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View Full Version : Take a look before the Fall


bencelest
10-15-2007, 08:57 PM
<http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6331&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6331&limit=recent)


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6330&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6330)

Californiia Gold

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6329&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6329)

D_&_T
10-15-2007, 09:06 PM
NICE:woohoonaner:

Dan & Tara

MediaHound
10-15-2007, 09:26 PM
Yea, nice!

SOCALROCKER
10-15-2007, 09:40 PM
Nice Cool Banana's Lots of Good Luck to you this Fall & Winter.


SOCALROCKER:0517:

natedogg1026
10-16-2007, 10:22 PM
Niiiiiiiicceeeee!!!:2791:

AnnaJW
10-16-2007, 11:36 PM
Beautiful!!! Here's to a warm winter! :nanadrink:

bencelest
10-18-2007, 10:56 AM
Thank you ALL for your nice replies!

Dean W.
10-18-2007, 11:28 AM
Cool Pics!

valerie@flower
10-19-2007, 12:23 AM
Very nanerifical !!!!!:2121:

bencelest
10-19-2007, 10:13 PM
Thanks a lot Valerie and Dean for your nice words.

I have more pictures to show you:

Below are Sweetheart and Dwarf Cavendish
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6428&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6428)


I'll post later their names

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6427&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6427)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6426&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6426)

Greenie
10-19-2007, 11:06 PM
good work!

harveyc
10-20-2007, 12:05 AM
Nice plants and fruit, Benny, thanks for posting. When a friend from another group and I dropped by to visit Joe Real yesterday he looked at his Dwarf Brazilian, we were talking about over-wintering fruit. I then asked Joe how your Cal Gold with fruit from last winter had done. If I recall correctly, he said you had picked some rippened fruit. Did you ever post updated photos of that plant?

Thanks again, Harvey.

Dean W.
10-20-2007, 08:28 AM
bencelest,

I like how you used the whiskey barrels to plant them in.

Dean

STEELVIPER
10-20-2007, 09:05 AM
:shareluvnana: :bananas_b

AnnaJW
10-20-2007, 12:07 PM
bencelest,

I like how you used the whiskey barrels to plant them in.

Dean

So do I! You've just given me a great idea! :nanerwizard:

bencelest
10-20-2007, 01:01 PM
It is also movable. You can protect them during winter and I believe you can have it fruited in there. As long as they are dwarfed.

Harvey, the pics above are the most updated pics I have taken on 10/15/07. No I have not tasted my Calif Gold yet. I will wait before the first sign of frost before I'll cut it down.
It is just for show to my friends because noone has ever seen a banana tree here with fruit. So am I. until I tried it.
I can buy manzano and other cooking bananas at the oriental store here but I am sure a tree ripened bananas will taste much better so are my persimmons and Fuji apples. I let them ripened on the tree.

Dean, Mark and Anna: Thanks and I am glad I can contribute on new knowledge how to grow them.
It's my craze now growing bananas. I've done almost a lot growing citrus of every kind and T-budding and grafting them but now bananas is a new frontier for me.
Thanks guys I am learning a lot here.

harveyc
10-20-2007, 01:24 PM
Hey, folks, there aren't too many whiskey barrels in California! They're most likely wine or brandy barrels. The only difference is that whiskey barrels are usually charred inside, I think.

I can sometimes get 30 gallon plastic barrels for free or I can buy them from a recycler for something like $10. You might look around in your area for them, though they aren't as pretty as the wooden barrels. I use them as totes some of the time but do also plan on using some for some large banana pots one of these days. Since I have a small tractor with a loader it is easy for me to move them from my garden to my cozy shop.

AnnaJW
10-20-2007, 01:40 PM
Hmmm.... I don't live too far from the wineries in Temecula. I wonder if any of them sell barrels? Guess I'll have to go see!

Dean W.
10-20-2007, 02:15 PM
I was going to say barrels, but I thought whiskey barrels sounded cooler.:shareluvnana:

sandy0225
10-20-2007, 06:43 PM
Check with landscaping companies that install trees. Not the ones that grow their own trees and install them later, but the ones that buy trees and then install them for a price.
They will usually throw a few large pots your way for free or really cheap, especially if you offer to pick them up on a regular basis. Just as good as a whiskey barrel for growing, scrub them out and then rinse them in a 1 part bleach to 10 parts water solution to kill any nasty fungus etc that might be in there.

