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reloadyour9
04-18-2012, 11:12 PM
Hello everyone, first post. Within the last month or two I have become hooked on gardening. I started with tomatoes and cucumbers, added a 10 year old avocado tree and a 2 years old fuerte, and just purchased a Caligornia Gold from Jeff Earl (a great guy), which will be arriving next week. Everything I have planted is in whiskey barrels as I plan to move next year. Along with the California Gold, I would like to plant one other variety that does well here in 10a (southern California) produces a nice tasting fruit, and is somewhat exotic (I like having rare things). On top of those restrictions, I would also like for it to be plantable in a whiskey barrel, for at least the first year of it's life. Also preferably something under 10' tall. Any suggestions would be great! Also, if you have pups for sale, please let me know as I would rather give my money to someone that is passionate about their plants as opposed to a nursery.

Thanks in advance!

Jarrod

caliboy1994
04-18-2012, 11:44 PM
Lots of varieties do well here. I live in 10a SoCal as well. I have two unknown varieties, a Mysore, and an Ice Cream. Pretty much anything except for the really cold tender varieties can be grown here.

reloadyour9
04-19-2012, 01:10 AM
Thanks for the info. We are neighbors as I am in studio city. I will have to look up the ice cream and mysore, as I am new to all of this

sunfish
04-19-2012, 07:53 AM
Thanks for the info. We are neighbors as I am in studio city. I will have to look up the ice cream and mysore, as I am new to all of this

Dwarf Namwah is a very good banana for Southern California

harveyc
04-19-2012, 11:14 AM
Momoese in west LA is convinced Psiang Klotek is the best. I could sell you a pup of something else but would suggest you get one of those.

Jeff Earl is a friend of mine and I live an hour north of him.

If you want to try something different, you might want to add pitaya (dragon fruit) to your garden. I've got hooked on those and had over 30 varieties last year but lost quite a few to the harsh winter we had up here (35 days with frost).

Good luck!

caliboy1994
04-19-2012, 12:42 PM
The only thing about Mysore and Pisang Klotek is that they're tall and slender. They might not stand up well to the Santa Ana winds if planted in an exposed spot. I think I'm going to have to get PK for a side by side comparison of that and Mysore, because they're very similar plants.

reloadyour9
04-19-2012, 07:36 PM
Thank you everyone for all the replies and welcomes. I spent part of the day going to different nurserys here in the San Fernando valley, and none of them seem to carry banana plants?? Is it not season for planting? The only thing I found were Musa Red Bananas and two really raggity looking Musa Ice Creams, which is one I am interested in, but one of the three leaves was completely brown and dry. Which brings up a question, if the other two leaves looked great, would that be a good purchase at $12? Would it recover?

Where do all of you find/buy all the different varieties I have been reading about on this great site for the past couple nights?

sunfish
04-19-2012, 07:40 PM
Thank you everyone for all the replies and welcomes. I spent part of the day going to different nurserys here in the San Fernando valley, and none of them seem to carry banana plants?? Is it not season for planting? The only thing I found were Musa Red Bananas and two really raggity looking Musa Ice Creams, which is one I am interested in, but one of the three leaves was completely brown and dry. Which brings up a question, if the other two leaves looked great, would that be a good purchase at $12? Would it recover?

Where do all of you find/buy all the different varieties I have been reading about on this great site for the past couple nights?

As long as it's not the new leaf that is brown and dry ,no problems.HD and Lowe's usually have banana plants

reloadyour9
04-19-2012, 07:42 PM
Would the new leaf be the tallest? It was the very lowest leaf.

sunfish
04-19-2012, 08:18 PM
Would the new leaf be the tallest? It was the very lowest leaf.

New leaf is the closest to the center

caliboy1994
04-19-2012, 08:33 PM
You can get plenty of banana plants from other members on here :D

reloadyour9
04-20-2012, 12:11 AM
Thanks again for all the replys. After much research, think I've narrowed my wants to the following three. If anyone has pups, please pm me.

