Dartolution

Back in mid may last year I received a tissue cultured dwarf namwah.

Here it is as of the 17th of May 2021:





I grew it out in a pot over last summer and overwintered it in the house - taking it out on nice days, and as of this March planted in where I had my established basjoo clump for the last several years.

Note: Do not attempt to move an established basjoo clump by yourself.... if you know, you know.



ANYWHO - After planting it out I chopped most of the leaves off or in half to let it establish before beginning growing again for the season.

Its thrown out 3 new leaves in about a month.













Pardon the junk around it - moving things about.

Size 13 shoe for reference.

Hopefully this will take off here and Ill get bananas.

Best day

Nice job, it should love your summer heat and grow fast. Are you hoping to get fruit this year? What is your plan for when winter comes?

Bill

Dartolution

Thanks Bill,
It would be nice to get fruit this year, but we will see how it does.
I do not expect to need to do much of anything in winter. Its planted in a south facing backyard right up against a concrete patio and gets sun first thing in the morning until very late in the evening once over the fence top.

In the event we have an exceptionally bad winter I will just wrap the pseudo stems in mini lights and heavy duty frost cloth.
I have a fairly "warm" microclimate being where I am. So this winter I won't plan to protect it in any major way to get a feel for how it will behave.

Best day

It is supposed to be very cold hardy, so hopefully it does well for you.

Bill

Dartolution

A few months later and here it is.
A little over 6 ft of pseudostem, and 7 pups surrounding it.
I am not removing the pups and instead letting them mature around it.

mchris752

Wow that looks amazing

wstrickland1

damn nice

Abnshrek

They come back every year in the ground I've had them.. and when I was in S. Ark its got down to the teens..

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

Best day

The leaves look weak and thin. I think it needs fertilizer. Something with micros.

Bills

Akula

How do you keep the leaves from shredding? Thought all these storms that roll through the Gulf Coast end up in Alabama.

Great looking dwarf namwa.

Dartolution

Thanks all.

We have quite the amount of wind that rolls through our area, but it doesn't seem to shred the leaves. Perhaps the fence offers some protection? The leaves are rather thick.

The leaves are most certainly not thin, nor weak. They are much thicker than the basjoo's I have. The clump is planted in very organically rich soil with a red clay sublayer. The hole that it was planted in was amended heavily with compost and manure, organic granular fertilizer, and I throw my kitchen scraps which include coffee grounds, veggie and fruit waste around it. It is fertilized once monthly with an organic granular, is on drip irrigation, and gets a liquid feed of an organic water soluble (9-4-12) or (11-3-8), unsulfured blackstrap molasses, and seaweed extract combo every other week.

For 73 days of growth I thought it is doing well....

Best day

When the leaves look weak and wavy like that it usually means the plant needs calcium and boron. Take a look at this website. It has good photos showing what to look for on banana plants to spot deficiencies.

www.tropicalselfsufficiency.com

Bill

Dartolution

Thanks Bill!
I see what you mean now. Perhaps an application of gypsum or lime would help? I have both that pelletized and it would be easy to apply.

beam2050

before trying liming, i would put a meter in the soil around it.

namwa does not seem to mind much in high acidity. mine grow well in a 7.8 ph. they would do much better in better soil.

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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

Akula

Careful on soil amendments. The crinkly/wavey leaf condiiton in the S.E./Gulf Coast area is usually due to the plant growing at a rate that is in excess of its ability to pick up/incorporate the minor elements such as boron and calcium and not necessarily due to a lack of boron or calcium in the soil. Fast growth is often the result of a bit too much nitrogen and/or a lot of precipitation.

Although not ideal, a bit of crinkle in the leaf does not impair the plant's ability to produce fruit. All of my plants have some crinkle and all of them produce big bunches. I have a dwarf namwa myself that is about to fruit that has crinkles and a massively thick pstem. I'll post up the bunch when it flowers.

The fact that your leafs are not split from all the storms that have moved through our area over the past month tells me that the plant leaves are pretty healthy.

beam2050

some times on some bananas. if you over fertilize, the leaves, they dont turn brown, they deform. case in point, over fertilize a praying hands. when you push them hard.

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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

Dartolution

Well, before reading this (of course) I did go ahead and apply gypsum around the area. Based on the link Bill provided I took an educated guess as to what it may be.
We had some 50mph wind gusts rip through here the other day and it did tear the leaves slightly but did not shred. Also: 50mph - come on... what do you expect.

The newest emerging leaf however does still look good and is straight.
Thoughts?



A zoomed in shot of the newest leaf:

Abnshrek

Nice Thread.. I planted 2 but damn armadillo keeps airating my soil around them not helping my parntering plants (Pineapples andCucumbers) by those banana's.. Dwarf Namwah's take care of themselves for the most part just limit the pups and mat will be just fine.

__________________


I'm a Nannerhead :^)

Dartolution

This first growing season I have opted to allow the mat to develop as it chooses and leave what pups come from it however, as of yesterday I noticed 3 more emerging so.... I may end up having to chop a few off thats a bit much. I did not anticipate so many pups from this banana. As of yesterday there are now 12 total.

Kingt82

That is an unusual amount of pups you have. Definitely helps you multiply faster if you want.