bencelest

I think I have a flag leaf!
And Winter is coming. But I'll take it.

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Banana Nut

ewitte

How tall is it? Hope mine gets there early next year. Probably about 4-5ft when winter comes.

hammer

Very nice plant benny how long have you had the plant. my raja puri to stack the leaves on top of one another what size pot is it grown in.

bencelest

I measured it this morning and from the ground up to the tip of the p stem is exactly 3 feet and 6 inches. Not too tall at all.

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bencelest

I looked at the tag and it says I planted it as a pup on 5/8/07. You have to remember that here in my area bananas don't grow all year round. On winter times we have a lot of temperature below 54 degrees the crucial tempt when bananas stop growing completely.
The wine barrel is 31 gallons. It has 2 pups now one is almost as tall as the mamma.

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bencelest

Here are 2 pictures I took this morning

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sunfish

Benny isn't that pretty short to have a flag leaf already ? My RP is at 4ft. and planted about the same time as yours with no sign of a flag leaf.

sbl

Congrats Benny! Mine bloomed at 4 ft 4 inches in a little less than 2 yrs. The first pup is now 4 ft, but no flag.

bencelest

Ha-ha-ha. You guys are making me smile because I KNOW bananas just as much as you do. This is my first time a RP bore a flower for me. I actually did not expect anything until I saw 2 days ago this banana appeared weird looking and sure enough I saw a sign of a flag leaf. The only bananas that I harvested so far are the dwarf Brazilian and 2 times the California Gold.
At least I know that the RJ can be grown in pots and have a flower.
I don't expect too many fingers on this banana because the pstem is rather small. So Tony you may have a lot more bananas to harvest than me.
And the same to you SBL you will have more bananas to eat than me.
To me those bananas have a mind of their own. They will bear fruit when they feel like it (lol)

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sunfish

I am sure you know more about bananas than I do.

sbl

You're way ahead of me to Benny, this is my first yr getting bananas to bloom, I had 2 Orinocos bloom (one had 3 hands/18 fingers the other has 3 hands/15 fingers. My RP has got 6 hands/59 fingers, but they are smaller than the Orinocos.

ewitte

Holy cow about as tall as mine in the 45gal smartpot. Hopefully everything holds out until the spring or we have a delayed winter. Sometimes up until Christmas there are still days up to the high 80's or even 90's.

sbl

Mine is growing in a pot that is probably about 15 gal, the pup that is 4 ft is in a pot that is not much more than 5 gal--I was going to move it up to the big pot when "Mama" finishes with the big pot.

mike

My RP has a little over five feet of p stem no flower. I have no flowers on anything BOOHOO. Everything will flower in another month or so and then die. Well that is enough self pity congrats Bencelest on getting a flower

bencelest

Hey, guys, all we can do is experiment with what we have. While doing it is the fun of it all. If we got them to flower that's the ultimate. If we don't then let's wait some more. You know, I have many large bananas before and for about 2 years none of them flowered, not one of them. And they were very large and healthy. And a friend from the Philippines came over and I told him my problem and he told me maybe they were abaca a kind of banana that don't flower. And I believed him so I cut all of them down and planted something I ordered from Ebay and from Florida.
To this day I 've been kicking my butt why I did that. I should have waited some more months because none of my bananas that I ordered flowered for less than 2 years. My old bananas probably were about ready to flower when I cut them down.
But that was before I discovered this wonderful forum.

Benny

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enigma99a

Congrats, I am jealous. All of mine keep putting out huge leafs, trying to get record pstem height before a flower I guess

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

sbl

Don't give up Mike! It is always a challange to get a banana thru the winter, but I learned a few things over the last yr. If you cannot move it inside for winter, there are some other things that will help. First wrapping the stem with anything to insulate it will reduce damage and may get the stem thru the winter. If the stem does not survive the winter, don't cut it back very much--leave as much of the stem intact as possible--what is left in the stem will help the daughter grow much faster.

I had a large stem that did not make it thru the winter (right next to one I wrapped that did make it)--the daughter was only half as tall as the one that made it, now it is taller and has almost twice as many leaves as the large one that made it.

bencelest

sbl: You said it right. That's what I am going to do this winter. Before, I let them struggle for themselves but I think this time I am going to cut all their leaves and wrap the pstem with any insulator I have on hand and wrap them with plastic and on top I will put a large trash can liner to keep the water out.
And see what happens. This is just for the less hardy ones I have.
Also if the pstem does not make it I found out that the corm normally is intact and fresh and ready to pup when the whether gets warmer. But with insulation I think they will make it through the winter.

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sbl

I don't cut the leaves, I just bend them down and use them for insulation--then I cut them in the spring.

bencelest

At first thought that's what I wanted to do but don't they have water that might harm the pstem? Did you do this before and it worked?

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Banana Nut