View Full Version : Hi I'm the new guy
Ezekiel
11-22-2009, 04:41 PM
Hi guys
I'm Sebastien, I live in France (near Paris) and I am a Banana enthusiast (lol looks like a AA introduction)
I am mostly a palm and agavacea grower, but I always had an interest on Bananas
My USDA zone is 8. I keep Musa basjoo since 2006, and sikkimensis since 2008. But now I want MORE species:goteam:
I have some questions, so I hope you could help me!
Thanks,
See ya
Sebastien
Dalmatiansoap
11-22-2009, 04:49 PM
Hi Sebastien
Welcome from Croatia
:woohoonaner:
momoese
11-22-2009, 04:51 PM
Wellcome from Los Angeles. :)
CValentine
11-22-2009, 06:04 PM
Welcome Sebastien!
Glad to have you going bananas with us!
From Zone 8a, Central Texas!! :) ~Cheryl
Ezekiel
11-22-2009, 07:13 PM
Thanks everyone :02:(love the message board's smilies)
Seaner
11-22-2009, 07:16 PM
Hello and welcome! I'm in zone 7 in Oklahoma but I'm newer than you at growing bananas. But you should have no probs finding what you need here!
Ezekiel
11-22-2009, 07:25 PM
Regarding information, for sure.
for the plants it is way much complicated. In france, we do not have a lot of choice concerning Cold hardy species (except basjoo, sikkimensis, Musella lasiocarpa). That's a shame. We can find almost any palm species, any Yucca or Agave species but bananas are rare to find, particularly ... cultivars (Musa 'Texas Star', Musa 'Carolina King')
Sowing seeds can help.
I noticed that many people have Musa Golden Rhinohorn. What an interesting specie.
I plan to implement Musa dwarf Orinoco, Musa dwarf red, Musa 'Helen's hybrid' and Musa itinerans next year (although I am not sure M. Orinoco and M. Dwarf Red can survive my cold temperate climate)
Seaner, Cheryl, could you tell me more about the species you have on ground?
By the way, I am a big Yucca fan (particularly of Texas native and Mexican boarder species), so if you wanna talk xeric, I'm the one :ha:
CValentine
11-22-2009, 08:00 PM
Hi Again!!
If you check out my profile...There's a list! :D
Bananas.org - View Profile: CValentine (http://www.bananas.org/member-cvalentine.html)
I have Dwarf Orinoco & LOVE THEM! Dwarf Namwah also!! :)
Hope it's a great day for you! I have a yucca!! Unsure of what kind though... :) ~Cheryl
momoese
11-22-2009, 08:17 PM
By the way, I am a big Yucca fan (particularly of Texas native and Mexican boarder species), so if you wanna talk xeric, I'm the one :ha:
Here is some of ours.
Banana Gallery - Other Plants Around The house (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1157)
Welcome aboard, Sebastien :) ! Luv Sikkimensis! There's lots of members growin all kinds of nanners here! Richard even made a "banana flavors" chart in the Wiki section of the site! It's a very friendly place, here, and info-packed! If ya have any questions about using the forum, just ask.
Have fun!
Abnshrek
11-22-2009, 11:17 PM
Hi Welcome & Good Luck in your banana pursuits :^)
stumpy4700
11-23-2009, 08:18 AM
Welcome to the site Sebastien.
cherokee_greg
11-23-2009, 11:57 AM
welcome from Fresno,California
LilRaverBoi
11-23-2009, 07:04 PM
Welcome to the site! This is a great place to learn about bananas. If you have questions you can't find answers to in the forums/wiki pages, just ask. People here are very kind and helpful!
saltydad
11-23-2009, 07:07 PM
Welcome Sebastien, from the great state of Maryland, right next to Washington, DC. You'll love it here. There also is a subsection of European members so you can compare similar stories.
Hi Sebastien :),
Sorry we're late responding. Sean has an Orinoco that he'll be putting in-ground this coming spring. I've been growing Blue Javas in-ground for 3 years now. Last summer, I added Ruby Siam, Gran Nain, Sikkimensis, Giant Sweet Plantain, & Orinoco! Now with Sean getting into bananas, we could have even more before Winter's done :ha: ! But I never leave them in-ground year-round. I always over-winter them indoors. Dont have a Yucca (of my own) but definitely intend to try growing one!
Other plants I grow include Timber Bamboos (with a 300' rhizome barrier - like a giant outdoor pot), lots of cannas, Elephant Ears (different types), Water Hyacinth (in ponds), cactus, and 1 Hibiscus (so far). Sean has Aloe, Snake plant, & an Alocasia. Also wanna get a Picher plant (Cheryl has a Super one)!
