plantguy

Hi all. I just joined this great board & I look forward to learning. I couldn't find this when I searched. My question is, has anybody in NY, NJ or similar location actually gotten their's to fruit. My goal is to try & accomplish this or am I wasting my time on something impossible? Thanks, Vinny

Patty in Wisc

Well hello Vinny! Welcome, & nice to see you here.
If I can grow nannas, so can you - except mine won't flower till next year (maybe even year after). I am determined to get a flower!!!
I started in June '06 with 2 small tissue cultured Ice Cream, a Dbl. Mahoi & Truly Tiny. The 2 IC are now dug up & potted in sunroom for winter & getting very big..
What kind of nannas you got?

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

chong

Welcome Vinny!

With some perseverance and care you can have some banana fruits in Zone 7. Dwarf Orinoco is rated for Zone 7. And CA Gold is even more cold hardy, and produces more consistently than Dwarf Orinoco. There is another unidentified banana, that performs as well as the CA Gold, that the current grower simply calls - CA Hardy. It is taller than the CA Gold. It produces good bunches of bananas. Growers of these varieties sell them thru eBay or Craig's List. There are many sources for Dwarf Orinoco, including eBay.

Good luck to you.

Chong

PS. I moved your post to this forum so that you can get more exposure and have current members welcome you.

Bob

Welcome Vinny, I am in northern N.J and just started a collection of both hardy and edible varieieties. I currently have a Basjoo in the ground with the p- stem protected and others under lights for the winter so that hopefully I'll get some fruit in a year or two. Let us know how you do. I'll post how mine come out whether successfull or not.

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musas in wva

Welocme! This is my first post although I have been registered on this forum for a year. We live in West Virginia in a 5b-6a ag zone, and I have three bananas fruiting in our conservatory. Its not the angle of the sun so much as keeping them really warm. Fruiting are Rajapuri, Roja, and in the last week, Gran Nain. The author Eliot COleman points out in his Four Season Harvest, that most of the US has an even more southern latitude then the south of France, so if you can provide constant warmth, we should be able to grown anything here that they can grow year around on the Mediterranean. Good luck growing!

Patty in Wisc

Welcome Musa in wva!
I have questions if you don't mind. Have you kept them in pots or do you dig them up in fall? How long did it take to get a flower?
So happy you got fruit being in your zone...it gives us northerners hope. Thanks

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

musas in wva

Hi Patti! I am another Patricia. THe bananas are planted in the ground. My hubby built the conservatory with block retaining walls and a dirt floor. Then he hauled in several tons of compost and creek bottom soil. I was able to keep them in pots while he was building, and they grew fairly well, but once they were planted in the ground they took off. They have also started pupping like crazy, and very soon I will have to pull out 20 or so pups. Some of the "pups" are already 4-6 feet tall. I will have to offer them on another thread, I guess, but shipping in this kind of weather is going to start getting interesting. How does one package a five foot Williams?

The rajapuri flowered first at about 9 months, then the Williams a month later, but one of the kids broke the stem off. I am really impressed with the growth of the Williams - no wonder its used for commercial consumption. Next was the Rojo (too bad its seeded) and now the gran nain. I suspect the Namwah next. The praying hands, HuaMoa, Blue Java, all still look slim, with their leves hugging the stem closely, so I doubt they will go for awhile.

What are you growing, and how do you grow them?

musas in wva

I will try to send a picture of the Rajapuri...its uploaded now under members gallery.

Patty in Wisc

Thanks Patricia...oh, to have a conservatory with a dirt floor would be sooo nice. The ceiling must be pretty high.
It would be very tough & expensive to ship a 5 ft nanna. Ppl would buy your smaller pups quicker, but you'd have to charge more for the bigger ones -- don't forget your time to pkg them. Or, hang on to them cuz once mother produces, she dies.
I have 2 Ice Creams that are about 8 ft & in big pots in sunroom, then, planted inground in summer. I also have a Dbl Mahoi, & very small TC rajaPuri & Ruby Siam, and a Truly Tiny. My dream is to someday have a Ae Ae. It's nice to hear you got your rajaPuri to flower so soon...gives me hope!

Nice conservatory & nice big bunch on that R.P.!!!

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

plantguy

Hi All. Thanks for the replies.
Patty- Fancy seeing you here! Right now the only one I have growing is a Musa Basjoo that I got from Spring Hill Nursery catalog. It's been in the ground since the spring and has grown about 4' tall. I am in the process of getting some ice cream pups.

Chong- Thanks for informing me of some other types. I can see that some more room will have to be found around my house, lol. I am a sucker for this stuff.

Bob- Hey neighbor! Good luck with yours too.

Musas in wva- That's great to hear you got fruit. You are so lucky to have that conservatory. If I was so lucky to have one, I would have it loaded with tropicals.


As of right now I plan to keep them in the ground. My main concern seems like it would be to figure out the best way to winterize it. I noticed lots of posts about this subject, so it looks like I have some reading to do. I spoke to a local nursery in town & he said to try wraping it like he does his fig trees, with hay & then wrap it with tar paper. I am thinking the fig tree's are more hardy than our nana's though? I guess this is going to be an experimental thing for awhile.

Thanks again everyone.