AnnaJW
10-20-2007, 06:48 PM
Great idea, Sandy! Thanks!

Dean W.
10-20-2007, 06:51 PM
I like those big pots I've always been to shy to ask for them though.

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:25 AM
Here's my dwarf cavendish banana. mom and daughters but seem like daughter is bigger than their mom. The mom is just a pup when she gave a baby.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6502&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6502)

I'll wait till Spring time to separate them as Joe Real advised.

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:28 AM
Another view with Raja Puri on the left and DC on the right


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6503&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6503)

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:30 AM
California Gold pup. The mom has fruit almost ready to harvest


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6500&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6500)

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:31 AM
Other bananas of mine


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6504&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6504)

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:45 AM
More bananas

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6505&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6505)

bencelest
10-26-2007, 09:46 AM
And more


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6506&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6506)

the flying dutchman
10-26-2007, 10:27 AM
Haha Benny, won't take long for you to become a Junior Gruru:)

Just kidding, beautiful pictures!!!!!!!!!


Ron

the flying dutchman
10-26-2007, 10:28 AM
Sorry, I meant 'Junior Guru'





Ron

harveyc
10-26-2007, 10:31 AM
Hey, Benny, I can't keep track of what you have. If you don't mind, edit your profile to include the cultivars you have. I think I had 3 when I met you at the beginning of the year but now have 26, making Joe laugh at both of us! ;)

the flying dutchman
10-26-2007, 10:34 AM
At 400 posts, forgotten to say.




Ron

harveyc
10-26-2007, 10:42 AM
Personally, I think computer whiz Jarred should figure a way to factor in the number of cultivars in a member's profile! ;)

the flying dutchman
10-26-2007, 12:43 PM
Have to update my profile before Jarred figured it out:)




Ron

AnnaJW
10-26-2007, 12:49 PM
Very nice Benny!!! :2784:

bencelest
10-27-2007, 11:09 AM
Thanks Ron for the laugh.
I love to post in this forum because the people respond with sense of humor and because they care.
I was going to ask you what junior guru means but you clarify yourself in your preceding post.
For a while I was puzzled why Anna was called that and I was going to protest because I still can't advice other people ( I think) on how to take care of their bananas and guru means a teacher.

Harvey, I know Joe Real is smiling right now if he read this post because when I met you in my yard when you and Joe brought the Dwarf Brazilian and I have only one banana growing that I bought not too long before you came now I don't know how many I have. Not too many I think at least not as many as 26 as you own. But I will label them on the pics that I will post.
I also want to know what are your plans to protect your bananas this Winter? We are both in zone 9 and perhaps you can tell me a thing or two so I can learn. As you see most of my bananas are in pots and I plan to put them along side my house and cover them with clear plastics and perhaps use Christmas lights at night.

Thanks Anna for the compliment.
Benny

Lagniappe
10-27-2007, 01:39 PM
A few pics of my yard. My friend "Wilson" is there to provide scale .:islandsharkbanana:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6520&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6520)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6519&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6519)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6516&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6516)

harveyc
10-27-2007, 01:43 PM
Benny, most of my bananas are in "5 gallon" pots (which are actually more like 3 gallons in size, I think) and will come indoors into my heated shop for the winter. I need to clean some stuff out to make room. I have the unusual situation where I have the rights on my farm to recieve natural gas free of charge for my indoor use only. Not for greenhouses like I wish! So my shop is nice and warm, but it is a not that big. It has some windows but that's not enought light so I just spent about $500 for a 1,000w metal halide light and a 9' rail mover. There is another thread discussing indoor lighting and Sandy posted a photo of the 15' rail she has in her basement. I do have 7 in the ground that will spend the winter there. I plan to plant everything outdoors in the ground next spring and plan to leave them all outside next winter (2008-2009) except for Ae Ae. I hope to get pups from most of them next year and, if so, will probably remove some and pot them up and bring them indoors as an insurance policy in case we have a very hard winter. Even this past year I only lost Ice Cream completely. My Dwarf Orinoco and Rajapuri pseudostems died but sent up lots of pups (especially that crazy DO!). Joe is reporting that there are predictions for a warm (but very wet) winter our way, so we should be okay.

