EBurton

Do you have any pictures of the Red Dwarf Balbisianas? I may have the same thing in my front yard.

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Aloha,
Erik

MediaHound

Thanks Jon for that. What do you say in regards to wind in that case?
Do yours get shredded or are they protected from gusts?

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pitangadiego

Shredded leaves are not an issue - as long as they are green there are productive. Skinny bananas just need propping. Here are the pix of my folded Pisang Ceylon, from winds in mid January 2007. It landed on another plant, which kept the fold to less that 90 degrees, and kept it from breaking off completely. They should be ripe this month.

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AnnaJW

Goldfinger and DC. DC has a large pup, and two small ones.
My back is aching, but, these are finally planted!!!

Anybody want to dig holes? Drink and food provided. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

AnnaJW

Today I planted:

Another Goldfinger, Ice Cream, a Mona Lisa, Misi Luki, Raja, and one unknown. I even got name tags by most of the plants.

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-Anna Banana -

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bigdog

Today was a good day! I finally got my Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis in the ground. Dug a very large bed for it, considering its traveling habit. Can't wait to see how big it gets this year. It already has about five feet of pseudostem. When I removed the pot (it was severely rootbound!), I found three monstrous rhizomes that had migrated to the bottom of the pot. There was hardly any room for soil, lol! I've actually considered installing one of those bamboo barriers for it, but I'm just going to let it do its thing this year. If it turns out to be very cold-hardy (fingers crossed!), then I probably will next year.

mikevan

I potted up my Dwarf and regular Orinoco, Saba and Dwarf Brazilian, and planted out a young Rajapuri. I have a few more that I'll plant out before long once I finish my taro beds - banana beds will border my taro. Nothing looks more tropical than large beds of taro with bananas as the backdrop!

Be well,
Mike

bigdog

I planted my Musa 'Helen's Hybrid' today, after almost killing it once again. I accidentally let it dry out, and the dry south winds and 93F heat today took its toll. A few wilted leaves, a couple of them a bit burnt, but it will look fine in a few weeks now that it's in the ground. It was also severely potbound. Meant to plant it out weeks ago, but you know how that goes!

Hey, I'm two for two! Maybe I'll get another one planted tomorrow.

frankthetank

bigdog-

Do you have anything that will be fruiting soon/sometime this summer?

bigdog

Frank,

I have several Tall Orinocos that should provide me with fruit this summer. Maybe my Raja Puri also.

bigdog

Never mind with the Raja Puri, lol. The whole thing just toppled over from rot at the base. I'm through with it after this year!

Today (actually yesterday) I planted my Musa thomsonii. I've been growing it in shade for the last month +, and the leaves turned a really nice dark green, and it started growing much better also. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a spot in the yard with full shade, so I found a spot where it would get late afternoon shade at least. Here's what it looked like in mid-May:



And a few days ago, just before planting outside:



Right now, it is my most beautiful Musa, IMHO. The leaves keep that very dark red color on the undersides for a good while, the pseudostem is multi-colored and waxy, and that last leaf almost looks like an elephant ear (ok, that's a bit of a stretch). Hope it makes it through the winter!

MediaHound

That's a stunning Musa, Frank.
Put me down for one when you're up to here with 'em.

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mikevan

Is this a known problem with Rajapuri, or did you just have bad luck with it? I have a large one that I hope to fruit this season and a younger one just put in the ground that's growing happily.

Be well,
Mike

Bonheur

My Raja puri did the same thing as bigdog's. Last year, it was among my healthiest & fastest growing bananas. The pseudostem was over ten feet. I was sure it would fruit this year. When it didn't start growing this spring, I started cutting it back. Although the pseudostem was firm, it was rotten in the center, all the way to the ground. Its pups are doing just fine, though, & the biggest one is already over 5 ft. tall.

That Musa thomsonii really is amazing. It almost looks artificial!

mikevan

What causes it to rot like that?

Be well,
Mike

Bonheur

I wish I knew why it rotted. Unfortunately, it's not the first time. It's also happened with some of my Ice Creams, some tall Orinocos, & both of my Williams Hybrids. It's always only affected the tallest plants, never the pups. Our winters here are erratic, with temps ranging from the 70's & 80's to the 20's & back again many times throughout the winter. The bananas break dormancy numerous times & start growing vigorously, only to be hit with a hard freeze. When spring finally arrives, some have lost a bit of pseudostem, but recover quickly. But 1 or 2 will be rotten in the middle, all the way to the ground (but the corm & pups are unaffected). Since they were actively growing only a month or two earlier, the rot must happen quickly. I don't know if the cause of my rot is the same as others with more "normal" climates. Perhaps Gabe has an answer?

After re-reading bigdog's post, he said his was rotten at the base. It may not have extended through the middle of the p-stem.

Sorry to get off-topic.

bigdog

Yeah, mine was rotten in the middle also. Happened last year also. And I am storing them under the house for the winter. I have the same problem with Ice Cream, although I got one Ice Cream to come through with no rot in the middle. Only had one Tall Orinoco do it to me this year though.

To answer your question, Mike, I have read the same problem from many different people, so I think we can conclude that it is a common problem with Raja Puri.

D'Andra

My Raja did not rot to the ground after being stuck in the garage for the winter. I did have 4 others that did though. All but my dwarf red made comebacks. Dwarf red is gone I'm sure. The other 3 have sent up 6-8 pups around where the rotted PS was. It's really pretty cool looking, but lost several feet of growth on each plant. I'm guessing a good way to get tons of pups is to cut off the main PS at ground level but I've not tried this on a healthy one.

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D'.

fish2026

Over the past three days. I took about 500 plants in trays from Agri-start and potted each one of them with the help of my 7 yr old daughter. Also put 400 seeds in trays from Banana - Tree.

Its a lot less work sitting and ordering from the pretty pictures - than mixing the dirt ( roughly 1/4 potting soil, 1/4 bark or peat moss, 1/4 perlite, and 1/4 whatever was in the pots from when I planted pecans - the rejects)

Some of these plants are 6" high - I wonder if i can take them outside in direct sun ( south texas).

The varieties are African Rhino Horn ( hmm Im on the coast and its windy so this might not have been a great choice), Red Inholene, Mysore , Hua moa, Cordaba, Ice Cream.

If only my rabbit were still alive to see this...

Floridagardner

Thanks to the advise of follow growers, I repotted. The plant leafs were wilting. After being directed to a help forum, which indicated that perhaps there was too much water. Repotted the bananas adding some perlite. Will keep an eye to see if this help. Next bunch will be potted with plenty of perlite for better drainage. Sure am glad to have been directed to this site. Dorothy.

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Floridagardner