proletariatcsp

Back before I ever knew anything about the 'herbs' that those tasty little yellow desserts grew on, I would have never thought I too would have a nanna of my own. Its funny now that I do, no matter where I go I quickly spot bananas growing. I am amazed at how I had never noticed them all before.

Well from what I have seen, it would appear that the majority of cultivars grown here in Florida are done so in the ground. Which I like to refer to as a
'fixed position.'

Right down the street from me even, there are two places where some dwarf/ Cavs or Gran N's are growing and growing very well. They have even over wintered nicely without any mulch, and this past winter got pretty cold. We were fortunate not have a freeze but I believe we had a few nights below 32 and allot of strawberry crops were lost.

I myself have an Ice Cream in the ground and a dwarf Cav in a pot "mobilized," mostly do to having nearly to no yard. It seems that some of my plants do very well in the ground, like nanners. Than others are desroyed by pests like white flies and nematodes. I suppose the ground supplies a good variety of both pests and benificial bugs?

So I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on the pros & cons of Ground vs. Container growing, and your subsequent success.

microfarmer

Sounds like you should put up a poll....

I'm a grounded kinda guy, bananawise, though my avatar says different. Pots is how I started, but I have only 4 pots with bananas in them and I'm giving 2 of those to my cousin tomorrow. Pots are for transporting...or overwintering...

Now if you don't own your own piece of ground, that's another matter.

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My new hero...

Dean W.

I just potted some corms up. I did it so I can baby them tell they grow roots. Plus I wasn't sure where I wanted to plant them. I don't have enough room indoors for overwintering so these will be planted in the ground before it gets cool.

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Bananaman88

I agree that in-ground is almost always the better choice. The plants really benefit from the free root run. Having said that, containerized growing if fully doable if you're willing to do all the extra work (watering, fertilizing, repotting) that it requires. Certain plants are better off, in my opinion, in a container also. Case in point: I have grown my Musa laterita in a pot for the past 2 seasons just to keep it in check; otherwise it sends runners out all over the place. To me, it is more work chasing them down with a spade every other week before they colonize the neighbors yard than it is for me to repot it once a year and fertilize it a little extra in the pot. Each method has it's pros and cons.