Author Topic: Bananas On The Way  (Read 672 times)

Calusa

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Bananas On The Way
« on: March 03, 2023, 07:13:01 PM »
Two of my Nam Wah's are making me proud. Hoping they are bigger than last years' crop.




BestDay

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2023, 10:49:51 PM »
Nice!

Epicatt2

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2023, 11:43:26 AM »
Two of my Nam Wah's are making me proud. Hoping they are bigger than last years' crop.

Hi Calusa,

Glad to read that you're getting some fruit but how long have your 'Nam Wahs' been in the ground?

I have a dwarf 'Nam Wah' that I put into the ground here in Tampa back in August '22, and it took off growing right away,.  But I'm not sure how long mine might be going to take for it to try to push some fruit.

Cheers!

Paul M.
==
« Last Edit: March 04, 2023, 11:46:03 AM by Epicatt2 »

Plantinyum

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2023, 03:42:10 PM »
Nice ones, hope you get big racks from those. I was recently given a nam wah banana plant, planning to have it in a pot, hopefully sometime ahead i also get a blossom.

Tropicaltoba

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2023, 04:33:56 PM »
Plantinyum,
Just a bit of info from a fellow cold climate banana grower who has a limited experience.
I grew a “dwarf” namwah to fruiting a couple of years back in a 35 gallon pot. I used a peat based potting mix top dressed with homemade compost. The dwarf tree had leaves pushing on the top of my 14’ ceiling at 18 months. When the give the height of the plant they only mean the stalk.

Also after it fruited (57 bananas) the mother plant got so rootbound the soil wouldn’t absorb any water. And the pups struggled to get large enough to flower in the same pot. When I finally gave up and cut down the tree, the soil in the pot was so heavy and dense with roots the soil was almost unworkable for composting and recycling afterwards. So don’t spend a bunch of money on a good potting mix. If I were do do it again I think I’d make a good portion of the soil from a homemade compost. Also I’m not sure what would happen if you used a smaller pot.






Plantinyum

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2023, 05:14:21 PM »
Plantinyum,
Just a bit of info from a fellow cold climate banana grower who has a limited experience.
I grew a “dwarf” namwah to fruiting a couple of years back in a 35 gallon pot. I used a peat based potting mix top dressed with homemade compost. The dwarf tree had leaves pushing on the top of my 14’ ceiling at 18 months. When the give the height of the plant they only mean the stalk.

Also after it fruited (57 bananas) the mother plant got so rootbound the soil wouldn’t absorb any water. And the pups struggled to get large enough to flower in the same pot. When I finally gave up and cut down the tree, the soil in the pot was so heavy and dense with roots the soil was almost unworkable for composting and recycling afterwards. So don’t spend a bunch of money on a good potting mix. If I were do do it again I think I’d make a good portion of the soil from a homemade compost. Also I’m not sure what would happen if you used a smaller pot.





Holy sh*t ,and this is a dwarf? The plant looks perfect, congrats on this acheavement .I remember that my neighbours had a fruiting banana inside their house ,near a east facing window, potted, i think it was a cavendish of some sort, from the dwarf ones. I was very young back then ,very much into plants as i am now and when i saw it i was just speechles haha. I remember that moment some 12-15 years ago. I think that that was the moment when my interest towards tropical fruit began to grow.
Anyway i took a leaf from this banana plant, thinking i could root it in water, what a dummy haha.🤣🤣
Actually i had a cavendish that i was growing in a plastic barrel, the plant was quite big yet it most sertainly was a super dwarf cavendish, stem was no more that a meter, very fat at the base. Fast forward to one summer when a hell hail shredded the leaves and i just coudnt look at it anymore and chopped it. It was such a beautifful plant, i really like bananas visually.
Thanks for the tips regarding growing, knowing that they dont need a huge pot to fruit will save some headaches along the way.

GrowerA

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2023, 05:45:44 PM »
Beautiful to see its flag after many long months of planting. Understood the excitement. The one gave me fruit in my video is Brazilian dwarf banana. This is a small size fruit than namwah ,but very delicious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZocgmqMTjUo

1rainman

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2023, 05:57:33 PM »
You do know that shredded banana leaves are harmless to the plant? Due to pups they are more trouble than they are worth in pots. A lot of people plant them outside in spring and dig up the corms before it freezes and store them over winter then plant them back outside every year. They grow so fast it works well but difficult to get fruit that way though sometimes happens. You'll have a huge corm that can grow back really fast. When stored in a fridge or cool basement it goes dormat with the cool weather.

tru

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2023, 06:44:17 PM »
I saw a technique where you cut off the whole trunk down to flush with soil, then cut 1 inch into the base like you're cutting a pizza

gets you 8 pups that are all ready to go in 6-8 weeks, https://youtu.be/ZSxfMNmw9Qo?t=209 this guy actually cuts all the roots off and everything but a different guy does it with the roots in the ground which I think would be way better. Probably common knowledge but I thought it was so cool the first time I saw it, couldn't find the original video I wanted but same concept. I'm planning on trying it out this year! just got my first pup off of namwah to put back in a pot and have the mother in the ground now, very excited





« Last Edit: March 04, 2023, 06:51:36 PM by tru »
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Calusa

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2023, 08:39:16 PM »

Hi Calusa,

Glad to read that you're getting some fruit but how long have your 'Nam Wahs' been in the ground?

I planted two 3' trees in separate spots in my yard a couple of years ago. Grew like weeds, beautiful banana trees, lots of pups. Last year both of them put out blooms but one tree bit the dust (??don't know why??), and the other gave me about 60 fruits but were smaller than they should have been. But DELICIOUS and sweet! I was told that because I removed most of the leaves while it was fruiting, the fruits could not get the nourishment that they need to become normal size fruits. Mine were about 3" long and 1" thick. Also, I had allowed too many pups to grow to about the same size as the fruiting tree, and that is a mistake. You are supposed to have one full size tree to produce fruit, one tree about half that size, and maybe a couple of small pups. Too many starve the main tree. Not trying to lecture but just sharing what I have learned on here from the people who know. Good luck with yours!

Plantinyum

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Re: Bananas On The Way
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2023, 06:30:34 AM »
1rainman, yeah i do know now, in the past when i had the plants that got shredded i doubt i knew it would be ok, i remember the day before, nice whole leaves, beautifful to look at, the aftermath was like it was in a fight with 1 billion cats wow, coudnt stand the sight....ive thought about having a hardier breed of banana ,like orinoco, which i will dug up with soil in winter and store in the basement.


Can anyone reccomed a hardier banana species with edible fruit, orinoco comes to mind, what else?