I've had bananas out of the ground for close to two months before. After a rain, they started to grow, so I re-planted them. I would keep the roots damp, though, just to be sure.

If in sandy, well drained soil, you cannot overwater them, and probably not over fertilize them either. I don't know if they can live in swampy conditions though, where the roots are under water for long periods of time, especially during Winter months.

I never grew loquats from seed, but they get pretty large as trees here. Easy to grow and need little care other than watering after first planting. Once established, they are quite hardy and make very nice looking trees with edible fruit. I would recommend drying the seeds first, but that is how I always do my seeds, but it may not need to be dried in order to sprout.

Good Luck

Kt

Oh, thank you Kt! Good to know about the bananas. I kind of figured they don't need babying but I wanted to ask for tips here, just in case. It is not a marsh or swampy area, but our drainage (suburban lot) is not perfect and with a HEAVY rain, the south side of the house (where I wanted to plant the bananas) does get fairly wet as the water runs to that side of the yard. [Just found out from my next door neighbor that the neighbor behind him has built a levee on his side of the fence which causes our yards to flood with each rain!! This is most likely against our deed restrictions but since I don't know the guy and have never personally seen into his yard, I am hesitating to say anything. Yet.] The water rarely stands above ground for over 24 hours, though. It sinks into the soil (St. Augustine grass) or dirt by the front gate (makes a mucky area for a few days) or runs out to the street. So, I don't think we have a dire situation.

There is a loquat on my street that is probably 18 feet. They don't have it trained very well though and it looks like a very tall slender shrub with giant leaves. LOL I noticed it's not fruiting very much this year; my Dad's is, though (he's further SE from me). Thank you for the advice on drying the seed!

Lindsey, sounds like you're in Houston?

I had the tree in a plastic bag for several days before I was able to plant it. I've planted my bananas in this corner of the yard last year. It's under the oak and it's getting partly sunny. The oak protected it during this past freezing winter and fortunately, it survived. When we had warmer weather, I cut the dead trunk down to about 6-8". A couple of weeks later, I noticed the new plant came up from the center.

The ground in that area have the tendency to be a bit soggy when it rains due to the heavy clay soil. So, I've mixed the soil with lots of compost/hummus. This helps to absorb the water into the soil and minimize standing water. Yet, it retains the water for the plants when they need it during the summer.

So basically, if you live in Houston and find that you have lots of clay in your soil (very common), you'd want to mix the soil with lots of compost/hummus anytime you're planting. I normally buy the non-brand 40lb bag at Lowe's, very inexpensive and very effective.

The 2nd thing you'd need to remember when planting bananas is find a spot away from your house as much as possible. Roaches love the sap from the banana trees and you wouldn't want them getting into your house by planting them too close.

As far as growing the loquat from seeds. From what I've read, loquats grow better from seeds than cuttings. You should be able to do a google search and find plenty of information on it. My brother has one in his back yard and the tree is in full sun. We can't pick the fruits at the top. The birds would enjoy them and drop seeds all over the ground. Little plants come up all the time until he started putting mulch to get rid of the problem.

Good luck with your plants.

Oh heavens. The last thing I need are roaches running onto the roof. Thank you for that warning!! Do you think 4 feet away is far enough, or still too close?

Yes, sounds like we are in the same general area. I will definitely add some compost and hummus; I do try to do that when I plant anything. You're right about clay. I also have a sand problem. I think the previous owner dumped a ton of sand behind the house to try to compensate for the clay. (Doesn't work that way! Instead you just get sand blowing all over your porch and sticking in everyone's shoes!) Thankfully that is only in one area on the lot. I think we will have to do something about that soon. I can't stand the sand!!!

I think I will pot up a few loquat seeds and see what happens. I have a friend in town who would probably really like one if they end up growing for me. Of course, I could bring them to a plant swap if I ever get around to making it to one of those!!

Oh, this is about 2 of my MOST favorite plants before moving here from from a 1/2 ac. mostly full sun NE FL (9a) to a tiny heavily shaded Woodlands property.
Banana experience (where the freezes were way more severe than here): dug suckers out of son's house in Slidell, LA & transplanted 2 days later. The ones in the backyard marsh area, tho more shady, grew bigger than the ones in the dry, sunny sand in the front. They all fruited. Every year. I never fertilized (I've read that you're SUPPOSED to heavily fertilize for fruiting) for the whole 8 yrs. The bananas were prolific and delicious.
Loquat: grew a seed in a pot in Lake Charles, LA & moved to NE FL & planted it. AWESOME tree! Beautiful and prolific with fruit (actually, too prolific. . .I couldn't reach to pick fruit off the 25-30 ft. top and one year I pulled out about 8oo seedlings!) When we found out we were moving to Houston, I didn't have time to do cuttings, so I brought 4 seedlings in pots. 15 mos. later one is still in a pot, 2 are struggling in non-amended clay and one in the non-amended clay is about 3 feet tall. I guess it's the luck of the draw (and genetics?) when you grow stuff from seed.

OK, this is too funny (ironic.) I just posted about my loquat experience and went to the FL gardening site and there's a link to making loquat jelly (WHERE was this link when I was overrun by loquats and couldn't even give them all away???) AND it's from TAMU!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: THE FRUIT MANNA FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS

You don't need to dry that seed out, but I would scrub them real good to get all the fruit pulp off them. Often, the pulp of the fruit has an ingredient in it that keeps the seed from germinating.

Do think about protecting your bananas from the wind. Four feet should be far enough from your house, and should still give the leaves some protection from the wind. Wind is the #1 enemy of banana leaves. It keeps them all shredded and ugly looking.

Janie

drewsmaga - I took a look at your link and you can even make wine with that fruit. That recipe is towards the bottom of the page.

with regard to banana plants and roaches...

i live in nyc in an apartment with tons of sunlight. i bought a small plant to have as an indoor plant with hopes that it will get very large. i picked banana because my living room needs a large leafed plant to really make it feel like home AND every other large leafed plant i could find was toxic to cats and dogs, but the banana plant. it also adds a nice modern touch.

however, i got into a frenzy about roaches because i read somewhere before the banana hand grows, a flower appears that bees and OTHER bugs love... i put the two together. i dont want to get rid of my new plant, but also dont want my neighbor's critters coming into my apartment.

anyone have any advice on what i should do to prevent bugs on my banana? ew gross. is there a way i could prevent it from flowering and fruiting? this would be sad, but i would sacrifice the fruit for bug free. perhaps i should immediately cut off any buds before they flower... i imagine this is possible... or line the pot with bay leaves; they hate bay leaves.

help! i love my new plant!

Aaah, loquats ! I don't have any advice, but remember well the loquats growing on the horse farm in Cedar Hill where I worked many moons ago. They were always trying to swallow our office, so my buddy would take her loppers and massacre the poor things. They'd spring back in no time. That is until the big freeze - forget the year - that killed all the loquats in the DFW area.

Carol

drewsmaga: thanks for that great article on Loquats! Only 4 lbs needed to produce a gallon of wine! I have been long thinking of planting a loquat here in Austin. I remember them from Houston, fruit almost every year. In reading up on them, I recall there are a few varieties that produce really big fruit here in Texas. I will try to find that info.

I am trying to grow some cuttings I got from a friend of loquats. I don't know yet if they are taking or not but they look ok so maybe they are rooting.