Steyner

hi guys, first timer here and need some help identifying my new baby please.

I stumbled onto this site as i am trying to identify which species of banana was sold to me at the local nursery. Im based in j'burg south africa and generally bananas are cultivated in the much more northern regions of the country and the lowveld, so up here on the highveld of gauteng the nursery staff has no clue. they hardly speak english and only know one species: banana yes yes banana (wish i could do the zulu accent for you)

In fact i was lucky to find one as i had spent days driving around town visiting all the local nurseries and finally found this baby - check out the pics :-)

it's growing nicely alongside my litchies and avocado on the patio, only receives sun for half the day though (afternoons) but seems to not mind. I'll be keeping it potted so as to move it indoors come winter, where average minimums drop to 37* farenheit. At the moment it's nice and warm summertime averaging 84* during the day and dropping to 60*. So naturally i'm concerned that it may grow too big to move into the house but still i would like to try and make it fruit. However my first objective is to make one become many. Would like to cover my pool area with many many big banana 'trees'.

From the nursery bag i potted it with good draining potting mix claiming to have enough nutrients already added to last 5 months as well as coco peat for drainage and disease resistance. the pot size is probably around 7 gallons. Question: should i be adding any nutrients from the start, if so which NPK ratios are recommended, and how often should i be adding i.e. every watering or maybe once a month? Or can i trust that the soil it came in and the potting mix i got really does contain enough nutrients for the first few months, and ading more may be harmful?

And is water spraying on the leaves recommended? Average humidity hoverers around 50% up here during summer so i figured its not really necessary.

thanks guys super site by the way!

mushtaq86

Looks like musa Orinoco family member possible musa dwarf Orinoco,by looking at leaf petioles

Richard

We'll be able to give you a good answer with pictures of the flowers and fruit.

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Steyner

Thanks Mushtaq!

Ive looked at some pictures of orinoco and must say im fairly convinced now thats what ive got here. My leaves have bright green tops but lots of white powdery stuff on the bottoms which can rub off, which i understand could be another sign of orinoco?

just hoping it's dwarf otherwise i will not be seeing any fruit, sorry richard but if thats the case im going to have to keep it pot bound so as to fit indoors this winter - may to august. my max is 3 meters. will the 7 gallon pot keep a full size orinoco down to this size? And can i expect pups of a pot bound plant?

also, tips on fertilizing as per op please?

thanks for educating me guys, first timer but im hooked already!

Steyner

I managed to find out south african farmers cultivate mainly williams nowadays even though some are still sticking to dwarf cavendish despite the risk of 'choke troat' in cold winters.

could this perhaps then be a williams or dc plant? It just seems to me the most likely candidates now given that i know these are mass produced a little further up north.

still confused. Orinoco, williams or dc...Hmmmmm

Steyner

lol PR thats clever. Most definitely from the Prata Veel Zulu family, often referred to by the locals as Bosmossel kieliestokkies or plesier-krapperkies.

Richard

Here's a guide I wrote awhile back ...
Guide To Growing Fruiting Bananas In Temperate Climates

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CountryBoy1981

It can't be a williams or dc because of the closed petioles.

Steyner

@ PR - haha well i never. I thought you had knowledge of my mother tongue afrikaans where 'praat' means to speak a certain language and zulu being the native language of the guys selling me the plant per my op. didn't realise you were serious lol.

@ richard - thanks so much man, respect.

@ countryboy - thans for confirming, this settles the debate then for me...Orinoco until proven otherwise.

now just to see how big my baby gets in his new home. If too big i will be cutting him down to size come winter time, ive been doing quite a bit of reading on this site and there are tons of information which is great such as the fact that they can safely be cut down to size.

i will send you guys regular updated pics on this post lets see how this unfolds together :-)

siege2050

Looks like Orinoco to me (Powder, closed petioles), but as was mentioned earlier, flowering will help with identification. Hope its dwarf if you're keeping it indoors lol, my tall Orinoco grew from 5 feet to 18 feet/5.5 meters this year in ground from May 1st to October 15 (Leaves included). They are currently sleeping bare root under my house, and are still nice and green after about 4 months. If its tall, consider chopping off the leaves, digging, and storing it bareroot each year in a frost free area, attached building, crawl space under house, etc. if available. Although, if its not Orinoco you might have issues storing this way, not all musa will store bare root (Orinoco, and Namwah store well, and possibly Rajapuri). Also be careful lifting with the back if you choose to dig and store lol, mine had around 100 pound stems, and are very awkward. Orinoco is pretty cold hardy, way more so than DC, mine even take a bit of frost before I dig them, stems would probably survive at 37F, wrapping them is also an option. Take a backup pup and keep it indoors over winter if you try it.

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