Best of luck!

bencelest
10-27-2007, 03:53 PM
Pete:
Those are awesome pictures. It won't be long you will have some flowers. They are so much mature compared to my puppies.
Just like Harvey said, come Springtime most of those will be planted in the ground except some dwarfs that they will be planted in wine barrel. I maybe have 6 wine barrels.
Just how much space do you need to plant those bananas anyway? Anybody?

Harvey, that seems like a plan. Very nice. I don't have any heater that you can think of but I will just depend on the clear cover. I may protect my double
mahoi more than the others.

Lagniappe
10-27-2007, 07:44 PM
Thanks Benny !
I plan to grow a lot of potted dwarfs too . It should be fun .

harveyc
10-27-2007, 11:07 PM
Hey, Pete, let me know if your Maureli pups, I'm sure you can sell it for big $ on the forum! lol

bencelest
10-29-2007, 08:58 AM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=6530&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6530)

bencelest
10-31-2007, 05:09 PM
Please someone respond:

I am anxious to know how long DB will start to bloom from pup to flower and from flower to harvest a mature fruit.
My DB is about 5'6" now and P-stem is about 8" diameter.
I am hoping it will delay its bloom till Spring. Is there a way to delay the bloom time? It is planted on the ground BTW.

BTW.

Benny

wamstick
10-31-2007, 05:29 PM
Hey Benny--Those nana pics are great. I wonder, how cold does it get in your neck of the woods in winter.

JoeReal
10-31-2007, 09:46 PM
Please someone respond:

I am anxious to know how long DB will start to bloom from pup to flower and from flower to harvest a mature fruit.
My DB is about 5'6" now and P-stem is about 8" diameter.
I am hoping it will delay its bloom till Spring. Is there a way to delay the bloom time? It is planted on the ground BTW.

BTW.

Benny

Benny, see my secret revealed in the citrus forum in case your banana is hard headed to bloom in the winter. DB's fruiting height is quite variable. From 4' 6" to 7' is what I experienced.

harveyc
10-31-2007, 10:25 PM
Thanks for posting, Joe, as mine is a bit taller than Benny's, though I haven't looked closely for a few weeks. I keep watching for a smaller leaf as a sign that the flag is next, but no sign of that yet. I'm hoping for an April bloom. :)

bencelest
11-01-2007, 12:23 AM
Tony:
Very rare it goes below freezing. Usually two to five times every winter but do not stay long. 2 to 3 days. Tempts stays on the 50's high and lows on the 40's at the coldest part of the Winter. But does not go hot either during the Summer. 70's mostly high, 60's low.

Joe: yes, I saw your Secret. Thanks! So the DB you gave me is in the fruiting height right now? Like Harvey, I am looking for a sign for shorter leaves and like him crossing my fingers for Spring bloom.

JoeReal
11-01-2007, 07:40 PM
This is a live testament to the cold hardiness of California Gold.

Benny's California Gold was purchased from Mike at Antioch, late last year. It bloomed around November, and was dugged out by Benny in December and planted in his yard in Salinas. It was then exposed to extended periods of cold nights from the famous Arctic Blast of 2007 that destroyed $1B worth of California crops, mainly citruses.

But look at it now, the bloom that has suffered through the arctic blast is now plump fruits, just waiting to be ripened on the plant. Some fruits are already ripe.

But of course, Benny did some protection to the plant during the Arctic Blast. And we are revisiting that protection technique, developing and refining methodologies to allow our bananas with late blooms to survive the winter, outside, in zone 9, and then able to resume its fruit filling when it warms up in the spring.

Hopefully our techniques would be useful for California Gold, Dwarf Brazilian, Dwarf Orinoco and other Dwarf types of cold hardy bananas. To be able to save the late fruits or blooms and have them fulfill their destiny by surviving the freezing winter nights.