View Full Version : Newbie here... can I grow ediable bananas in my zone?
cteq1
11-21-2014, 03:43 PM
Hey
I love bananas but never thought I can grow any in my zone 7. We live in mountains and it can be cold, more like zone 6b then 7. I looked at MUSA SIKKIMENSIS but read somewhere not really ediable as there are lots of seeds and they are hard shell.
Looking at Musa cheesmanii as option but havent read much on this, is this ediable?
Any other I can look at?
Best place to buy seeds?
Olafhenny
11-21-2014, 05:53 PM
Of course you can grow edible bananas in your HZ, but you need a heated greenhouse.
Some extra artificial lighting will also help. :ha:
Seriously, the frost free period will not last near long enough to get any fruit to ripen
outdoors. Do like most of us in frigid regions, grow them for the leaves and the exotic
value to baffle your neighbours. :)
Good luck,
Olaf
PS: A greenhouse would just ruin the surprise of the neighbours :ha:
kubali
11-21-2014, 05:58 PM
Welcome aboard ,
pull up a chair and have some fun learning.
cteq1
11-21-2014, 11:22 PM
Of course you can grow edible bananas in your HZ, but you need a heated greenhouse.
Some extra artificial lighting will also help. :ha:
Seriously, the frost free period will not last near long enough to get any fruit to ripen
outdoors. Do like most of us in frigid regions, grow them for the leaves and the exotic
value to baffle your neighbours. :)
Good luck,
Olaf
PS: A greenhouse would just ruin the surprise of the neighbours :ha:
I just placed order for Musa cheesmanii lets hope it will germinate. I have portable greenhouse as well as one room I use for germination which I keep at 75f 24/7.
However I couldnt find anywhere information on fruit ie edible or not. I hope to keep them on big pot so I can move it in and out into sun.
Olafhenny
11-21-2014, 11:47 PM
Sounds like a plan, provided the greenhouse can be heated and has a high ceiling.
You may have to select varieties, which are small enough to fit into it. But there I
am out of my depth, because I strictly raise them for ornamental purpose and winter
most of them, other than ornatas, outside.
Welcome! I wouldn't buy seeds if I were you... It will only give you bananas with seeds. And those seeds are quite hard! Get yourself a nice pup or plant from a seedless variety.
2woodensticks
11-27-2014, 02:27 PM
you should be able to find musa Orinoco up there..give them a try
cteq1
11-27-2014, 04:12 PM
Welcome! I wouldn't buy seeds if I were you... It will only give you bananas with seeds. And those seeds are quite hard! Get yourself a nice pup or plant from a seedless variety.
Thanks for info, bit
late for me I bought Musa cheesmanii ans am trying to germinate them now. I didnt know about the seeded bananas will have to look into getting plant. only problem is how you can tell that seller didnt grow from seed !
Well, that's an easy one... Google the name of the variety or use wiki or ask on this forum. You have better acces to banana plants in the US than us here in Canada. Good luck.
cincinnana
11-27-2014, 10:05 PM
Welcome to the Jungle....:woohoonaner:
There is a good chance that big box stores will have edible type bananas for sale in your area. I know they do sell them in ATL big box stores and nearby in the summer. 25.00 or less depending on size...this includes Walmart.
Check greenhouses in your surrounding area and Craigslist.
You could also buy one from a member of this forum in the springtime once they go up for sale. Some take paypal.
siege2050
11-28-2014, 04:38 AM
I grow tall orinoco here in zone 7, I have about 7 of them under my house right now dormant and bare root. Orinoco is one of the few bananas that store well this way. In the fall you dig them, cut off the leaves, and put in a cool frost free place that remains above freezing. In spring you take them out and replant, and after a recovery period they will begin leafing out again. One of mine has a stem 10 feet long (Was pretty difficult getting under the house lol), so I am hoping I might get fruit this next year, but will the fruit have time to ripen before first frost in October is another story. The process of ripening can take months. Orinoco has no seeds, and is supposed to be able to survive in zone 7 with mulching if you choose to let it remain outdoors, but I have not tried it yet. You would have to cage the trunk with wire, and stuff with leaves etc., to provide insulation from cold or it will die back to the roots (If roots are mulched at least), and you will have to start over. You must preserve the stem, or it will not bloom and produce fruit. It takes more than one year of development for each stem to flower. It is a very fast grower, and looks great as an ornamental, I prefer it over other ornamentals like Basjoo, because it is more vigorous. Several of mine were about 2 feet tall this last spring, and by fall were about 10 feet or so including leaves, and the largest with a stem about 5 feet reached about 16 feet with leaves included, while growing in mostly clay, and with partial sun. You might want to try Dwarf Orinoco instead, its much more manageable if you want to store it dormant in a crawl space, attached garage, etc. Most seeded bananas like cheesmanii are inedible, I harvested bananas from my musa velutina a month ago, that is supposed to be sweet but seeded. It was impossible to eat, there were maybe a hundred hard seeds in each banana, and edible flesh might have made up 5 percent of the banana if that much, Imagine a mouth full of BB's. Store bought bananas are hybrids, and being hybrids they are sterile like a mule. A mule cannot reproduce as it is a cross between a donkey, and a horse, and you can only get more mules by more crosses of the two. In this same way hybrid bananas are usually seedless, holding no embryos (seeds), all future plants from that variety must be cloned by taking suckers from the base of the plant, and planted to make a new banana plant. Hybrids also usually display something called hybrid vigor, this makes the offspring larger, and sometimes stronger than the parents, this is why store bought bananas are larger than most wild seeded ones. To give you an idea what a bareroot banana looks like, here is a pic of mine going under the house for winter. If you look closely at the root ball, I have left a pup (actually two), the pointy thing (baby banana stem) to replace the main stem if it blooms. Once a banana stem blooms and fruits, that stem or pstem as it is also called will die, and the pup will grow to replace it. Sikkimensis is a cool banana, I have those as well that I grew from seed, but to get bananas on those (seeded of course) the caging of the pstem still applies, even though its hardier, you still have to preserve the pstem from freezing to the ground.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56989&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=56989)
cteq1
11-28-2014, 09:15 AM
@siege2050
Thank you for your replay it gave me information I needed. Well my plants if they germinate will be ornamental. I will look out for banana trees in Spring.
I am building garden terraces and was going to build 32" high by 16"x16" square hole to put my trees in, so in winter I would just stuff it with leaves and mulch on the bottom. So I can leave them out all year round.
Only drawback I see is pup may get squashed or not grow as the concrete blocks would block it from growing.
We will have to break the concrete in the middle so the roots can reach out and also any rain will drain out.
see attached
Banana Gallery - block (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=57265&cat=500&ppuser=19790)
2woodensticks
11-28-2014, 03:30 PM
if not mistaken..older post of nanner farm in GA.growing Orinoco..i bet if you keep an eye out,finding a wild of simi wild clump in GA. is a possibility...
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