Musa double mahoi
Dwarf red Brazilian
SDC

From my research, these should be good container plants, not too tall, with good tasting fruit. I only plan on keeping them in 25g pots for the first year. After that they will go in the ground.

caliboy1994
04-20-2012, 01:31 AM
Thank you everyone for all the replies and welcomes. I spent part of the day going to different nurserys here in the San Fernando valley, and none of them seem to carry banana plants?? Is it not season for planting? The only thing I found were Musa Red Bananas and two really raggity looking Musa Ice Creams, which is one I am interested in, but one of the three leaves was completely brown and dry. Which brings up a question, if the other two leaves looked great, would that be a good purchase at $12? Would it recover?

Where do all of you find/buy all the different varieties I have been reading about on this great site for the past couple nights?

I believe Green Arrow Nursery in North Hills is carrying them right now. I went there maybe three weeks ago, and they were carrying Ice Cream, Manzano, Mysore, possibly Raja Puri, and even Musa Velutina.

The less common varieties like Dwarf Namwah you could always get from a member here. Jon (pitangadiego) carries a lot of varieties (somewhere around 100) including Dwarf Namwah.

reloadyour9
04-20-2012, 05:03 PM
thanks for the heads up on Green Arrow. I forgot all about that Nursery. I went there today and picked up Dwarf Jamaican Red, about 18" tall and a little pup emerging.

caliboy1994
04-20-2012, 05:11 PM
Congrats! One thing about Dwarf Jamaican Red and other red varieties is that it's not cold hardy. I know it can be grown in the San Fernando Valley (they have it at Papaya Tree Nursery), but it probably won't deal with our winters very well. Good luck with it! :D

reloadyour9
04-21-2012, 02:54 AM
Thanks for all your help caliboy. Quick question, what do you recommend I fertilize with (store bought) and how often?

momoese
04-21-2012, 12:40 PM
Welcome aboard! I suffer from Fuerte envy.

reloadyour9
04-21-2012, 01:32 PM
Thanks for the welcome! The fuerte is a bunch of work, but even more so is my 12' bacon that I rescued from some guy who grew it in a 10 gallon pot it's whole life. It's a very unhappy tree right now that needs a lot of attention. It has about 200 avocados on it about the size of a pea. I'm guessing it will drop all of them, but as long as I can keep it alive and get it healthy again, I'll be happy. I have also added a Reed to the collection as of two days ago. I guess I'm hooked! Once my California Gold gets here, my collection will be complete.......for now.

harveyc
04-21-2012, 01:46 PM
Welcome aboard! I suffer from Fuerte envy.

Feeling "weak"? ;)

My Fuerte avocado died for some reason, probably was root rot. :(

caliboy1994
04-21-2012, 02:04 PM
Thanks for all your help caliboy. Quick question, what do you recommend I fertilize with (store bought) and how often?

I'm new to this too, but Richard has a fertilizer designed especially for bananas called Banana Fuel. I don't think it's organic, but I know that it works really well. If you want to go the organic route, maybe try Milorganite or fish emulsion. People here use all different kinds of fertilizers.

Info:Fertilizer - Bananas Wiki (http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Info:Fertilizer)

Fertilize once a month during the growing season (April to October).

reloadyour9
04-21-2012, 02:35 PM
I am by no means an expert on Avocados, however I have researched a ton over the past month. They are very tricky trees and need very well draining soil. Most trees that die are from root rot, so most likely the case with your Fuerte. So far so good, with mine, however I do have some salt burn (brown leaves) from watering from the hose. Luckily, I have a 150 gallon reef tank that I filter my own RODI water for, and I have since switched over to that water for watering my trees. I have seen drastic improvement. Lots of new growth with no problems, and the salt burn leaves are starting to drop off and be replaced. Hope it continues.

Thanks Caliboy for the tip on the banana fuel, I just ordered some on ebay and should be here mid next week.