View Full Version : Ice Cream flowering in pot
sandy0225
11-02-2009, 09:10 AM
Hooray! My big ice cream banana is finally starting to push out a flower bud slowly in the heated greenhouse. What I need to know is this: Do they have to be pollenated to produce fruit or since it's seedless, will it just produce as long as it has female flowers? I was leaning towards the no pollenation, but if I have to "play bee" in the greenhouse to get fruit I'd be happy to do that too. But it sure would be a bummer if I found out that I needed to pollenate it and then I didn't do it and didn't get any fruit after all this time...
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=26108&size=1
Dalmatiansoap
11-02-2009, 09:34 AM
Conratulations!!!!!
:woohoonaner:
Keep us posted
momoese
11-02-2009, 09:38 AM
Congrats Sandy! Is this the one that was inside then went outside and something happened to it, or was that Patty?
Btw, no pollination needed to get fruit.
djmb74
11-02-2009, 10:34 AM
what size pot do you have it in Sandy?
sirmoebly
11-02-2009, 12:33 PM
did you have it in the ground or was it alyways in a pot? looks awesome....
Abnshrek
11-02-2009, 02:21 PM
How tall is it?
moonboy87
11-02-2009, 03:07 PM
Awesome! Congrats! I cannot wait until a year or so until my baby gives me naners, and I hope that this summer being in a pot outside will give it enough love to get HUGE and happy :D
sandy0225
11-02-2009, 03:25 PM
It's about 9 feet tall.It's the one I've been posting pictures of for years saying it's our breakroom at the greenhouse. We sit under it and relax in the summer. Customers sit under it too while they wait on someone else to shop.
I had cut it back last winter to put it into the greenhouse, I cut it back to about 5 feet tall. It wasn't all that warm here this summer so it didn't get as tall as usual. Good news for me. I noticed earlier that it was getting smaller leaves on the oldest stem on the mat. So we didn't cut it back this fall when we put it into the greenhouse. It's always been potted, it's four years old I think. I got it in a order of tc liners the year I started business in Spring of 2005. It's potted in a large rubbermaid tub, and then that is sitting inside a larger cattle supplement tub so that it will hold some water in the summer. It's super root bound because it now has the main stem, two stems from last year and three more from this year. So six stems in the pot. I hope I get several bananas!
djmb74
11-02-2009, 03:43 PM
so how many gallons do you think your rubber maid container is?
Congrats Sandy. Great news for all of us!:woohoonaner:
stumpy4700
11-02-2009, 04:23 PM
Congrats, Great job
austinl01
11-02-2009, 06:47 PM
Congratulations! I'd love to see a pic of the full plant.
conejov
11-02-2009, 07:50 PM
Congratulations sandy!!!
LilRaverBoi
11-02-2009, 08:17 PM
Awesome...yeah, no pollination necessary. As I understand, some of the flowers (either male or female...can't remember) are sterile anyway and that's why they are always seedless. Enjoy your naners! And keep us updated with pics!
damaclese
11-02-2009, 08:26 PM
way to go Sandy its nice to get fruit it just gos to show you that life begets life even in non optimal conditions keep up the good work
Patty in Wisc
11-02-2009, 09:57 PM
Congrats Sandy! What great news. I'm hoping for a flower soon too. A real challenge for zone 5 ppl.
Mitchel, that was my nana that took a dive when I moved it out last spring. It's still in the big pot & back in L room with a halogen from 3-7:30pm & doing better than all summer.
cherokee_greg
11-03-2009, 11:36 AM
great job there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PennyG
11-03-2009, 12:14 PM
Very nice, well done,
Bananaman88
11-03-2009, 12:31 PM
Good luck with it! Sort of nice that you didn't cut it back before moving it in this year or you almost certainly would have removed the bud.
1aday
11-05-2009, 08:04 PM
Congratulations! I would love to see a photo of the entire plant too.
Maybe you win the award for northernmost Ice Cream fruiting!
AnnaJW
11-05-2009, 09:13 PM
Congrats!!!!!
sandy0225
11-09-2009, 01:20 PM
I've had a couple of people ask me for an update. There's really not much to tell. It's been overcast and cool here and not real warm in the greenhouse, so it's kind of stopped for now. It's still growing, just sloooooowly! Maybe I'll have fruit forming by spring?
D_&_T
11-10-2009, 12:24 AM
Congrats Sandy!!
Sounds like good reason for road trip one morning after work!
bikoro child
11-10-2009, 01:29 AM
Congrats Sandy and I hope you 'll soon can eat the fruits of it!!
buzzwinder
11-10-2009, 04:05 PM
Congratulations Sandy! I was wondering when it was going to bloom for you, it's not often that us zone 5'ers get a bloom, now if Patty can get a bloom it will renew my confidence in being able to get one to flower in N. IL. :bananas_b
buzzwinder
11-10-2009, 04:10 PM
Congrats Sandy! What great news. I'm hoping for a flower soon too. A real challenge for zone 5 ppl.
Mitchel, that was my nana that took a dive when I moved it out last spring. It's still in the big pot & back in L room with a halogen from 3-7:30pm & doing better than all summer.
