kp1945

What would be the minimum size container to grow the dwarf banana verities and expect fruit? What I want to do is over winter container bananas in my greenhouse and move them outside during the summer. I can handle 20-25 gallon containers with a dolly but much larger than that would be difficult without placing them on some sort of wagon.

Steve in France

I've not idea what the answer is , but I've flowered my 'African Red' in a ten gallon and three stems on one 'Royal Purple' are about to flower in a ten gallon. I have just been given some 15 gallon pots that I will use for Ornata types next year just to give them a little extra room. Some of my fruiting types like 'Saba' and 'Ice cream' have grown well in ten gallons this year , but some are behind in growth like 'Cardaba' . I'll buy some 25 gallon pots this winter for the fruiting types and repot come Spring. I cannot think I'd want to move pots bigger than 25 gallon. Also I think I'd have a hard time sourcing cheap plastic pots above 25 gallons.I'm prety sure I can get fruit from a 25 gallon pot , maybe not big yields but fruit none the less.
Good Luck
Later
Steve

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microfarmer

Saba in a ten gallon to fruiting??

I just got a Saba pup that barely fit in a 20 gallon pot full to the top with dirt and it still needs more soil...

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Steve in France

No , it's growing up from a small division this Spring , it's about 9 ft tall now. That's why next year I'l do 25 gallon pots. The ten gallon are just to grow stuff on for a season. I think if I was fruiting Saba in a ten gallon pot I'd put myself up for a Bananas.org award LOL .
Later
Steve

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microfarmer

I'll second your nomination...

I'll only overwinter in my pot, and next spring I'll be putting it in it's permanant home...sink or swim. This suckers too big to move once it's full size.

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Gabe15

I fruited my 'Rose' twice over in a 20-25 gallon container, well actually I don't the exact size in gallons but its about 2ftwide and 2ft deep, thats a nice size for dwarf bananas I'd say. For those little ornamentals, they can go as small as 5gallons easily, sometimes 3 if its one of the really little ones. But 5-10gal are good for those.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

microfarmer

I can see fruiting many of the dwarf size or smaller in a 20 gal pot. Any of the larger plants, and the pot would be all corm and no roots. I have a 30 gallon that's about the right size for an 8-10 foot tall plant with room for a couple pups to develop. The trick is managing the water. Maybe an ebb and flow setup to water 'under' the corm.

All my container bananas are small (under 3 feet tall), and merely being incubated/sustained, and are going in the ground after the weather warms. If I only had containers to grow in, I would use some plastic 55 gallon barels cut down to about 40-45 gallons and mount wheels to them. Any of the 12-15 footers should be able to fruit in them. I'm still not sure about Saba though...It looks massive...

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kp1945

Here goes one of these what if questions. Maybe I should separate the pups in the spring and plant mom in the ground? The separated pups could grow outside all summer in 20 gallon containers, then trough the winter in the greenhouse. At that point they should be fruiting or ready to fruit. Mom is going to make more pups and die after fruiting right? So why not move the pups to a nice warm greenhouse to grow and replace her the next year, This could cycle year after year of having uninterrupted growth from pups in containers to the ground where they could really take off and fruit. This sounds to simple so what have I overlooked?
I live on the gulf coast of Louisiana and I do get stalks of bananas most years but maybe only 20 bananas to the stalk. I really would like to produce a full stalk of fruit and maybe this is the way to achieve it.
I have seen the demo of how you dig up the moms, cut the leaves off and store in the cellar. This is similar to what I do but we leave the trees outside and cut off the dead parts in spring.
If it’s a dumb idea then please do be candid, you won’t hurt my feelings and may save me a lot of work. Just can’t get it out of my mind why it wouldn’t work really well.
kp1949

valerie@flower

KP1945, your idea is not a bad one. Just keep in mind that all plants grow bigger in the ground. I gave away one pup from my California gold that was in a 5 gallon container and the pup had a baby shoot with one leaf. The pup did not grow very much after being in the same container for over a year. But the tap root was long and growing more and more. This plant needed a bigger home, more roots than top growth. A idea for a moveable container is to cut down a trash can that has wheels and drill some drainage holes.