GreenFin
04-29-2013, 09:50 PM
:08:
P-stem is currently about 3' (it was around 4' when I trimmed it back last month).
4/27
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4/28
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4/29
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I received the plant in the mail on 1/28/2012 as a 2" tall tissue culture plant from Wellspring Gardens. Here's a pic of it then (from left to right: Gran Nain, Dwarf Red, Dwarf Cavendish, and Truly Tiny)--
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Here it is right after I planted it 15 months ago:
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Here it is in October after a good summer of growth (very center of 1st pic just right of the papaya; hiding in the background just left of the Dwarf Red in the 2nd pic):<br />
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Unfortunately all of the bananas stopped growing at that point. By January the leaves were all half yellow and by March they were all dead/yellow. I recently cut all the pstems back till I found green, and they all began to leaf back out. The DC only managed to push out 4 leaves before sending up the flag, though, so I may end up trimming off half the hands in order to get the remaining hands to fill out well.
If the bananas hadn't all stopped growing in October, I think the plant would have flowered sometime in November with a dozen or so big green leaves to power it. The bananas grew fine through their first winter (when they first arrived as tiny tc's), but I nearly killed them in October when I had to shut down the system's water circulation for a couple of days. I had some supplemental aeration going, but it wasn't good enough and the plants basically almost all drowned (all growth immediately stopped and didn't resume till I cut them back about a month ago). Furthermore, whereas during the 1st winter I bounced a lot of extra sunlight into the greenhouse (keeping it both warmer and brighter), this past winter the plants had to make-do with less light and heat because I built a structure just south of it (only place I could put it) last summer that unfortunately blocks a lot of that 'extra' light.
But oh well. Far from ideal, but I'm not complaining. Down the road I'll pamper them better; for now I'm happy to have my first flag leaf.
:woohoonaner:
<br>
P-stem is currently about 3' (it was around 4' when I trimmed it back last month).
4/27
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4/28
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4/29
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<br />
I received the plant in the mail on 1/28/2012 as a 2" tall tissue culture plant from Wellspring Gardens. Here's a pic of it then (from left to right: Gran Nain, Dwarf Red, Dwarf Cavendish, and Truly Tiny)--
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RGXEe6jBARY/TyhexTFaHqI/AAAAAAAAAxo/8UzZopLaiOk/s1600/SAM_2390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RGXEe6jBARY/TyhexTFaHqI/AAAAAAAAAxo/8UzZopLaiOk/s320/SAM_2390.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Here it is right after I planted it 15 months ago:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZTsMK0Xm2Y/Tyhke7kzZeI/AAAAAAAAAyY/hvZ8Uk14Aa8/s1600/SAM_2478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZTsMK0Xm2Y/Tyhke7kzZeI/AAAAAAAAAyY/hvZ8Uk14Aa8/s320/SAM_2478.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Here it is in October after a good summer of growth (very center of 1st pic just right of the papaya; hiding in the background just left of the Dwarf Red in the 2nd pic):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y_WYU1mIeA4/UO-tRXJxysI/AAAAAAAAA90/caf4g46_vIA/s1600/SAM_5485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y_WYU1mIeA4/UO-tRXJxysI/AAAAAAAAA90/caf4g46_vIA/s320/SAM_5485.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LdGPhTNOEo0/UO-uflpNriI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ykmia68fz6E/s1600/SAM_5213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LdGPhTNOEo0/UO-uflpNriI/AAAAAAAAA-M/ykmia68fz6E/s320/SAM_5213.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Unfortunately all of the bananas stopped growing at that point. By January the leaves were all half yellow and by March they were all dead/yellow. I recently cut all the pstems back till I found green, and they all began to leaf back out. The DC only managed to push out 4 leaves before sending up the flag, though, so I may end up trimming off half the hands in order to get the remaining hands to fill out well.
If the bananas hadn't all stopped growing in October, I think the plant would have flowered sometime in November with a dozen or so big green leaves to power it. The bananas grew fine through their first winter (when they first arrived as tiny tc's), but I nearly killed them in October when I had to shut down the system's water circulation for a couple of days. I had some supplemental aeration going, but it wasn't good enough and the plants basically almost all drowned (all growth immediately stopped and didn't resume till I cut them back about a month ago). Furthermore, whereas during the 1st winter I bounced a lot of extra sunlight into the greenhouse (keeping it both warmer and brighter), this past winter the plants had to make-do with less light and heat because I built a structure just south of it (only place I could put it) last summer that unfortunately blocks a lot of that 'extra' light.
But oh well. Far from ideal, but I'm not complaining. Down the road I'll pamper them better; for now I'm happy to have my first flag leaf.
:woohoonaner:
<br>