View Full Version : How to handle the heat
For those of you living in areas similar to Dallas Texas that typically gets 100F or more during July/August how do your bananas handle it?
Are you doing something special besides increasing the watering and giving more banana fuel to them?
One last question, what would be a recommended type to go with?
Last year my Gran Nain seemed relateively good at handling the heat but it had some shade from afternoon sun. This year I have one without that shade and it looks bad...
The ones that I think handle heat and sun the worst is my chinese Yellow.
My IceCream is ok but not great at the moment.
Any insight is really welcome especially if there is some specific nutrition I should add due to the heat etc!
Thanks
cherokee_greg
07-15-2011, 02:08 PM
all mine seem to love the heat the hotter the better. I just water and feed with banana fuel. Dont do any thing special. It gets hot here in Fresno
Bananaman88
07-15-2011, 03:14 PM
I'm in the Houston area and it has been extremely dry here since last fall. The entire Houston area is about 15" below normal on rainfall for the year. Our heat has been about normal (probably a tad cooler than Dallas has been as we have not had consecutive days above 100) but the drought is really affecting banana growth in an adverse way. I water about once per week with a sprinkler and then do some more targeted watering where I just lay the hose a foot or two away from the trunk of each banana and just slowly let it trickle for 30 minutes or so before moving it again. I have fertilized two or three times this year but without adequate moisture to help fuel growth it's not doing a lot of good. Bottom line: WE NEED SOME RAIN!
oakshadows
07-15-2011, 04:06 PM
all mine seem to love the heat the hotter the better. I just water and feed with banana fuel. Dont do any thing special. It gets hot here in Fresno
How hot? Here in central Florida temps usually are 95/75 but can got either way according to the storms.
cherokee_greg
07-15-2011, 04:40 PM
What kind do you have?
Im growing
2 Goldfinger
3 Ensete Maurellii
5 Dwarf Cavendish
4 Musa Ice Cream (Blue Java)
3 Thai Black
1 Musa Basjoo
1 Misi Luki of Samoa
2 Raji Puri
2 Musella Lasiocarpa
4 unknowns
1 Musa Ornico
3 Musa Bordelon
2 Musa Dwarf Brazilian
2 Musa Thomsonii
2 Musa Balbisiana
2 Musa Dwarf Namwah
4 Musa California Gold
1 Musa Misi Luki
2 Musa Dwarf Orinoco
1 Musa Texas Star
1 Musa Velutina
1 Musa Milkyway
1 Musa Valery
1 Musa 'fhia-18'
1 Musa Double (Mahoi)
1 Ensete glaucum 'Snow Banana'
1 Musa Dwarf Red
1 Musa Sumatrana Zebrina
1 Musa Truly Tiny
1 Musa Carolina King
1 Musa Saba
1 Musa 'grand nain'
1 Musa 'Mekong Giant'
In Dallas today we broke the record for this day, 107F....!
So any variety that seems to take the heat better than the others?
Bananaman88
07-15-2011, 10:22 PM
Im growing
2 Goldfinger
3 Ensete Maurellii
5 Dwarf Cavendish
4 Musa Ice Cream (Blue Java)
3 Thai Black
1 Musa Basjoo
1 Misi Luki of Samoa
2 Raji Puri
2 Musella Lasiocarpa
4 unknowns
1 Musa Ornico
3 Musa Bordelon
2 Musa Dwarf Brazilian
2 Musa Thomsonii
2 Musa Balbisiana
2 Musa Dwarf Namwah
4 Musa California Gold
1 Musa Misi Luki
2 Musa Dwarf Orinoco
1 Musa Texas Star
1 Musa Velutina
1 Musa Milkyway
1 Musa Valery
1 Musa 'fhia-18'
1 Musa Double (Mahoi)
1 Ensete glaucum 'Snow Banana'
1 Musa Dwarf Red
1 Musa Sumatrana Zebrina
1 Musa Truly Tiny
1 Musa Carolina King
1 Musa Saba
1 Musa 'grand nain'
1 Musa 'Mekong Giant'
Pssh, that's all??? :rolleyes:
Darkman
07-16-2011, 08:09 PM
It has flirted with 100 but only gone over several days. All of mine are growing well but they all get watered daily and are mulched close to 8" deep and that really helps hold the moisture. Only problem I'm having is leaf stems breaking. One of my Orinoco leaves is close to six foot long and two foot wide.
blownz281
07-16-2011, 08:27 PM
upper 80's-upper 90's with a ocean breeze most of the time. My plants are all potted as we live in a apartment. They get several hrs of full sun on the balcony. They all wilt pretty good,but my Velutina if it gets watered as often as the others if sends up new growth thats all beat up,from over watering. We have not really had any good rains just real quick and it dries right up.
