Log in

View Full Version : New Ladyfinger and Ice Cream pups!!


miaella
06-29-2007, 05:10 PM
Got two new pups today from MediaHound! Very fast shipping and the pups look great...thanks MediaHound!!

I'll post pics later. MediaHound (or anyone), these will be potted and I am looking for help determining the best mix of soil to use. Any recommendations?
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/bibkia/ladyfingerpup038.jpg
Thanks

BGreen
06-29-2007, 06:25 PM
Congrats!

Here is an info page on the wiki: Banana Soil (http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Info:Soil)
I have been using a mixture of Miracle Grow potting mix with a compost/manure mix and some perlite. I has worked ok, but it may be holding a little to much water still, for my watering routine.

MediaHound
06-29-2007, 09:30 PM
That was certainly fast!
Yep the soil page in the wiki should be helpful,
I use as big a container as possible, overburden soil, a mixture of bark, compost, manure, pearlite, and whatever else is laying around!
Damp but not wet and well draining is the key. And chock-full-of nutrients.

Enjoy your new plants!

miaella
06-30-2007, 08:16 PM
Potted the pups I got from MediaHound. The little guy in the middle is/was a Dwarf Ladyfinger I bought from Logee's that I am trying to revive.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/bibkia/ladyfingerpup002.jpg

MediaHound
06-30-2007, 09:06 PM
Hate to say this but I'd repot them and put the demarcation line as the soil line.
It's 4-6 inches or so above where you have them now.

Even if you didn't, they'd survive, but they'd be better off if you had them ad the height they're used to. They would hold up to the wind and such better when you finally get them into the ground.

You're really gonna love that Ladyfinger! The Ice Cream too, but that strain of Ladyfinger is such an amazing plant. You'll see :)

miaella
07-01-2007, 05:00 PM
OK, got them potted to the correct height. Thanks

kgbenson
07-01-2007, 05:11 PM
overburden soil

I plead ignorant. What is overburden soil? When I google it I get stuff about aquafers.

Keith

tlturbo
07-01-2007, 06:41 PM
Jarred

Just what variety are you calling Ladyfinger? Or is it just a generic "ladyfinger".

Terry

MediaHound
07-01-2007, 07:45 PM
Overburden is a soil mix that the Bushel Stop carries, it's a great all-around commercial potting mix.
http://thebushelstop.com/thebushelstopsoi.html this is as close as I can get you any info from their website, pretty useless without labels on that photo but its probably the top left or middle left sample.

The Ladyfinger is known as just that, that is the name it has. It's named and that's it's name. Others use the term loosely to describe small sweet fruits... but this banana plant in question is a commercial cultivar known simply as Musa 'Lady Finger'.
:2698:

:)

kgbenson
07-01-2007, 08:05 PM
Well there you go - and I get to go to bed a little less ignorant than when I woke up - a good day!

Keith

MediaHound
07-02-2007, 08:11 AM
Yes the overburden is a mixture of soil, sand, bark, manure, and probably some other ingredients.

kgbenson
07-02-2007, 08:52 AM
we ahve a similar product round here called Dixie Mix. Mushroom compost, manure, sand, bark fines, and such. Great stuff, if a bit spendy.

Keith

miaella
07-06-2007, 07:03 PM
I already asked MediaHound about the leaves which were bent on arrival so I knew that they would eventually die. But I forgot to ask about the damage to the top part of the stem (it is on the other side of the bigger plant in the first post so it wasn't visible).

Should I cut off the top part of the stem where it got crushed? Will this prevent new leaves from growing?

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/bibkia/ladyfingerpup010.jpg

Bananaman88
07-06-2007, 07:33 PM
Miaella,

You should definitely cut off the damaged part of the stem. I'd cut it about an inch below where it is crushed and brown. You should see healthy tissue in the middle of the stem after you make the cut. If not, cut a tad lower. Sometimes when the stem is damaged like this the leaf dies back down into the stem a ways. I had this happen to some nice M. ornatas I was planting at work recently. One had apparently gotten damaged when we transported it for planting. I cut it and it was brown in the middle, so I cut it, and again, the same. I eventually had to cut it down from about 30" to about 8". It was already sending up a pup and that pup took off and was the size of the original plant in two weeks! Normally, one cut will fix your problem though. Good luck!

MediaHound
07-07-2007, 09:20 AM
I don't know if its your camera or the actual plant being brown above where it was crushed, but if it is indeed brown now, you can whack it off from that point where it was crushed. The reason is that you want to leave the green so that the plant can still utilize any chlorophyll in the tissues to produce food. When it goes brown, you can whack it off - that'll make it look better and it'll allow the new growth th emerge unobstructed.
Just take a scissor or some drywall knife, fiberglass knife, machete, etc., and make a nice clean cut. A few days later, give or take, and you'll see a new roller come up from where you cut it. That first new leaf might be missing a tip, but all in all the plant will recover just fine and start looking prettier in no time.

tlturbo
07-07-2007, 01:44 PM
I see that Jarred uses the words WHACK and WHACKED just like I do. Is that a S FL term? HA

Terry

Taylor
07-07-2007, 02:35 PM
Haha! :2204: I guess so. I use snip or chop, or just cut.

miaella
07-30-2007, 05:52 PM
Update:

The Ice Cream has sprouted a new pup (10" tall, w/ 1 leaf), however, the rest of the plant has a potentially deadly problem...

