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View Full Version : Howdy from Kansas!


GreenFin
01-23-2012, 03:24 PM
Hi everybody :)

I've just ordered these from Wellspring:
Gran Nain
Dwarf Cavendish
Dwarf Red
Truly Tiny

and an SDC from Sandy at Northern Tropics.

These will be my first banana plants ever. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I'm totally in the grips of banana fever. I even spelled out DC above just for the enjoyment of typing the word "Cavendish."

Woo Hoo! I'm gettin' bananas!!

GreenFin
01-23-2012, 03:55 PM
I'll be growing the bananas in a high tunnel aquaponics system that keeps the internal climate tropical year round (80's or 90's during day, 70's at night, always humid). I have large reflectors outside the high tunnel to direct addition light into the system during the winter, so I'm hoping to get strong growth year round.

The roof is only 6.5' high at its apex, so things will get creative. The TT and the SDC will be fine planted upright in my gravel grow bed. The DC and DR I intend to plant in steep leaning positions and train to run horizontally down the tunnel (sort of how palm trees on the shore lean out over the beach) with some vertical supports under the pstems to keep them from just falling over. The GN is going to be doing some extreme swimming. The goal is for the base of the pstem to eventually be located in the back corner of a 6' x 11' x 4' deep highly oxygenated pool, with the plant leaning toward the front opposite diagonal corner, allowing me to have up to 9'-10' of the pstem underwater. We'll see how it goes.

The nursery men up the road call me 'the mad scientist'...and they don't even know about the bananas yet. Wait till my papaya seeds come in...

My poor little 12' x 24' x 6.5' tunnel is gonna be bursting in a few months. Time to start saving for more greenhouses for more bananas! My plan is to step up to a tunnel with a 15' roof, which would hopefully be high enough to raise some great dwarf varieties in a normal upright manner.

BTW, you can check out pics/vids of my high tunnel aquaponics system on my blog at GreenFin Gardens (http://www.greenfingardens.com)