Texas Star & Carolina King are hard to trace. TyTy nursery claims to have Texas Star (Very cold-hardy) but their reputation is in question. I never buy anything from them but I Luv their ads :ha: !
If ya have any more questions, just ask! Always happy to help, mon ami!
Ezekiel
11-25-2009, 04:50 AM
Thanks Eric :drum:
I recently noticed that a lot of people do not leave their bananas in ground all year-round. Actually, I never considered it but now I will.
It should be a lotta work to dig up all corms when winter comes... Particularly if you have a lot of bananas! :ha:
I bet you have no choice, there are only a few species that can handle your winters.
By the way, I have a list of what I grow IN GROUND:
Butia eriospatha
Chamaerops humilis cerifera
Jubaea chilensis
Rapidophyllum hystrix
Sabal minor
Sabal minor ‘Louisiana’
Sabal palmetto
Sabal texensis
Sabal X Riverside
Trachycarpus fortunei Chusan
Trachycarpus fortunei Tesan
Trachycarpus geminisectus
Trachycarpus nanus
Trachycarpus princeps bleu
Trachycarpus sp Nova (princeps vert)
Trachycarpus takil
Trachycarpus ukhrulense (Manipur)
Trachycarpus wagnerianus
Musa basjoo
Musa sikkimensis green
Musa ‘Helen’s hybrid ‘
Agave chrysantha
Agave havardiana
Agave montana
Agave neomexicana
Agave ovatifolia
Agave parryi
Agave parryi v. Chihuahua
Hesperaloe parviflora
Nolina texensis
Yucca aloifolia
Yucca brevifolia jaegeriana
Yucca carnerosana
Yucca elata
Yucca faxoniana
Yucca filamentosa
Yucca filifera
Yucca glauca
Yucca glauca albertana
Yucca glauca stricta
Yucca harrimaniae
Yucca nana
Yucca rigida
Yucca rostrata
Yucca thomsoniana
Yucca treculeana
Yucca whipplei
Echinocereus fendleri
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
Echinocereus coccineus
Cylindropuntia spinosior
Opuntia rodantha
Opuntia compressa
Opuntia engelmanni
Opuntia cymochila
Opuntia erinacea ursina
Opuntia mojavensis
Opuntia hystricina ‘Memminger’
Opuntia fragilis
Opuntia sp. Many other species
Fargesia nitida ‘Great wall’
Fargesia sp. Jiughaizou I
Phyllostachys nigra
Pseudosasa japonica
Abutilon megapotamicum
Acer palmatum
Arisaema fargesii
Arisaema sikokianum
Arum italicum
Buxus sempervivens
Calistemon ‘Widdicombe Gem’
Colocasia esculenta
Delosperma cooperi
Equisetum japonicum
Grevillea rosmarinifolia
Hibiscus ‘Fireball’
Hibiscus ‘Kopper King’
Hibiscus coccineus
Hibiscus syriacus
Iris germanica
Lilium sp.
Nerium oleander
Passiflora coerula
Pinus sp.
Prunus avium
Punica granatum ‘nana’
Rosa sp.
Rosmarinus officinalis
Syringia x persica
Thymus vulgaris
Thymus x citriodorus
Xanthosoma saggitifolium
Nymphea alba
Thanks everyone :02:(love the message board's smilies)
Bonjour, mes amie :),
I Luv those smilies, too, and you picked my fave :drum: !
I was just gonna check the recent Intros then go do something else but ya have a way of gettin my attention... wow!
Luv that Tortoise in your avatar :) ! Looks almost like a cross between a Golden Greek and a Yellow Foot, awesome! Been thinkin about gettin a South American Wood turtle but I'd have to keep it warm. They don't like temps below 60F.
Figure it must be about 5:15 pm in Paris, right now, since it's 7 hours later than us. You're the first Frenchman I've met since Cesar joined! He lives in Nice.
That's one awesome & very useful list ya made! Thanx :) ! Like the way ya organized it, too! Wish I could have that many palms but they don't do very good here... except Butia Capitata. Those Agaves look a lot like Snake plant... not very familiar with those yet but I do have an Opuntia - one that's also called Prickley Pear cactus!
Phyllostachys nigra!? That's a fantastic bamboo! I recently got a black bamboo from Cherokee Greg! Still not sure which type yet. My main two bamboos are Phyllostachys Viridis (aka Robert Young) & Phyllostachys Rubromarginata (aka Red Margin). A friend of mine, in Norman, gave me some of each. Been growin those since I was 10! They're up 21 feet now but will get up to 40 feet (eventually)! Fargesias are great too. Lots of variety and usually pretty cold-hardy.
