants but not for me! My thermometer said 99F today, rel. humidity somewhere around 70%. Yuck!

Musellas last month:

{{gwi:415551}}

And this month:

{{gwi:415552}}

I love those little plants!
bananalover
21 years ago
Wow, I really like these too. Really compact looking and lots of leaves. Glad I am getting some seeds.