Velutina
07-17-2011, 11:12 AM
My bananas get full sun here in the hot, dry desert. It's been as high as 112F this year with an average high of 105F for the past few months. I have Ice cream, Brazilian, and super dwarf cavendish. All are doing great. I water them with drip system twice per day. The only trouble i've had growing bananas here is fertilizing when it's too hot. They don't seem to like too much nutrients when it's super hot. I found that adding a few inches of mulch is enough. I fertilize in early spring and early fall (April, Sep)
Ok, I have mostly red lava rock around my flower beds where I have my bananas. But the one bed I have with mulch doesn't look much better. Any view on whether I should add some mulch instead of lava rock?
However the Lava rocks don't get hot and they seem to keep some moisture below as well.
Maybe I should deepen the layer I have, what do you think?
cherokee_greg
07-17-2011, 03:22 PM
How hot? Here in central Florida temps usually are 95/75 but can got either way according to the storms.
This is a link for the normal temps in Fresno but it usally gets hotter than that says. The last few days have been real nice in the 80's kinda nice for July. It usally gets well over a 100 here in the summer any way here is the link Average Weather for Fresno, CA - Temperature and Precipitation (http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/93710)
oakshadows
07-17-2011, 05:32 PM
Im growing
2 Goldfinger
3 Ensete Maurellii
5 Dwarf Cavendish
4 Musa Ice Cream (Blue Java)
3 Thai Black
1 Musa Basjoo
1 Misi Luki of Samoa
2 Raji Puri
2 Musella Lasiocarpa
4 unknowns
1 Musa Ornico
3 Musa Bordelon
2 Musa Dwarf Brazilian
2 Musa Thomsonii
2 Musa Balbisiana
2 Musa Dwarf Namwah
4 Musa California Gold
1 Musa Misi Luki
2 Musa Dwarf Orinoco
1 Musa Texas Star
1 Musa Velutina
1 Musa Milkyway
1 Musa Valery
1 Musa 'fhia-18'
1 Musa Double (Mahoi)
1 Ensete glaucum 'Snow Banana'
1 Musa Dwarf Red
1 Musa Sumatrana Zebrina
1 Musa Truly Tiny
1 Musa Carolina King
1 Musa Saba
1 Musa 'grand nain'
1 Musa 'Mekong Giant'
We have 5 acres, you must have half of the state.
djtex
07-17-2011, 06:40 PM
nph, I am in Fort Worth and yes we are hot here in the DFW area. My plants seem to be loving it. My sprinklers are set to water four days a week, then I water my bananas everyday after work. I am also fertilizing once a month.
Here are some shots taken today.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=44378&size=1
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=44376&size=1
sunfish
07-17-2011, 07:24 PM
Drink lots of water
buffy
07-17-2011, 07:50 PM
I'm two hours east of Dallas. We've been hammering past 100 for the past two months. I water 5 times a week. Tons of compost. Most of my bananas just love it. Saba, Black Balbisiana, Brazilian & Cali Gold. Some varieties don't like it. My Musa sikkem. "Red Tiger", Musa yunnanen. and Burmese Blue grow quite slow with the intense heat.
I just did an inventory here. I have 17 different cultivars or species of banana in the ground. Not one of them would I describe as struggling with the heat. Just slower or faster. Obviously, root mass is significant too. Water and nutrients, and the heat is just heat.