Vinny

Bob

Vinny here's an update since my basjoo's only slightly taller this might help. I ended up taking 4 straw bales ,layed 2 on the ground on both sides of the plant and was able to tie them together so that they fit like a glove around the P-stem. I added 2 more on top of those and tied them also,then covered with remay and tied that around and on top.( oh and I cut all the leaves back) We had snow here before Halloween and I figured that would be the last I saw it until spring. Yesterday I was out and noticed with this weeks highs in the 60's and warm nights it had started growing and the hay must have started composting as the whole thing felt about 80 degrees! The top of the plant was up 6-8 inches above the straw bales. I figure I'll wait till the weather cools and either cut the new growth back or add another layer of hay. Adding tar paper like if you were wapping figs would probably add some heat during the coldest months too so I may go back and do that in December if I get bored.

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musas in wva

Hi Vinnie: Is there any way you could build a "hoop house" over it? We saw a hoop house in a org farming magazine and were able to build one for about $100 with pvc pipes and some 2x6 lumber. It was incredible and we kept the bananas in it and grew produce inthe winter until the conservatory was done. As a matter of fact, we got a pole bender and now we can make our own 20 foot hoop houses with only the cost of the fence poles and the lumber and the giant sheets of plastice from the hardware store. We grow lots of food year around in one - each layer of plastic gives you a zone and a half extra. You can do two layers with a small inexpensive blower between and get yourself up to almost a nine ag zone. Our first one was very small - but it held ALOT of plants.

Bob

Did you make a movable one like Elliot Colman? If I had room that's exactly what I'd do and just run some electric out for supplimental light and heat. I may have to experiment with it in the spring. Four Season Harvest and the new organic Grower are 2 of my favorites.

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D_&_T

Bob, you using straw or hay?

Plus is it covered with trap or something to keep it dry?

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plantguy

Bob- I like that idea. It sounds pretty easy. Is this the first time you tried this method?

Musas- I originally was thinking about a plastic greenhouse idea but I wasn't sure that during the night it might get too cold with no sun heating it up. I guess the blower idea you mentioned solves that problem. Thanks. My newest addition this past spring is a 30 gal Windmill Palm Tree. I was told to wrap it with frost cloth. I am having a hard time finding it locally & only see it online. I haven't read anybody here talking about using frost cloth on their bananas??

Bob

D&T. I'm using straw actually and maybe I should have spent more for hay as this wouldn't be composting as quickly . I still might just switch over as the weather has been unseasonably warm. Its only been covered with remay because my first thought was to have some air circulation to prevent rot. When I uncover it to see whats happening I'm going to either add another layer or cut back the new growth thats appeared. I will try and find my camera today ,it would be good for people to see. I'm leaning towards at least covering the top to keep water out. I may do a partial covering with tar paper too. Haven't decided yet..


Vinny, this is the first time I'm using this method. I got the idea from another post and adapted it. About 10 years ago I overwintered basjoo with just a big pile of leaves over the whole plant(it was about 2ft) and a piece of plastic over that. The following winter they died off I think the corm rotted in the wet spring. The one I have now is in a little bit higher ground so I have higher hopes. Check tuckedawayfarms.com site he advertises here as TA farms, this has pictures how they wrap their palms for the winter. Joe the owner told me he doesn't wrap his basjoo that way because of the moisture issue.

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Jimzone7

Hi Vinny, welcome. You're right about this board, it's the best. I'm in Staten Island and this summer got my Basjoo to flower, I've taken some pics of the flower and their in my "photo gallery". Unfortunatly my other basjoo is pushing out another flower, but it's to late for that one. As far as my experience with wintering, I dont think it makes too much difference whether you use hay, straw or leaves, the most important thing is the pile must be kept dry. When I uncovered them in the spring they just started growing. I have a couple of pics of the cages I built last year, in my photo gallery.
I'm watching the weather day to day now, but it looks like we can get another week or so before we have to cover the basjoos.
Jim

musas in wva

Bob, Join me and my hubby toasting Eliot Coleman!
What he has done for the gardening industry will go down in U.S. history. Our first hoop house was moveable, until a windstorm blew it right over our apple tree. I bought Eliot's book for my hubby for Christmas a few years ago, So we built the first hoop house in JANUARY. Even though it was planted in January, we were eating out of it already in March. I have a picture of me with a bowl of salad greens in the door of that hoop house with snow all over the outside of it - kindof a spoof of Eliot's book cover. 'Cept I have a glass of wine too. Now we do larger hoop houses with the pole bender.

Bob

"Bob, Join me and my hubby toasting Eliot Coleman!" Upon reading your reply I did in fact have a toast of banana rum that I just picked up! Cheers to you both. I've had his books for a long, long time and wish the networks would bring back the "Gardening Naturally" TV series. During warm years I've eaten out of the cold frame till February. I wish I had a bigger property ,I could really build a big one. Still even here in zone 6 (which is zone 7 most of the last 10 years) it would be amazing what you could do for example with a hoop house covered cold frame sine it would effectively be zone 9 or 10 depending on winter severity.....................Cheers!

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plantguy

Jim- Great to hear you got it to flower! About how many seasons did it take?

Also- At what temp should I start the winterizing process?

Hoop House- Is a heater necessary inside it during the night or will the sun's heat from the day be enough?
thanks.

Vinny