View Full Version : Teach me!
Hey!
My father used to taunt me with the bananas he grew down in the Florida Keys. Well Dad is in heaven now but I can now finally grow bananas and then stick my tongue out at him anyway.
I am a happily divorced mom of three teenaged daughters...and no don't feel sorry for me....they are wonderful kids. They love to help me garden and they never whine and grump. I would kill them if they did. I homeschool two of them and the oldest is about to graduate high school with honors. I am recently in a great house with almost three acres. But alas it is heavily wooded. But I plan on changing some of that. I want to grow bananas! Oh. I'm also 49 going on 8. Teach me!!!
cincinnana
01-09-2013, 09:54 PM
Welcome to the forums ,where lots of people know lots of stuff!!
Thanks so much Cin,
So where is a good place to start? I don't know what a corm is. I don't know what varieties are good for zone 8b. I'm pretty ignorant.
designshark
01-10-2013, 09:23 AM
Hi & welcome! Ya going to cut down some trees eah? You might see if any of them are worth logging for some $$
momoese
01-10-2013, 10:15 AM
The corm is the bulb at the base that the plant grows from.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=326&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=326&cpage=2)
Tim,
I already took out 60 trees and I'm still really shady. I did save most of the wood or gave it away as firewood to friends and neighbors. It was sweet gum, a little oak and a little hickory. I used some as mulch and of course the oak and hickory are for firewood. Gonna use the hickory for pit barbecue. I still need to take out 30 more just in the backyard. I am not touching the live oaks! Love those! I have some dogwoods that are sickly and need to come down, but all of the sweet gums are gone!
Mitchell,
Thanks so much for helping me to be less ignorant! I am sadly in need of help.
Blessings!
Abnshrek
01-10-2013, 12:12 PM
Hello, Welcome & Happy stump grinding.. lol :^)
edzone9
01-10-2013, 02:06 PM
Your In The Right Place !
These Guys & Gals Sure Know There Bananas !:nanadrink:
Welcome !
designshark
01-10-2013, 03:14 PM
Plain hickory sticks in a regular Webber charcoal grill choaked down gives an awesome hickory flavor. Probably the best ever
:bananas_b
Too bad I never tried hickory smoked bananas . . .
sidpook
01-10-2013, 06:27 PM
Welcome aboard, I'd imagine you could grow some fierce nanas down in charleston...If mine up here in jersey do so well, you'll do fine!
raygrogan
01-10-2013, 06:32 PM
One trick for tree removal - kill the stump and leave it in place. After chainsawing as low as you can get it, dribble glyphosate (RoundUp or generic) 41%, straight, on the bark. (If it is a big tree, you aim for the zone between the wood and the bark.) A dripper bottle (like fabric paint, or eye drops) will give you good control and easy to carry in pocket. 99% of them will not grow back. If you cut a few X's in the wood with the saw, water will rot the stump quicker, and/or make it easier to burn some day if you can do that.
The ultimate in lazy ways to get sun is "whole tree kill". Make a few cuts into bark like with chainsaw, hatchet, etc. and put the glyphosate into the bark and leave the tree to die. Seems to work best in the fall when the flow is the way you want it (to the roots). Eventually the tree may come crashing down on you, and it will look a tad tacky as it gradually fades away, but trees die all the time and people mostly don't notice.
Thanks, Raygrogan.
....or I could just chainsaw the suckers.
:ha:
raygrogan
01-11-2013, 09:26 AM
pix of the stump bit: More trail and road making (http://pondermostly3.tripod.com/)
And another "tropical" - tangerines - a cool guy Stan McKenzie grows them down close to you: Mckenzie-Farms (http://mckenzie-farms.com/index.htm) You may be too late to taste the fruit (they are very good) but he probably has trees for sale.
waggoner41
01-14-2013, 01:39 PM
Hey!
My father used to taunt me with the bananas he grew down in the Florida Keys. Well Dad is in heaven now but I can now finally grow bananas and then stick my tongue out at him anyway.
I am a happily divorced mom of three teenaged daughters...and no don't feel sorry for me....they are wonderful kids. They love to help me garden and they never whine and grump. I would kill them if they did. I homeschool two of them and the oldest is about to graduate high school with honors. I am recently in a great house with almost three acres. But alas it is heavily wooded. But I plan on changing some of that. I want to grow bananas! Oh. I'm also 49 going on 8. Teach me!!!
I imagine you will learn the same way I am learning. I grew up on a farm in Colorado and now live in Costa Rica. Gardening is much, MUCH different here. I have an interest in planting a variety of fruit trees here but bananas are a favorite. We live in zone 14 and the bananas will produce throughout the year and there are many varieties available to me.
waggoner41
01-14-2013, 01:45 PM
Tim,
I already took out 60 trees and I'm still really shady. I did save most of the wood or gave it away as firewood to friends and neighbors. It was sweet gum, a little oak and a little hickory. I used some as mulch and of course the oak and hickory are for firewood. Gonna use the hickory for pit barbecue. I still need to take out 30 more just in the backyard. I am not touching the live oaks! Love those! I have some dogwoods that are sickly and need to come down, but all of the sweet gums are gone!
Mitchell,
Thanks so much for helping me to be less ignorant! I am sadly in need of help.
Blessings!
If you know anything about smoking meat and have access to fresh pork or chickens the hickory is a great wood for smoking meat.
caliboy1994
01-14-2013, 04:45 PM
Welcome! It may be difficult to get fruit where you live, but it is possible. Plus, bananas are great as foliage plants in pretty much any zone.
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