Growing Banana Plants

[Skiney]

Again thanks for all of the reply's Happy Fathersday

 

[sandman7925]

Skiney, do you grow any Cherry trees. I'm interested in starting a couple if our climate will support them.

 

[Ironman26]

I've seen good edible fruit from these trees one time, only after a very mild winter...Father in law has some banana trees at his camp right on the bank, we know it isnt the lack off water...

Again thanks for all of the reply's Happy Fathersday

Skiney, do you grow any Cherry trees. I'm interested in starting a couple if our climate will support them.

I would definately be interested in th cheery trees also....

 

[kcinnick]

I was going to take pictures of the fruit this morning, but looks like something ate them? Looks like little cut/chew marks where each banana was. Plants are over 9ft tall with around 1.5 years growth. I cut them down about that time thinking they were going to die anyway about that time, but turns out they survive the winter.

The bananas were around the size of a pinkie, and looked like miniature versions of the pictures posted. I am not too concerned with getting fruit from them, my wife buys bananas from the store twice a week for my son, and they are dirt cheap considering the trip they make. I have no idea what variety they are, they were planted when I moved in.

Cool what variety/name plant is it Sir?

Got pictures by chance?

I just won't to see if I can grow them....Should I be able to will just use them to feed my worms in the worm bed:}

 

[Quickdraw22]

Skiney, do you grow any Cherry trees. I'm interested in starting a couple if our climate will support them.

Our weather is a bit too warm for cherries. I had to research quite a bit to find out what would tolerate the heat/cold, but came up with a decent list of fruits...

This season I planted an orange tree, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, watermelon, chocolate mint, spearmint, lime, two species of lemon, plum, and kumquat. Who knows what'll end up taking. Haha.

 

[kcinnick]

Our weather is a bit too warm for cherries. I had to research quite a bit to find out what would tolerate the heat/cold, but came up with a decent list of fruits...

This season I planted an orange tree, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, watermelon, chocolate mint, spearmint, lime, two species of lemon, plum, and kumquat. Who knows what'll end up taking. Haha.

You can go with a few styles of apples also. Anna apples, and there is an Israeli variety (One I have) of apples that grows here. There are few varieties that produce decent fruit with only a few chill days. Do yourself a favor, if you ever see a blood orange tree buy it.

 

[Quickdraw22]

Kcinnick -

What's so great about blood oranges? I bought a "Louisiana Hamlin" variety, as I only intended to use them for juice.

 

[kcinnick]

Kcinnick -

What's so great about blood oranges? I bought a "Louisiana Hamlin" variety, as I only intended to use them for juice.

It is the sweetest orange you will ever taste!

They were developed to be super sweet to sweeten regular orange juice. I have a Washington Navel and Blood Orange tree at the two year mark. I hope to get crops in the next couple of years. I have been pruning the fruit off to establish good root development, I haven't decided if I am going to snip them this year or not. I might let a few stay on just to have some oranges. My dad has a two large orange trees, not navel, but they produce small sweet oranges, I picked 200 off the tree and it didn't look like I picked any! I would guess the trees produced around 1500 oranges combined so I can give mine time to develop, since I get all the free oranges I could possibly eat. They are around 10 years old or so.

 

[Quickdraw22]

In my research, the Washington Navel made very sweet juice, but would turn bitter after a few hours. The upside was less seeds in the fruit. The Hamlin had a few more seeds, but was a more "stable" juice.

I'll read up on where I can find some of the Blood Oranges though.

 

[Spent Brass]

Easy trick to make banana trees go to fruit. You have to cut them back to the ground each spring. I maintain an apartment complex and we have four stands of banana trees. Each stand (thats what you call a group of em) has around 10 sprouts. Banana trees are not trees at all. They're actually an herb with a center growth shoot. Our trees are the japanese fruiting varietal and after cutting back they reach 20+ feet each year and one in three produces a bunch of bananas. Some of them ripen all the way, and some don't. The ones that don't ripen all the way can be at home gassed. Just like the produce company does. Put them in a big brown paper bag with a cut up apple. As the apple deteriorates it releases the ripening gas necessary for bananas to ripen. This year I cut the plants all the way to the ground and they are already 10+ feet tall. Good luck with your plants, and good luck if you ever try to get rid of em.

 

[Skiney]

Well thank you...Maybe I can get some pups from your banna mat:} I'd be glad to come over and remove them from the mother plant :}
Just PM me lol

 

[Skiney]

Skiney, do you grow any Cherry trees. I'm interested in starting a couple if our climate will support them.

Not yet.......But heck I'll give it some thought, may want to give her a try.

 

[Sin-ster]

My ex planted several (ornamental and fruiting alike) when we redid the back yard several years ago.

In Florida, I spent YEARS trying to eradicate the bastard things in our side yard and couldn't even keep them down for long by digging up the root clusters... I fully suspected explosive growth.

The results were surprising-- nada. Everything else out there grew like a champ, but these things seemed to hate the short term cold and especially the hard freezes. In NOLA, I know of several places where they do better-- but nothing like what I was used to back in Tampa Bay. I'm far from an expert, but... those are my observations.

 

[Skiney]

My ex planted several (ornamental and fruiting alike) when we redid the back yard several years ago.

In Florida, I spent YEARS trying to eradicate the bastard things in our side yard and couldn't even keep them down for long by digging up the root clusters... I fully suspected explosive growth.

The results were surprising-- nada. Everything else out there grew like a champ, but these things seemed to hate the short term cold and especially the hard freezes. In NOLA, I know of several places where they do better-- but nothing like what I was used to back in Tampa Bay. I'm far from an expert, but... those are my observations.

Thank you Sir

I'll keep everyone posted on my results:}

 

[Trickasabrick]

I used to have some plants that would produce bananas when I lived in Plaquemine about 12 years ago. I got them from a friend and have no idea what variety they were. If the plants could survive the winter, some of them would make fruit the following year. The bananas were usually about 6 inches long and fat and kind of triangle shaped in cross section. If you left them on the plant until they ripened, they were very flavorful and sweet with much more flavor than a commercial banana. The bunches were usually only about 3 rows long, and I found out later that there is a type of wasp that stings the young fruit and limits the bunch size. Apparently you can cover the bloom stalk with some sort of mesh to prevent this and get bigger bunches. If you have a rich organic soil, they are pretty much like weeds and spread all over. I wish I had kept some starts when I moved, but didn't.

 

[Skiney]

Monkey's GOTTA be Near?

Cool thanks for the info...

Here's mine really starting to take off, Who know:}

 

[AK shooter]

http://suite101.com/article/choosing-the-best-banana-plant-variety-a173596

 

[Skiney]

This years first crop of ripening bananas....I like DAT me

Got more still to finish fruiting:}

 

[Skiney]

I'm working on my first crop of Barbados Cherries

Here's a picture of a year old plant just last week starting to produce