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Old 09-24-2010, 04:35 PM   #6 (permalink)
Epicatt2
 
Location: Tampa, FL / Alajuela, Costa Rica
Zone: 9 - 10
Name: Stanhopi
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Default Re: Musa acuminata "Novak"

Quote:
Originally Posted by TylerH View Post
...went into a local grocery store and saw some banana plants for 5$ each, they are label Musa Acuminata "Novak" and was wondering what type of banana this is...
Long-time lurker, me, off & on. Live in west central Florida (Tampa). I'm growing several bananas out of doors in the ground and have been able to cover the 'shorter' ones or whack the leaves off and wrap the pseudostems to protect them during our six-weeks of wintertime temperatures.

Have 'Rajapuri', Hua Moa', a lost label that may be 'Golden Aromatic', and the Super Dwarf 'Novak'.

The 'Novak' is the smallest and easiest to protect, wrapping it in an old cloth blanket and then popping a large Rubbermaid garbage can over that. It was purchased from Home Depot and they IDed it for me from their vendor invoice when none of their stock had tags in the pots.

But 'Novak' does seem to get set back less by the cold than my other cultivars, especially last year's winter (Jan '10) when we had three hard freeze days in a row. Afterwards, the 'Novak' was the only one of those four cultivars that didn't freeze back all the way to the ground. It looked ratty once uncovered after the cold was over but did start to put out leaves again quickly.

So the little 'Novak' appears to be the most promising of my bananas for actually getting some fruit off of within one central Florida growing season.

Now my question is, since I cannot find a commercial 9-3-27 fertilizer like W. O. Lessard recommends, what would be the best commercial fertilizer or combo thereof to maximize growth and fruit production on the 'Novak' before the usual Dec/Jan cold snaps set in for us here? I've been tossing Scott's Rose fertilizer on my bananas this season.

Cheers!

Paul M.
Tampa, FL / Alajuela, Costa Rica
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