tldavis

Hello all, my name is Tim. I've had a banana tree in my backyard going on at least four years now. It was already planted in my backyard before I moved into the house. I actually didn't even know it was a banana tree until recently when my neighbor told me. It has never bore any fruit. Keep in mind, I probably haven't taken proper care of it since I didn't know what it was. Could it be because I haven't fertilized it? I've also read they need a lot of water, much more than I've given it anyway. I'm also somewhat confused on pruning. I understand once a limb bears fruit it never will again. Should I just prune all of the limbs off considering they may have bore fruit before I moved into the house? I read that some people just cut the whole plant down and let it regrow. I'm sorry for the length of my thread, I'm just a little confused on proper care. I always thought it was just some ornamental plant and cared for it as such. Now that I know what it is I would like to properly care for it and I could use any helpful advice I can get. Thank you.

daza1986

Best thing to do in summer would be water it well and keep piling on well rotted manure which will feed it. Once it flowers in most bananas the main plant will die but will send up suckers from ground level and replace the mother plant.

tldavis

So I shouldn't cut it to the ground and let it regrow?

sunfish

No Can you post a photo ? :-) :] =)

caliboy1994

It could just be an ornamental variety, maybe an ensete. A picture would help.

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sunfish

Ornamental don't fruit ?

caliboy1994

Well, I mean make edible fruit...you know what I mean

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pitangadiego

) Is this a single plant, or is it a group of plants (or stalks)? If single, quite possibly an ornamental. If multiple, most likely edible.

2) Have you ever seen any of the stalks (pseudostems) flower? Is it possible that it has flowered, but the fruit was small enough that you didn't think the ere actually bananas?

3) Is the foliage green or green with a good amount of red? If green, most likely edible. If it has a lot of red in the leaves and stems, and it is a single stalk it could well be an ornamental Abyssinian banana. They are quite popular in landscapes. The down side is that they will flower, and then die. They are propagated from seeds, not pups.

See Google Image Result for http://www.finegardening.com/CMS/uploadedImages/Images/Gardening/Plants/enseteventricosummaurellii_mg_2_lg.jpg

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tldavis

Hey everyone. Sorry it took so long to get back, I've been a little busy. So I have a picture of the banana tree so we can find out if it is ornamental or not but Im not sure how to post it on here. It asks me for a URL but its a picture saved on my cpu. No URL. Any suggestions? And thank you everyone for your help. You've been great.

caliboy1994

You go to Photo Gallery and click Upload Photos. A new page should come up, this is the photo upload page. You can upload up to 4 photos at once. Click the Choose File button and it opens a file browser, use this to select the photo that you want. Then click Upload/Submit and it'll take you to the second page after a few seconds. Here you can name the individual photos and add a description. Then click the Process button and your photos will be uploaded.

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~ Masanobu Fukuoka

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hydroid

Maybe Jose263 will chirp in, he is in your neck of the woods.
The Orinoco which is pretty common in our area will sometimes produce if we've had a mild winter. Some folks will get the shorter varieties like Raja Puri (6' or 7' tall) and winterze the plant around December by putting grass clippings in leaf bags and tying or wrapping the bags around the main trunk (psudostem). Then removing in the springtime and saving most of the stem giving it a head start for reaching maturity and producing bunches of fruit instead of spending most of the important summer days growing to a tall height and then setting fruit. This takes up valuable time and with our shorter subtropical climate needs all the help we can give them. Although our climate is mild the banana is a tropical plant and really needs 12 months/year of warm weather to abundantly produce. Hope this helps.

tldavis

tldavis

If that picture isnt good enough I can take another. It looked much better before it was resized in the post, lol.

sunfish

Might be a good to separate some of the pups and replant .

Worm_Farmer

uuumm, Start to water it more add lots of mulch. And even feed if you want. Check local Craigslist of horse manure in your area. But def water and mulch it will be just fine, IMO.

tldavis

Thanks everyone. I just bought some banana fuel online. From what I've read that stuff is pretty good. I'm going to lay down some mulch as well and start watering everyday. I must say everyone has been very helpful. Any ideas on if this tree is ornamental or not?

caliboy1994

It looks like an edible variety to me. Maybe Orinoco? Give it some TLC and you might get fruit!

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TommyMacLuckie

They can not fruit for years if they freeze enough. It will fruit at some point. Water it for 2 days, no water for 4 days, water for 1 day, no water for 3 days, etc. The stress makes them grow.

hydroid

I have also been using a tropical/palm fertilizer and I use a bunch, it's expensive but it seems to be good for the bananas. I also use liquid miracle grow every 2 weeks. My experience has been that I've never burned bananas from fertilizer and they seem to eat everything I put around them. They are heavy feeders. This has been my experience but I am not an expert, your milage may vary. Check out my gallery.
Bo

pitangadiego

Add water, compost, fertilizer.

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