The main shoot never grew and is rotting. It is very juicy and very brown--not sure how deep the rot is. Should this be removed from the corm or should I leave it on for the new pup to feed from?

Thanks

Bananaman88
08-02-2007, 11:41 AM
Update:

The Ice Cream has sprouted a new pup (10" tall, w/ 1 leaf), however, it the rest of the plant has a potentially deadly problem...

The main shoot never grew and is rotting. It is very juicy and very brown--not sure how deep the rot is. Should this be removed from the corm or should I leave it on for the new pup to feed from?

Thanks

Miaella,

You say that the main shoot never grew and is rotting. That's what I was talking about when I said that sometimes the main shoot turns brown all the way down into the pseudostem. It is likely that the main stem may not regrow depending on how deep the rot goes. If you have a new pup coming off of the main plant, I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes the main shoot just gets too stressed from the transplanting process, dies back, and sends out a new shoot (which is what it sounds like your is doing). I've seen this several times. If you want to though, you really don't have anything to lose by cutting the main stem back a little at a time to see if you can find healthy tissue in the center. Cut back a bit at a time until you see greenish tissue in the center. If all you keep getting is nasty brown looking mush, and you're down to just a few inches in height it's probably a goner. But, hey, look on the bright side...you do have a nice healthy pup :2704: !!!

MediaHound
08-02-2007, 12:41 PM
Try and pull back the tissue and see if you can get to a healthy center. If not, just top it off and the baby pup should take over just fine.
If the plant totally dies I'll replace it for you... but that's a slim chance being that there's a new pup doing well.

miaella
08-02-2007, 01:34 PM
Thanks for the help guys! The main stem is certainly gone--rot all the way down to the the soil line. However, the pup is growing nicely and is already working on leaf #3.

Now for my new question...The Ladyfinger hasn't grown an inch (but isn't rotting/withering away either). It looks exactly like it did in the photo above from my earlier post, except that it was repotted to the correct height. Any thoughts on what's happening with this pup? Should I get a bigger pot for it?

Thanks

Taylor
08-02-2007, 01:45 PM
Miaella,
Im not sure really, but I think it might be working on its root system. What I do sometimes is just tug on it a little, and if it pulls right up, you have a problem. If it stays, its rooted and I forget worries because I know that it is at least taking in something even if it isn't putting out anything.

BTW, I have had my stuff rot a few times. Its sad to just watch it go. It happens sometimes when people take a pup that has barely any roots, and they cut the stem to only about 3-4 inches and send it to you. Luckily miaella, they tend to pup, likes yours did, when this happens. (2 Velutinas, 1 Ornata, an Ice Cream, and Basjoo) The Basjoo and Ice Cream never returned, but people here are so nice, they send you a replacement. Its not their fault or yours, its kindof Chance VS Conditions. Too Wet Too Dry vs Small Corm No Roots

Etc.

Taylor

miaella
08-03-2007, 10:44 PM
Gave the Ladyfinger a tug and it seems pretty solid. I just wish it would start growing--but at least I can watch the Ice Cream grow for now :banana_az

MediaHound
08-04-2007, 09:59 AM
Compost all your kitchen scraps from now on if your not doing that, make a nice mash out of it, in batches, and use that to fertilize your bananas. They'll shoot up like rockets.
Anyway, the good news is that you'll look back at whats happening now in a year or two when you have a ton of huge plants and remember how frustrating it was waiting for it to pick up steam. :)

miaella
08-07-2007, 01:31 AM
I decided to re-pot the Ladyfinger after over a month of no growth/rotting. Partly because I felt it needed a bigger pot and partly because I wanted to double check its root growth.

Unfortunately, I was correct in my guess that there was rot happening below the surface. Although the original roots were still intact and doing ok, no new root growth was to be found. I think the oddly shaped hollowish corm was causing the rot...

The plant itself is somewhat "J" shaped and the center part of the corm was hollow when I first potted it. Anyhow, I am guessing that this hollow "J" shape was the culprit to the rot, catching and holding water and causing rot when it wouldn't have happened otherwise.

I removed what I could of the rot and am hoping for some nice new growth in the near future!!

I'll post new pics of the plants tomorrow.:nanadrink:

Ladyfinger:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/bibkia/July2007002.jpg

Ice Cream:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/bibkia/July2007001.jpg

miaella
10-04-2007, 05:47 PM
Well, it's a sad day in banana land... the Ice Cream that was doing well ended up dying of rot :0491:

The good news is that the Ladyfinger has recovered and has three nice leaves on it. :flouenaner: It's been moved indoors now and will spend the winter under a grow light to hopefully allow it to grow stronger roots.

I've also started to grow some pineapples seeing as how they are cheap to grow. The only bad thing about them is that it takes sooooooooo long for them to fruit!

momoese
10-04-2007, 06:33 PM
I've also started to grow some pineapples seeing as how they are cheap to grow. The only bad thing about them is that it takes sooooooooo long for them to fruit!

The other bad thing is how large they get! They can grow to about 4 feet across.:2221:

MediaHound
10-05-2007, 04:37 PM
PM sent so we can remedy the situation! Don't feel bad, you get a new one!

miaella
10-05-2007, 08:16 PM
Thanks Mediahound!! I can look forward again to eating one of the more tastier bananas.