proletariatcsp

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forums, so I thought I'd share my potting experiences.

Last year I saved a house plant my g/f stowed behind the patio grill. Its doing great now, a palm grass leaf, a brom. thing, and some spotted vines.

From then on I really began to like house kept plants. I saved the Bamboo, and killed the Peace Lilly. I've also lost an African violet, still having trouble with the other one. In all, I have learned allot in the last year and some months.

My plants are,

3 Queen pineapples; 2 pups, each one in 3gal pots, 1 crown in 2 gal pot, all nearing 1 year old. (outdoors) pH, 5.5-6.5
-I grew a plant, picked the fruit (softball sized) and planted the crown. Afterwards two pups grew from the mother over the winter (indoors), they are now nearly 2ft tall with leaves as long as 24 inches.

2 Corn plants; 1 with four canes and 7ft tall, 1 with three canes 3ft (indoor)
-bought these both from HD, still learning, but pruning is fun.

1 African Violet
-finally invested in some fertilizer, only too little too late. My remaining plant is not doing so good either.

2 Creeping Jews; Original plant died, propagated trimmings. (outdoor)
-I bought this plant at Albertsons, I thought it was the coolest thing since wonder bread as it looks like it has glitter on the leaves, similar to an oyster plant. Later I found some more at Walmart and noticed mine looked nothing like it should. I read up and started planting the trimmings. Just in time too as the mother plant died. I now have two separate pots growing like weeds.

1 Bamboo; water bound (outdoor)
-I could never figure out the bamboo, I simple watered it as I would everything else. After seeing how beautiful the bamboo at the Chinese Kitchen was doing in the water, I than began keeping its vase full. It has started to grow finally. My g/f always complements its new growth, however she always seems to overlook the new banana leaves? LOL

1 Peace Lilly.
-RIP ol' buddy. This one was trouble from the beginning. Too much sun, too little water. Too much humidity, not enough water, too little light. What the hell do you want from me? Like Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors! What a pain in the rear. Started wilting so I transplanted it. Did ok for a while than started wilting again. So I moved it back indoors. About a week later I had a crop of mushrooms, I figured they were ok until it dawned on me that, where there were mushrooms there were other fungus. Leaf rot, root rot, tuberculosis? You name it, it had it. Oh well, end of story.

If it weren't for the pineapple success I probably would have lost hope.

I finally got my first banana last year. After much banana envy (as they grow wildly round these parts) I finally shelled out 3 clams, figured the smaller the better, if I ended up killing it at least. Still hanging tough into this year as usual, only recently I learned that its not a dwarf cavendish, rather it’s a prince or tiny mutchkin. My g/f tipped another pot on it a few months back and broke the p.stem. Since then it grew two pups, one died and the other is trucking along nicely at 11". I repotted it, only to find out that they rarely fruit if at all. Still, I can pretend!

After that I found some true dwarf cavendish outside of Walmart for $7 about a month ago. I so arrogantly chose the biggest one thinking it showed the most potential, only to find out that it was in the market for a new pot! Well, since transplanting it from its original confines of 1 ½ gal up to a cozy 5gal penthouse, it has gone wild on me. This last week it spit out two leaves almost 4ft of growth. It shot up so quick that on of the healthy lower leaves had no time to dry as the p.stem split it in two as it widened. Simply amazing, one leaf opened yesterday and when it did the next one was already 8 inches out. Must be the puppy chow! Anyway the moisture is a constant 8-9 and the pH is tipping a 7 but, it seems to like its surroundings.

Last week + a day or two, I found two blue java dying to break out of the HD garden center. I really can't explain what I was thinking at the time. All I remember is a soft leaf gently caressing my cheek as it whispered Help Me, as I walked by. At first I thought too bad no one is watering the poor thing, but than I noticed the hefty price tag of $35 and thought, well, "your going to die soon mr. nanner." So there I am standing on the patio trying to figure out where this 6ft herb is going to take up residence. The only safe place I could really spare, full sun and away from the flood was about 4ft from the concrete slab and 10ft from the tree. I didn't bother to change my friends dirty socks, I simply loosened the big feet and plopped him. I placed a weed barrier around a 5ft area, staked a couple re-bars (dog deterrent) and finished with a nice 4" eucalyptus salad.

I read somewhere that bananas can grow 12" a day, well this thing is proving that right everyday. By this evening the new leaf is already pushing 20" and just last night it hadn't even escaped the tunnel yet.

I am worried about the pH though. The soil was fairly black beneath the lawn I removed. A good 6-8 inches at least before becoming sandier. Around 12-14" it was mostly sand. I scooped out as much as I could, including roots from the nearby tree and threw in the blacker soil I dug out earlier. It is doing great so far as mentioned above. The pH is hovering around 6.5-7, so I wonder how thats going to affect the yield later on?

Should I add anything besides the 24-7-16 miracle grow, to combat the inevitable? Am I slipping on the banana peel now or what?

Much thanks, well informed site here, with killer pics too! -Chris in FL.

Bananaman88

All right! Sounds like you've been bitten by the banana bug! I thought I was the only one who heard the bananas begging me to take them home from the garden center!

Hopefully the blackness you saw just beneath your grass is what we know as topsoil with humus and other good organic matter in it. You're lucky to have it to a depth of 6-8"...most people are lucky to have a couple of inches of orgaic matter. Just monitor your plant and see how it does. I'm not too knowledgeable about FL soils so maybe check with some of the other FL members here. You might look for a fertilizer mix with a higher 3rd number (Potassium), as bananas need a fair amt. of that element.

Welcome to our organization! You can learn a lot here from many of the members and I'm sure we from you.

mskitty38583

welcome to the org! thats a lot of plants. wahoo!. and all of us hear voices in our heads when we go into the nursery....buy me, if you buy one more plant its on, what are those little crawley things on that plant, are you really sure its a banana and not a palm.......all sorts of voices...

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WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION

proletariatcsp

Well, come to find out afterwards that I have a whole crop of 'Ice Cream' growing close-by.
I could have saved allot just by digging one of them up. Than again, I did rescue it from HellDepot too!!! Thanks bananaman! LOL
Omg, you had me laughing so hard on that last one too,
'bananas have a tendency of being very persuasive, luring the unsuspecting victims one hand at a time!' Thanks mskitty.

microfarmer

Welcome, and good luck with your bananas! I, too, have been a victim of the voices in the plant department. Make sure you post up some pics of your container garden. Until I bought my home, I had about 100 container plants around my apartment. It took 2 trips with nothing more than plants to transport them all to their new home, my new home...

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My new hero...

proletariatcsp

Here is a view of the Dwarf Cav, and my (I think)'Queen' pinepples, 7/4/08.
The two bigger plants on the right were the pups from winter, and the smaller one was the crown. Still have a while to go but, that sure are sweet.

And here is Cavendish again 7/11/08, Progress! And yes that is not the same emerging leaf as above!


Another native Floridian a legless lizard, he protects my tomatos!

Here is my recent addition 'blue java' 7/5/08 And its progress 7/11/08


Hey thank you all for looking, and good luck with yours this summer!

Chironex

If they are growing that well, I don't think you should change a thing now. You have the fever, don't you? It never goes away, but then again, Why would you want it to? lol

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Scot

proletariatcsp

Thanks scot, and no kidding. I just compare mine with how well the other members nana's are coming along, guess its too early to tell. I suppose the steady growth is simply been attributed to the good weater lately, humid as all. I just hope this one grows over the roof, if not, well I will be finding myself a Giant soon. Good luck with yours too!