Im growing
2 Goldfinger
3 Ensete Maurellii
5 Dwarf Cavendish
4 Musa Ice Cream (Blue Java)
3 Thai Black
1 Musa Basjoo
1 Misi Luki of Samoa
2 Raji Puri
2 Musella Lasiocarpa
4 unknowns
1 Musa Ornico
3 Musa Bordelon
2 Musa Dwarf Brazilian
2 Musa Thomsonii
2 Musa Balbisiana
2 Musa Dwarf Namwah
4 Musa California Gold
1 Musa Misi Luki
2 Musa Dwarf Orinoco
1 Musa Texas Star
1 Musa Velutina
1 Musa Milkyway
1 Musa Valery
1 Musa 'fhia-18'
1 Musa Double (Mahoi)
1 Ensete glaucum 'Snow Banana'
1 Musa Dwarf Red
1 Musa Sumatrana Zebrina
1 Musa Truly Tiny
1 Musa Carolina King
1 Musa Saba
1 Musa 'grand nain'
1 Musa 'Mekong Giant'
Ahh, but have you named them all yet... :lurk:
(banana cultivar names don't count - those are like racial types)
oakshadows
07-19-2011, 07:10 AM
nph, I am in Fort Worth and yes we are hot here in the DFW area. My plants seem to be loving it. My sprinklers are set to water four days a week, then I water my bananas everyday after work. I am also fertilizing once a month.
Here are some shots taken today.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=44378&size=1
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=44376&size=1
The temps you are talking about remind me of the times I saw the ground dry up and crack. I was raised in the DFW are and have seen that happen often. I also remember some ice storms that covered everthing with 3 to 4 inches of ice. Got out the ice skates and skated to school in Fort Worth.
cherokee_greg
07-19-2011, 02:48 PM
Ahh, but have you named them all yet... :lurk:
(banana cultivar names don't count - those are like racial types)
well of course I did .
cherokee_greg
07-19-2011, 02:50 PM
We have 5 acres, you must have half of the state.
almost :woohoonaner:
oakshadows
07-25-2011, 02:41 PM
all mine seem to love the heat the hotter the better. I just water and feed with banana fuel. Dont do any thing special. It gets hot here in Fresno
You forecast isn't hot here. It is mildy warm. However Florida seems to be much cooler than most odf the country. Raised just outside of dallas and I'm felling sorry for those in that area as I know what they are going thru.
Dean W.
07-31-2011, 02:50 AM
I can't keep enough water on mine. They seem stunted in there growth.
Yep, mine are best case putting out new leaves but not really growing, especially in height. Right now I am starting to find ways of shading them... The little pups I removed and put in the shade are starting to look a lot happier. Not to mention the little Mona Lisa that is now in the shade of a big umbrella. It is growing much faster now!
There is definitely such a thing as too much sun, even for bananas.
:waving:
thewebgal
07-31-2011, 10:46 AM
Yep, mine are best case putting out new leaves but not really growing, especially in height. Right now I am starting to find ways of shading them... The little pups I removed and put in the shade are starting to look a lot happier. Not to mention the little Mona Lisa that is now in the shade of a big umbrella. It is growing much faster now!
There is definitely such a thing as too much sun, even for bananas.
:waving:
I dunno, I gotta say "make 'naners while the sun is shining ..." .
This last few weeks spell of hot weather seems to be helping here -
but we are not really sun belt like you folks in D/FW or SoFla ...
natedogg1026
07-31-2011, 09:49 PM
Here in SE Kansas we are stuck in this heat bubble. 98-106 for the last 5 weeks with very lil rain. All in all the nana's in full sun are doing -OK The Basjoo's just like the 80's better. They always do fine but this year leaves started dropping and the same with my dads. I happened to look at his neighbors, who never waters and hers are looking great. It seems that they don't like the excessive moisture from the hose. Its as if they can't uptake the water in the heat. I saw another patch in town which gets lil care and it looks great too. So I stopped watering but 1-2 times a week and they seem to be doing better. Threw me for a loop. The Orinoco's seem to be doing good but have slowed there growth in the heat. Maurellii is healthy but small for some reason. ?? Worst year I've had. EE's seem to like the heat.
Darkman
08-01-2011, 04:58 PM
96 - 98 almost everyday here without any trouble except for the breaking leaf problem. They would look so much better with the full canopy.
NPH,
I use the heavy mulch to increase the organic content of my "SAND". The bananas seem to be loving it.
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