Thanks for the update Patty, I haven't been on the Org. much since the beginning of June due to school and such. Glad your Icecream is comming back for you. I was wondering about it. :bananas_b
sandy0225
12-02-2009, 07:11 AM
update! the bloom is now hanging on a stalk that droops down about 18"
a couple of petals are opening and you can see if all goes well I'm going to have some bananas.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27363&size=1
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27364&size=1
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=22225
for reference this is the plant before we carried it into the greenhouse, September 09.
The greenhouse is way too crowded to get that good of a picture of it now! It has a 7 foot alocasia wrapped all around it and intertwined in it!
coolrobby2003
12-28-2009, 04:22 PM
looks good there my friend
sandy0225
12-29-2009, 08:18 AM
looks like I'm only going to have about 20 bananas on it. Oh well, that's 20 I didn't have before. I'll take a picture and update this thread later. I don't want to open the greenhouse door right now--it's 14 degrees and wind from the north. My LP gas man is in such a good mood this time of the year, it's disgusting!!!
1aday
12-29-2009, 08:03 PM
That's 20 more than I've ever had!
How warm do you keep your greenhouse?
CValentine
12-29-2009, 08:09 PM
So excited for you with your bananas Sandy!!!
Can hardly wait for the pictures!!! :D ~Cheryl
Patty in Wisc
12-29-2009, 11:00 PM
Sandy, what did you feed it, & how often? I give mine Banana Fuel once a week. I just cut off 2 pups (of 3) & potted them in hopes it will give mama more energy. Got mine as a tiny tc in June '06 so I'm hoping for a flower next year - I don't care if I only get 10 nanas! Your bloom is encouraging!
justjoan
12-30-2009, 08:33 AM
How cool is that!!! I am so excited for you Sandy, and the rest of us Northern Growers, it gives us encouragement! :woohoonaner::woohoonaner::goteam:
Dean W.
12-30-2009, 12:57 PM
Awesome!
palmtree
12-31-2009, 12:13 PM
Congrats. How old is it and how tall is it? I might try one this summer, and Im happy to hear that you dont have to plant it in the ground for fruit.
Good luck and enjoy!!!
Happy New Year!!!
CookieCows
01-16-2010, 10:09 AM
Sandy I just saw this thread and first :woohoonaner: CONGRATS!! and second... really motivated with the idea of keeping one or two nanas in a pot now!
sandy0225
01-31-2010, 07:59 PM
Update, sadly I'm in difficulty with the stem of ice cream bananas. They are too small to ripen, only about 4-5 inches, but only about 1" in diameter.
We had a couple problems with the heater in the greenhouse. I told my hubby that the heater seemed to be kicking on and off a lot when I was in there watering, and he checked it. Well when he did, he accidentally repositioned one of the vanes on the front of the hanging heater and it was shooting the heat directly on the pstem of that tall ice cream, right into the crown of the plant where the bananas were hanging out. I noticed it two days later, but we were having 10 degree nights and 30 degrees cloudy days, so the heater was kicking on a lot. It kind of cooked the pstem, right up at the top and several of the leaves were looking very fried and dried out . He said the heater was fine, but seemed a little dirty in one of the burners, so he worked on it a little.
Well, Thursday, I went in there to water,( they only need it about once a week right now,) and we'd had a hard frost in there. I had just been in the greenhouse a day before and everything was fine. It showed on my max/min thermometer that it'd been 28 degrees on there. Not good! We did a little investigation and found that a spider had put a nest into one of the burners at some point in time (probably over the summer) and it had dislodged and burned and completely clogged up one of the three burners, so it was only putting out 2/3 of the heat it should have been putting out. I think everything in there is going to make it, but I think it's going to be the final straw for those bananas, the pstem they're on has a major black/brown look to it and it's hanging down really differently (bad) than before. On a happy note, all the other stems in the pot look fine, but the leaves look bad. And the whole greenhouse smells like frosted plant leaves.
1aday
01-31-2010, 08:46 PM
What a heartbreak! Maybe with some sunny days the plants will perk up?
Any hope for the bananas if you have to pick the bunch now?
That is a real bummer! So close in such a difficult environment. Bananas in Indiana has got to be a challange!
saltydad
01-31-2010, 11:50 PM
I still am hoping for you.
Abnshrek
01-31-2010, 11:55 PM
I know you have years invested in that Ice Cream, so I hope it recovers and brings you joy in the near future :^)
island cassie
02-01-2010, 06:57 AM
Sandy - so sorry to hear about the disaster when we were all so happy for you. It might be worth putting some props on the top of the pstem and the stem of the bunch to hold them in the best position in the faint hope that the centre of the plant is still ok and passing nutriants to the fruit. Also I would cut off the bud with the unopened flowers to ease the weight and strain on the whole plant. Good luck!
LilRaverBoi
02-01-2010, 01:32 PM
Oh...I'm so sorry to hear that! I know how excited you were about that bunch. Well, best thing you can do is to move on and hope for the best! It might be okay after all. If not, well, it's a shame, but I'm sure you can get another one to bud in the future. Best wishes, Sandy!
palmtree
02-01-2010, 07:52 PM
ouch, sorry. Maybe there's still a chance it will make some bananas, but at least all your plants survived. I wouldnt be surprised if one of the offspring flowers for you this summer. Hope everything comes back well!
Patty in Wisc
02-03-2010, 01:22 AM
Just saw this & I feel so bad. I hope there's a chance that the plant will be OK & nanas ripen. Look at the bright side Sandy...you gave us northerners some real hope of getting a potted nana to even produce a flower! Thank you for that:)
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