paula

I found this link and thought it my be helpful .
Also I had a couple of questions.
It says you can use oak leaves , Epsom salt ,
And beer on your bananas has anyone heard of
this? and if so how much? And how often?
CFF - Edible Fruit Musa Banana Tree Plant Care Guide Growing Tips Sheet Information - Central Florida Farms - Learn how to Grow Tropical Plants for sale - On line shopping, Paypal Accepted

Bob

Hi Paula , wish I was zone 7! I don't think that in New Jersey we can get away with some of the things that they can do down in Florida such as growing a banana in a pile of oak leaves. The season is short enough here without taking chances. CFF has a marginal at best reputation so I would be careful if you're thinking of ordering from them.

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paula

Well this is my 3rd year growing bananas , still no bloom.
I am hoping this is the year. It is getting hard to store them ,
because of the size. Have you ever Had one bloom in NJ?

just j

1cup of epson salt every month around the base i tryed this last year and didnt really see any results but i know my birds of paradise loved it it seemed to make them grow faster

Caloosamusa

Welcome to the organization Paula!

Use oak leaves or almost any kind of leaves as mulch. Make sure they do not have phytochemicals that inhibit growth of other plants around them like Australian pines do.

Beer, sure but it is not much better than H2O, so why not use it more appropriately, as it is too expensive as a plant food.

Best wishes and good growing.

Lagniappe

I piled the free leaves on very thick this year. We pulled my trailer all over town picking up bags or shoveling loose piles into the trailer with a pitchfork. My beds are sooo full of night crawlers now!!! They've always been there but now they are stacked in! There are also gobs of beautiful filaments and the soil itself has been thoroughly worked as the crawlers pull the leaves into their burrows and push castings out.
My beds smell very sweet, as soil should, because of the addition of so much organic material and they're staying nice and moist between rains.
I've always used leaves and clippings but after seeing them piled very,very thick at Rmplmnz's house, decided that I needed much more.....it works!

Bob

Nope not yet. I just got back in to growing bananas after about 10 years when i picked up a couple of basjoos last May. The bulk of my collection was purchased after joining here last Sept. I do have one fairly large(5') Ice cream that had been cut down from 7' for shipping from Sandy. The ones I have the most hope for are the dwarf varieties I've collected since I will overwinter them again this year indoors and keep them growing. So far I think my best chances will be with D. Namwah, D. Orinoco as well as Calif cold Hardy and Cal. Gold.. I'm going to go look at your pics now but definitely want to hear more about what you're grown / done over the past 3 years.

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paula

I just put every thing back in so I will add more pic in a couple of weeks .
And thank you maybe we can get some ideas from each other.