bencelest

I am sure this has been discussed before many times here but I can't seem to find the thread for this.
I just bought a Calif Gold and I failed to find what soil mixture I should use for a good growth habit?
What about maintenance i.e. watering, fertilizing, winter maintenance?
Please help.
Benny
PS: I am new: only 2 days as a member.

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Banana Nut

pitangadiego

http://webebananas.com/culture.html

Soil is less of an issue that moisture control. Mine are all in clay and cobble. Not ideal, but still quite workable.

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bencelest

Thank you so much.

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microfarmer

Pitangadiego,

The website says that you could not sucessfully overfertilize them. Have you ever had problems with a burn on the emerging leaves? I was told it was excessive salts in the soil or ferts.

Thanks,

Jeff

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pitangadiego

Overfertilizing did casue some varieties, with a particular "style" of leaf emergence, to grow too fast, which resulted in tangled leaves. When fertilizer levels returned to normal, so di the growth habit.

Brown areas, in my experience, are the result of inadequate moisture, from underwatring, uneven watering of the entire root mass, excess evaporation (low humidity climates, or periods of the year), or root damage. If you remove a pup, you damage some of the roots of the parent plant, and those roots seem to be associated with certain parts of a particular leaf or leaves. So, if it is associated with an emerging leaf, it will have the brown areas. That damage results in brown (dead) areas. The other option is that overall moisture stress on the plant is expressed in a random fashion by the plant, resulting in a random arangement of brown patches on all leaves, including thosed that are emerging. Either way, the result and cure are the same. These stresses are not immediately manifested, but seem to be revealed over a period of time, seemingly more in the range of 5-10 days. So when you see such issues, they are more likely the result of conditions a week ago, not current conditions. This lage time emphasizes the need to be proactive in banana plant management, rather than reactive.

I have definitely not seen any burning due to fertilization.

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jeffreyp

Dig a 2.5 ft diameter hole for the corm, 2ft. deep. Plant it with 1/3 composted cow manure, 1/3 top soil, and 1/3 peat. Bury the base of the corm in the soil to the point where the brown of the root ball meets the green of the stem. Your banana plant will be luvin it..

Mark Hall

Pitangadiego.....you say that overfeeding causes the leaves to grow too fast and tangled. we have a problem in the uk with ensete .v maurellii doing this and its refered to as the strangles over here do you think its the same problem as the leaves grow distorted and it slows down the growth

Mark

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bencelest

Thanks Jeffrey fo the info.

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bencelest

There is an arctic blast coming my way this weekend. Tempt around 26 degrees F.
How do you protect a newly planted banana?
I have a very good idea what I am going to do but let me know how you do it? Maybe I can learn a lot more than what I have in mind.

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Banana Nut

jeffreyp

a tomatoe cage wrapped in plastic and stuffed with dry leaves should do the trick.

Kylie2x

Hey!!!
Congrats on your banana and Welcome!!!
If your weather is comin quick.. You can use sheets and blankets cardboard even newspaper...I wouldn't suggest plastic....unless you have insulated it from the plant...Good Luck...
Kylie

pitangadiego

Mark,

I haven't grown those varieties, so not sure of their growth characteristics. Some varieties send their new leaves up and the start unfurling as they emerge. With others, the new leaf shoots up inside the stem of the previous leaf, and each leaf needs to fully emerge before it unrolls. If the next leaf comes out too fast, the previous leaf hasn't unfurled yet, and the newest leaf get's stuck and pushes itself out through the previous leaf, folding itself, and ripping the previous leaf. Manzano was one of the worst affected. The Cavendish types didn't have any problems.

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http://encantofarms.com
We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com

bencelest

Thanks a lot guys for a quick reply.

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modenacart

My dwarf cavendish chocked and turned really black and got soft where it was chocking. I had to cut it back to the ground. I have a rajipuri and Orinoco that look like they might be chocking too.

bencelest

When I found out that we'll be having record low tonight 22*F, I wrapped the leaves and p-stem with burlap and tied and wrapped around 300 4-watt Christmas lights from tip to halfway down the stem and then wrapped the whole thing with clear plastic. The bottom half of the p-stem I wrapped it with floor heat mat that I bought at Ebay. I also put a bunch of bags fertilizer around the corm.
I checked the tempt this morning and it was 26*F.
I also put covers to my citrus plants -38 of them. So you see I was busy.

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bencelest

Because of the record lows that are breaking right now here in California, I wrapped the newly planted California gold with burlap, then wrapped 3 rolls of 100 each Cristmas lights around from the tip and the middle of the p-stem then from thereon down wrapped the stem with floor heat mats.
It went to 20 degrees this morning but I checked the tempt at the stem and it was 54 degrees around and on the soil close to the corm.
here's a pic how I protect my citrus trees and the one that looked like a chimney sticking out at the roof is my banana.



Try it once more

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bencelest

I guess imageshack does not work here so please someone tell me how to upload a picture here.

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banana_fun

I fixed your tags here you go. Nice pics!

bencelest

Thanks banana fun

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