Zacarias

Hey all,

OK after all my nanners were decimated by ducks (yes you read it right), I restarting my love of bananas. I just got small TC plants of Raja Puri, Orinoco (Dwarf?), and Dwarf Red. I am hoping that the Raja Puri and Orinoco really give me good growth even before it gets really warm...which brings me to my next question.
I'm south of San Diego about 2.5 miles from the ocean. As you folks from San Diego know, it takes forever to get warm around here for the nanners to take off. My question is, what types of nanners do you recommend for growing here that will not stop growing even in dec and jan. Dwarf or tall Namwah and FHIA-1 Goldfinger? other recommendations?
You can get bananas all over the place here but no one ever knows the exact name of them. I don't really want to grow a banana that is common already here in TJ so hopefully I will get some pictures of bananas that are around here to see if anyone can identify them here.
What's neat about around here is you occasionally see untended (almost like their wild) bananas blooming and fruiting.
Thank you!

Z

crazy banana

Hello neighbor!
All my banana plants have pretty much stopped growing in November and have just put out a new leaf each last month. As a matter of fact I had to protect them with frost cloth from December to February and I am about as close to the ocean than you are. My philosophy is to get them started again ASAP when it turns warm again which means adding compost and mulch to the soil. As soon as I see new growth I will fertilize. However, I still consider myself a newbie growing bananas only for about a year. Maybe some other SD banana experts like Jon, Tony or Richard can chime in.
Just one question out of curiosity: why don't you want the bananas others are growing around you? I have eaten some delicious dwarf Brazilian and Misi Luki fruit here and they were excellent.

caliboy1994

If you get lots of wind down there, Dwarf Namwah is definitely worth a shot. If not, you can settle with either dwarf or tall, whichever you prefer. Namwah types are great for your climate. If you want ones that will still grow in cooler weather, the only ones I can think of are ornamentals such as Basjoo and Sikkimensis.

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Zacarias

Thanks for your replies. So even the most cold hardy edibles like Orinoco will totally stop growing in the winter here?
Sikkimensis is seeded but edible so I may try that one for fun. I'm not interested in Basjoo as I had those in my native WA state.
It's not that I don't want the bananas that are locally grown; I actually don't know what is locally grown here in most people's yards as I'm not an expert but hopefully I'll be more familiar with that as time goes on.
Thanks!

venturabananas

No, the most cold tolerant won't stop growing in your climate, but their growth will be very slow -- like a leaf every month or two. Anything that does well for Pitangadiego (Jon, Encanto Farms), who is pretty close to you, should do well for you. All the namwah varieties (dwarf, Misi Luki, "Ice Cream") and Pome varieties (Dwarf Brazilian, Brazilian, Rajapuri) should do well, for example.

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Zacarias

OK, so what I'm going to do is get a Namwah type and a Sikkimensis. I already have Raja Puri. Thanks guys!