obdiah

my blue java / ice cream has a flag pretty wild for piedmont nc zone 7 survived the winter in the ground surrounded by a plastic bag stuffed with dry leaves

jody63

Congrats! That gives me hope that i will one day see a flag on some of my plants here in Georgia.

Mudturkle

Good job!

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Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.

Island Brah

Awesome! Can you give us more detail on how you used the plastic bag filled with leaves? I'm on the boarder of zone 7b & 8a and would love to know. Thanks!

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Growing: Basjoo, Blue Java (The Real One), FHIA-01 American Goldfinger, Manzano, Tall Orinoco, Raja Puri (USDA TARS), Veinte Cohol (USDA TARS), Patupi, & SH-3640 High Noon (USDA TARS)

obdiah

high after the first light frost I trim all the leaves then cot the sudo stem to 4 ft high I get long tubular plastic bags from the uhaul rentel place about 18 in dia and 9 ft long sold for carpet storage ccut them in half and slide it down over the sudo stem then pack it firmly with clean dry leaves very firmly also have used dry sawdust with good rtesults then tie the top firmly shut to exclude water some mulch around the botom helps the corm then wait for spring
this has worked well on basjoo, sikesimess,and blue jave dwarf orinico lost the sudo stem but came back from the corm best results though were with my banana pit but labor intensive
this is a six ft deep pit six ft in dia. with the plant in it covered green house plastic it mantains 40 f with no added heat even in 8 to 10 degree weather

be paitent in spring the basjoo start growing as soon as it warms up and have flowered 3 years in a row I allways leave one larg pup for the next year
the blue java didnt take off until almost 20 days later and I was beginning to think it was lost


picture below was taken in january banana is raja puri

ChocoTaco369

That is awesome. And in July - you should actually get fully viable fruit if the thing hurries up and flowers. That is awesome. If you can do it in the piedmont, you're going me hope I'll be able to do it in Wilmington when I relocate there shortly.

obdiah

wow how blessed can one man be !! checke yestarday and my raja puri is flaging 2 in one month sorry for the upside down pic it showed on the gallery that way rotated it on my laptop and saved it re uploaded it and still upside down what gives? right side up on my laptop
any one know how long for raja puri to mature its fruit?

beam2050

upside down you won't have to prop up the plant.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

sputinc7

Get you a Veinte Cohol. As fast as they grow and fruit you should get finished bunches every year, even if you just dig pups in the fall and plant them in spring. Cool idea with the pits. I hope the Java fill in before frost for you.

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https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

obdiah

I have tried vc they grow very very fast but are not at all cold tolerant and some what fraigle but I may try them again should be able to grow them the green house to 3 ft then set them out in the spring and get fruit

obdiah

blue java now open and showing begining hand and thr raja puri is ready to open not sure how long it takes raja puri to ripen fruli but as it is in the pit i can replace the top and keep it till Christmas if need be

obdiah

man they grow fast seem to grow an inh in 8 hours sorry for the upside down pic cant figure it out?

obdiah

not too shabby for 19 days after flag appeared makes me happy! also one of my basjoos is flaging usually dosent bloom untill last of agust or first of september

obdiah

a few shots of my rajah puri blooming I am really pleased with it and it is one of the best variates I am growing if it isint ripe by frost I will shorten a few leaves and reinstall the top so should have bananas before christmas might put a few on the tree for ornaments finally got the pictures right side up I held the camera upside down

obdiah

my two fruiting bananas are really growing especially the rajah puri looking forward to home grown north Carolina bananas










also my huge basjoo is blooming!

Tytaylor77

Very nice!!! If I am worried they won't fill in time I do some pruning!! I leave 1 finger on the bottom hand (so sap will still flow) but I cut a few complete hands above it off!! By doing this more energy will go into the remaining hands! So they will end up filled larger and faster! It works for me! Better to sacrifice 2 hands to harvest the rest vs loosing them all. My blue java bunch is about the same age a size yours. It had 9 hands!! Very nice bunch!! I pruned 2 hands. I'll post it all around harvest time.

Congrats man! 3 flowers is awesome!! Let us know how you like both when you taste them!!!

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Mudturkle

Your pit is very interesting! How deep and how wide is it? Any problems with drainage? I didn't catch what zone you are in. If it works for you, it may help me too with the ones I'm growing at my house (8b).

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Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.

obdiah

6 ft deep 6 ft diameter I am in zone 7 and it maintained the rajah puri green all winter with several days of 7 f temperatures and no added heat at all I had some drainage issues in the beginning even though pits are on a steep hillside i installed a drain line and everything is fine now really happy with the pits and am in the process of digging one more also have a inground greenhouse 12 x20 and it never fell below 42 f all winter had helens hyb basjoo and ice cream in pots and all did well over the winter

Mudturkle

Thanks for the quick reply! I'd like to try doing a pit, but I'm not on a hillside, so I'm concerned about drainage - especially in a rainy time. I'm sure that there is something that I can use from it, just not sure yet.

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Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.

obdiah

actually if you have access to 115 ac a sump pump should work fine its not needed in the summer but a must in winter occasional flooding in warm weather dosent seem to harm the plants I would dig a small hole in the bottom maybe 18 in and place a sump pump in it
by the way some plants dont do well in a pit vc,s and dc,s to mention 2