Fruit in the cold north

16 years ago

Hey all,

I've had a dwarf cavendish, maybe a super dwarf since the pseudostem hasn't exceeded 4 feet, for three growing seasons now here in a cold zone 6. I move the plant outdoors for the summer, slowly acclimating it to the sun. Once adjusted it gets about half a days sun followed by shade in the afternoon. It's potted and sits next to the East side of the house. I move it out in mid May and bring it inside in early October. Our summers are pretty mild in WNY because of the great lakes. Summer nights average between 55 and 65 (60-70 in late summer) and summer days average in the mid 70's (low to mid 80's in late summer). I feed it with miracle grow fertilizer. For the winter it comes inside and sits in front of my big southern exposure sliding glass door on my enclosed front porch. It continues to grow for me throughout the winter since the porch stays relatively warm (~70F) with all the southern windows. Why haven't I seen flowers and fruit? Am I not giving enough sun in the summer? Is the growing season simply too short or temperatures too cool? Wrong fertilizer? Please help! I bought this plant solely to grow my own banana fruit. Thanks for the input!

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Comments (8)

tropicalzone7
16 years ago
When its ready it will fruit and eventually it will fruit. Before it fruits you will notice alot of pups and they will be pretty nice sized by the time it is ready to flower. You probably have a dwarf cavendish if it has 4 feet of trunk, and they usually have to get to about 6-7 feet to flower, so maybe next year, or if your really lucky the end of this cmming summer, but I think you still have about 2-maybe 3 more years left before fruit, but its worth it. Bananas need extrmemely humid and warm temps to grow fast (mid to upper 80s) so they will grow slower in your area especially if theres a cool spell, but eventually they all get to the same place which is the same place we all wait for, the flower and fruit!

Good luck, hope it all works out!
treeguy_ny USDA z6a WNY
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks for the input tropicalnorth. I measured the pseudostem on my naner - looks like the fisherman in me was showing through. The pseudostem is only 26 inches - I think it might be a SDC. The plant already has three mature pups that are each nearly the same size as the main/central/original pseudostem. I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers that she flowers and fruits this summer. With your advice in mind, that she's gonna flower eventually no matter what, is there anything culturally I can do to hasten its arrival? Thanks!
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sandy0225
16 years ago
They just fruit when they're ready. I don't think there's anything you can do to hasten it. It does sound like you have a sdc from the height. Most likely you'll get a bloom in the fall. Most of mine seem to bloom late summer/fall
Here's an inspirational picture link to mine...lol...

Here is a link that might be useful: mini sdc fruiting
treeguy_ny USDA z6a WNY
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the picture of yours flowering - beautiful! Do you have a picture of the entire plant either before, during, or after flowering?
sandy0225
16 years ago
before: here's a link to the picture. It needed a drink at the time though before I took the picture I didn't notice.
I can't get a picture of the whole plant now. the greenhouse is so crowded that I can't get that far away!

Here is a link that might be useful: ice cream picture
gardenguy_
16 years ago
Treeguy, any dwarf cavendish, ESP, sdc bananas are notoriously hard to fruit outside of it's indigenous growing zones are hard to fruit. With that being said, don't let that discourage you.

Here are some tips that may hasten fruiting arrival. Try to limit pups to no more than one pup at a time at the most. Remove pups as they emerge from the soil line. Try planting your banana in the ground when all danger of frost has past. In the fall, dig it back up and repot for winter. The idea with winter is that you just want to keep it alive for the summer when it will do most of it's growing. Also, when the banana is actively growing in the summer, it's important to heavily fertilize, esp with potassium ( which is the 3rd number in the fertilizing list ) EG: 5-5-5.

More info, read here.... http://www.ehow.com/how_5727086_fertilize-care-banana-plants-fruit.html
treeguy_ny USDA z6a WNY
Original Author
16 years ago
gardenguy, thanks for the good info. I hadn't considered planting it in the ground for the summer. I won't have time to do that this summer, but might be able to the following summer.

The plant already has two pups that are 3/4 to 4/5 the size of the main pseudostem, ie. nearly the same size. Since these are so large, should I still consider removing them? I've been removing other pups as they emerge from the soil but hadn't touched these two because of their size. Advice on these two would be appreciated, remove or not?!

Thanks!
tropicalzone7
16 years ago
I would leave them because they make the plant fuller and will replace the mother when it does flower. They probably have a lot of roots too so it would be a little harder to separate now, but if you are ever repotting it, you can easily separate them, but if you dont plan on repotting it, you dont have to worry about it.

Good Luck!