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bananafishes
02-07-2010, 02:11 AM
I just got my first banana tree from raintree nursery called the double banana. From their website: "This is a sport of the Dwarf Cavendish banana and is also known as 'Mahoi'. It will grow to about 7' tall in a large pot."

It looks just beautiful, though a small bit of edge of one of the leaves is yellow/brown. It is about 2.5' tall and in a gallon container. I live in Seattle, and it will be a container plant.

So here are my questions:

What type of pot is best for it, and what size? Bigger is better, but I'm not sure what size is "better".

Potting soil - neutral I've read, but should I give it any fertilizer when I transplant it, or what regime should I use? Is there a good, better, best type of fertilizer?

How often should I water it in the winter? I don't have a humidifier right now, and I'm guessing that the humidity in my apartment is pretty low. I imagine that I should buy a humidifier tomorrow... I've also got a dwarf meyer lemon and key lime tree that arrived about a month and a half ago that would probably benefit from this as well.

Light - it has 'high light' requirements, but is a 40watt fluorescent fine during the winter months?

Thanks in advance!

r3tic
02-07-2010, 03:38 AM
First of all welcome to the org....

With bananas, you don't want to over pot too much. For a 2.5' plant a pot about 5gal in size would be good. Generally you want to use a wider short pot as opposed to a tall pot. Eventually you will want to plant that banana in a 25-35gal or larger pot. They should be potted in a well draining soil. Over the winter you will not have to feed bananas and you will hardly them at all. In the northwest bananas wn't grow much over the winter. Placing it in the brightest south facing window will be your best bet. A 40w light fixture isn't going to help out all that much. Over the summer you will feed and water almost as much as you can to keep upi with the growth. Check more posts in this forum and you will find tons of information.

Caloosamusa
02-07-2010, 08:11 AM
Welcome Bananafishes to Bananas dot org from Florida!

r3tic offers sound advise for your question.

Welcome once again! :2239:

Abnshrek
02-07-2010, 12:25 PM
Hello & Welcome :^) from the Sportsman's Paradise.. I think soil is very key in the your plants happiness, growth and such. Best of luck. :^)

Bob
02-07-2010, 01:15 PM
Welcome from NJ. There are a lot of differing opinions regarding pot size here. Myself I think the biggest you can handle is best. I use a hand truck to move them around. Soil is a personal preferance too, I use a commercial mix amended with whatever I have on hand, bark chips, perlite etc to ensure proper drainage. Winter watering ... a good rule of thumb is to water well when the top 2" of the soil gets dry. Other than that keep them as brightly lit and warm as you're able. Humidifiers work great especially for controlling spider mites we all seem to get indoors during winter.... good luck:woohoonaner:

LilRaverBoi
02-07-2010, 01:31 PM
Welcome to the site! Hope you enjoy it here. Double Mahoi should be a great plant for you. I've never had one, myself, but I've seen lots of great pictures around here of them. I'm not going to reiterate what has been said above, as it is all good information. Best of luck!

bananafishes
02-07-2010, 01:42 PM
What type of pot do you guys use? I got terra cotta pots for my key lime and meyer lemon, as that was recommended by a person at the store.

And what type of light set-ups are you running?

LilRaverBoi
02-07-2010, 10:48 PM
Terra cotta are decent, but for 10+ gallon pots they get very expensive, are breakable and are VERY heavy. I use black plastic nursery-type pots. You can sometimes get them for free or cheap from landscaping companies after they plant the trees growing in them.