Oh, and thanx for having Passiflora Coerula! I've got a bunch of that but didn't know what it was... till now! Been lookin up a lot of those plants you listed. Even printed out the list for reference.
That Nymphea alba is totally Sweet! All I have's purple water Hyacinth but I Def wanna grow some lily pads, awesome deluxe!!
Back to nanners. You're definitely right about the work :eek: ! I can dig and pot any that are smaller than 10' tall but have to get help with the taller ones. They weigh a ton! I have lots of Blue Java pups inside, right now, with 7 foot stems and the leaves are pressed against the ceiling. Had to cut a new leaf in half so it could unfurl itself. If ya overwinter inside, you'll wanna use a pot that's just barely big enough. That reduces the risk of corm-rot. I haven't watered mine since I brought them in. The soil is bone dry but they're doing super! I let them live on their own moisture & humidity. Cold soil + water = corm-rot (bye bye nanner :() I do water the smaller banana plants but very little. Since bananas grow very slow, in the winter, I don't feed them till spring. Extra food just burns them since they're not using very much.
To give an idea of how big they can be, here's a pic, I took, of a friend of mine rocking a Blue Java to snap the lower roots. I tried to help but they're just Too heavy! These are inside, now, being overwintered.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=25591&size=1
Time for lunch! C ya around! :drum:
Eric
Ezekiel
11-25-2009, 12:14 PM
Wow that Ice Cream is amazing.
I just ordered one recently. What about its minimum temperature limit? I'm wondering if I can let the corm outside in my yard. Not sure of the hardiness.
Well, all in all, you have AWESOME results by overwintering inside. I wish I could have a Ice cream that tall in the future (as I let my bananas outside, they take light to hard frost, and lose their stems) M. basjoo is indestructible here.
The list is put before is not exhaustive, I still have to work on it (that's what is outside all-year-round, coz I have tons of potted plants... It is also a lot of work to bring them inside for overwintering) Mostly palms, bananas, US xeric plants (cacti, agavacea), South African and Malagasy Succulents.
The tortoise in my avatar is mine, this is a Radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) from Madagascar. A wonderful specie.
I don't know César, but I know that some other people I know from France is here in the forum. Michel and Kelern, which are like me, member of the French Palm Society ('Fous de palmiers')
I wish I could live near Nice one day... I miss the Mediterannean climate.
My climate is a cold temperate climate, whereas Nice climate is among the hottest in France, which is like Southern California. A wonderful climate for exotics of all kind.
Ezekiel
11-25-2009, 12:20 PM
By the way, I prefer Fargesia species, which are cespituous and easy to manager... sp. Jiughaizou is crazy, with its red canes.
In the future, I would like to find some Borinda species (RARE unfortunately).
Take a look at Borinda yunannensis
Seaner
11-25-2009, 02:53 PM
Hi again! Eric's next door, right now but he should be right back.
Thanks for the info on that tortoise! That thing's super!
If ya wanna Blue Java that big, it's really easy :) ! They grow really fast! If ya start with a Blue Java pup, and over-winter indoors each year, it only takes 3 years for them to get as big as the ones in my pic! By that time, you'll also have Lots of big Blue Javas cause they make 4-5 pups each (every year)! I started with one small plant, now I've got 4 huge mother plants and more than a dozen pups (plus the pups I traded or gave away).
Anyway, if ya wanna try that, I'll be happy to give ya any info or help ya need! It'd be sweet to see pics of a banana jungle in Paris :drum: !! Must be nice living in France! Je suis etudiant Francais, and I hope to live there, myself, someday!
That plant list isn't exhaustive!?!?!?!! Awesome!! That's a Lot of plants, already! Haven't met up with Michel or Kelern yet. Guess I will eventually. And yeah, Cesar's got it easy! Looks almost like a jungle where he lives! Got on Google maps & saw pics of Nice. Really nice place, Luv all the balconies, super!
Oh, and thanx for the info about the tortoise! It one of the best looking tortoises I've ever seen, awesome!
Btw, this is my first year over-wintering a Giant Sweet plantain. It's doing even better than the Blue Javas! This plantain gets even bigger than Blue Javas, too. Cant wait to see what it does next summer!
BananaLee
11-25-2009, 07:32 PM
Hello there Sebastien!! Your gonna love it here!!!! Hope you find what your looking for!!! God Bless! BananaLee :) :woohoonaner::goteam::bananarow::D:rolleyes:
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