Looking good, I'm itching to plant out myself, gotta wait out this cold weather for another ten days.

thanks, yea this is the worst spring I can remember in quite a few years.

New leaf on the manzano. Ran out of fertilizer but it's doing alright.

What do you use for your regular fertilizer? Do you apply the same amount year-round? Do you get fruit?

I just use miracle grow triple 15 or triple 20 usually every 2 or 3 weeks from March until Oct. Haven't had fruit (yet) I'll see this year if anything comes from it. I was told taller varieties will boom around 6 or 7 feet of stem in a good size pot.

Nice Naners! Are they in an outdoor greenhouse setup?

Thanks Dacocoa. Yes they are in the greenhouse and at the end of May I planted them all in the ground.

Matt, where are you?

This spring has been a challenge, very wet here in southeast Connecticut. I put my 'nanners outdoors about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and all seems well, with old leaves burned off, and new ones coming in.

I'm told that when eventually a flower bud develops, it can be seen as a lump, moving up the pseudostem. If you cut the pseudostem off by (I guess) 25%-33%, the plant will still fruit, but won't be as tall, a big advantage to us indoor gardeners.

Has anyone heard of or used this method?

I'm in Southern Ontario. Our spring was just as bad and cold too! It's recently warmed up to the 70's and 80's. I'm happy to hear your plants are starting to take off.

I am by no means an expert- I've only ever seen it where the top part of the p-stem swells and then it'll send out a pre-flag leaf.(pictures)

I have heard of that method but it has to be done when the plant is near maturity. Check out greenfin's banana greenhouse on google. He has done that and it works in Kansas.

It seems to be choking as they often do. As long as it continues to actively grow there is always a chance.

It's still putting out new leaves but a bunch of the leaves that emerged over the winter never completely opened and are stuck somewhat. Is there anything I should do to "help" it?

People have done surgery and cut the lower leaves off right near the stem to try get the newer ones to open fully.

06/13/17

Hi matt your plants are looking great. I wish i had a setup like yours! I went to follow your advice and remove a group of the bunched up leaves on my dwarf Cavendish only to realize I misinterpreted your directions. Instead of trimming the leaves back at the base of the stem, I trimmed them off at the base of the plant. Essentially I peeled the leaves back to the base of the stalk and removed them. Now I am dreading that I severely screwed up. The plant still seems happy and is putting out new leaves. Your thoughts?

Thanks Paul, so the p-stem is pretty thin now? how many did you do?

It was pretty thick to begin with so luckily it still is somewhat. I probably pulled off 4-5 leaves. There are still about 10 leaves on the plant.

How do you control aphids on your banana? I have mine in a container indoors and have noticed some aphids. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth around the base of the plant. Any feedback would be appreciated.

There some sprays you can use. Might be different products if you're in the states. Wipeing them off the leaves also helps. Are you in an apartment or something?

I concur, cleaning with a cloth regularly should be your first line of defense, a mild insecticidal soap is a backup measure, this works for spider mites too.

I finally got a few pictures of the Manzano banana. It is at ground level and stands just under 6 feet of p-stem.

sword pup starting to take off on the left

My banana seems to be taking back off now, so it looks like I didn't screw up too much. Has put out 3 new leaves since my first post and they aren't all jammed up.

One month later

Everything is going crazy

Dwarf cavendish

Pisang ceylon

Basjoo

Dwarf orinoco

Mine has taken off like a rocket since I re-potted her and Mother Nature has turned up the heat and humidity, I took this early this morning after the heavy rains last night and before the sun makes her close her beautiful leaves, here's my pride and joy, what do you think ?

Wow thats a beautiful color christine!

Such a healthy blood banana. It looks like it's time to separate some pups?

Your so correct Matt, there are 4 under momma, they were not there when i potted up in April and now its grown so big I dont see how I'm going to be able to do that, do you think I should try to do it now or wait it out til next spring, either way its going to be a big job?? Thanks Matt & Paul for the compliments she amazes me every day putting out more leaves !!

Things are filling out nicely. last pic for July.

Matt, you kept your plants indoors the entire summer? Do you have a spot outdoors where they could get full sun during the warmer months? Here are double mahoi on the left, and truly tiny, about 2 weeks ago. These were little more than scraggly pseudostems with a couple of tattered leaves at the end of May when I put them on the edge of my parking lot for warmth and full sun. The 'indoor' leaves burned off right away, to be replaced by dense new growth and a lot of pups. I'm now in the process of removing the larger pups, trying not to kill too many in the process.

first pup, Truly Tiny, Removed yesterday:

The next attempt was to remove a pup from DM, which was not as successful, and I'm pretty sure I killed the pup. The pups on DM connect much more deeply than on TT, and I basically took the top off the corm, leaving only a couple of short roots on the removed growth. I'm learning!

These are out back in the greenhouse. It's a tropical climate in there 90-100F everyday with lots of sun. There are other bananas in pots out by the pool. That pup looks good! Even if you screw up at least you'll get more.

snowbanana, your nana's look really nice, your canna's are really rocking

Thanks Christine, hopefully the weather will allow me to enjoy them up until Halloween this year.

Dwarf cavendish update

Apple

A cool morning

Disappointed with the CA gold/ dwarf orinoco. It was the first to be planted but has fallen behind with no pups.

New manzano pup

Sept 16

The five p-stem heights are 5'5, 5'5, 5', 3' and 3'

What's the plants in the pot with the CA Gold/DO that remind me of Madagascar Palm?

Plumeria. took me a second LOL

Lol, thanks, have to find me one of those, looks interesting

Hi all, everything is still growing but slowly.

Halloween update Oct 31/17

Pisang Ceylon new leaf popping up

Dwarf Cavendish with a new leaf on it's way

Basjoo out growing it's spot. Will have to be chopped back in the spring

Love all your photos. How tall is your greenhouse?

Thanks

It's about 7-7.5 feet tall

Musa basjoo received today

Had cold damage to some of the leaves. Stems are fine.