estarke81

Is there any way to speed up the growth or get plants to produce foliage faster? Or what kind of fertilizer can i put on them and where can i buy it.

Thanks.

Abnshrek

Its all starts with.. How you set your Banana's up for success.. After that its about getting growth.. If you can't eat the Banana's your producing some may say Azomite 3 times during the growing season.. I use Fish Emulsion, Fruit Fuel, Triple 13, and 0-0-50 Potassium Sulphate ultrafines by Diamond K.. If you don't have the sun or warmth your wasting your time.. :^)

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estarke81

I live in south jersey. Not sure what zone that is. Not worried about growing bananas. Dont think summer is long enough anyway. Just want them to grow a little faster.

siege2050

I recently started feeding my bananas with miracle grow 2 times a week instead of one. I live in the woods so its hard to get other fertilizers. So far no bad effects and growth rate has sped up to the rate that people always talk about when they say bananas grow fast. I use the big scoop, 3 scoops to 5 gallons of water, 2 times a week.

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RafaelNJ

This is my first year growing naners for real ( I did try last year but left them out too long and they froze in pots, they were small plantings). I cannot really tell you how mine would grow if they were larger plants with bigger corm but it does seem they are doing great using Milorganite its first year. They were putting out leaves like crazy and got nice thick steams from the little sticks that I received in late May. You can see their pics in my Deep Planted Basjoo thread. One of them is about 2 1/2 feet tall and already has a pupp that sprouted next to it this weekend. I read good things about Milorganite and so far I am not disappointed. I did feed them once a month the first month but have been fertilizing like every week more recently. For first year growth I think they are doing really well. I hope to see giant nanners next season

RafaelNJ

I live in northern Jersey and I am in 6a, probably coldest zone for NJ. You are most likely 7b as south jersey is a lot warmer. I drive 9 miles south of me and see a difference of 10 degrees F usually. I am worried I will never get good tropical growth out of mine because we really do not get warm humid nights by me, generally in the 60s and 50s during the summer during the night. I think last year there was 3 nights of warm humid temperature, maybe 1 so far this year if that. You should have much better luck in your area.

drobbins

as others have said it's pretty much good soil, plenty of water, and fertilizer
the weather is pretty much out of our control besides planting them in good sun
it raises an interesting question though, about fertilizer
nitrogen is what you want for foliage growth, someone mentioned Milorganite
I've had good results using it but I really don't understand why
I tried it because it's rumored to run deer off but everything I've put it on did well. the analysis is just 5-2-0, that's not really chocked full of the good stuff
it's nice because it's slow release so you don't have to worry about burning things but miracle grow is too and has way more nitrogen
it's a mystery to me but I have had good results with it

Dave

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cincinnana

Warmth,Great Soil and Nutes ,Bright light,and a long growing season..
I think that might be in PURTO RIKO..

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siege2050

Seems like with my Basjoo, removing extra pups helps the mom to grow faster, but my Basjoo pups like crazy! Got like 12 off the thing this year, and it's still making more. Same way with Musa Dasycarpa/Velutina, had one tissue culture plant last fall, and I have already separated like 10, and two of those have their own pups already.

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treefrog

i've had good luck with foliar feeding. it's easy mix up a teaspoon of saltpetre a pinch of epsom salt, and a pinch of superphosphate in a 2 liter soda jug of water. run it into another 2 liter jug through a coffee filter to remove any grit. give your nanner plants a spraydown with a hand sprayer once or twice a week.

saltpetre - spectracide stump remover is 100.0 % saltpetre = KNO3 = potassium nitrate. lowes or home depot

epsom salt = magnesium sulfate. any good drugstore

superphosphate. any good garden center.

this is not organic. your new age hippie friends won't like it... but your plants will.

also take care of the soil feeding. balanced npk (8-8-8) fertilizer, light applications every two weeks. lighter, more often is better. add organic matter to the soil - mulch, manure, compost, etc. go easy with chicken manure. aged cow or horse poop - hard to overdo it.

lots of water. hard to over water in warm or hot weather. keep your nanners moist, but not soggy