View Full Version : starting out
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 01:04 PM
Hi my nickname is smiley,
I'm into growing edible plants and over the past year I've begun growing citrus plants. I found this site from a suggestion of someone on my citrus forum that i belong to. I don't have any bananas currently, and I was wondering what would be an easy type of banana to grow in a container in northern ohio, i would like this banana not to need giant amounts of space and be able to produce edible fruit to go with my whole edible gardening approach. Also i was wondering once i have a suggestion on a good type to grow what way should i go about trying to get my banana? barerooted, croms, or seeds? i have a fishtank i've converted into a minigreenhouse that i can use to germinate seeds but i hear that seeds take longer to make it to fruiting age.
hurray for my first post! :woohoonaner:
hydrojeff
05-22-2008, 01:15 PM
welcome to the forum, it is great here, im not one of the experts but i would say maybe a dwarf cavendish, they have great tasting fruit, im sure one of the experts will help soon, have a great day Smiley
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 01:17 PM
thanks for your quick response hydrojeff, i look forward to more replies soon that i can build a sense of what people as a whole think.
oooooooo a tank commander banana :nanertank:
jpfloors
05-22-2008, 01:28 PM
Hi my nickname is smiley,
I'm into growing edible plants and over the past year I've begun growing citrus plants. I found this site from a suggestion of someone on my citrus forum that i belong to. I don't have any bananas currently, and I was wondering what would be an easy type of banana to grow in a container in northern ohio, i would like this banana not to need giant amounts of space and be able to produce edible fruit to go with my whole edible gardening approach. Also i was wondering once i have a suggestion on a good type to grow what way should i go about trying to get my banana? barerooted, croms, or seeds? i have a fishtank i've converted into a minigreenhouse that i can use to germinate seeds but i hear that seeds take longer to make it to fruiting age.
hurray for my first post! :woohoonaner:
Welcome Smiley, Well first off you've found a GREAT place for info! Well you mention growing from seeds, but unfortunately if you grow them from seeds, you'll get a seeded fruit, which while most I believe are edible and not harmful, the seeds could potentially break a tooth.
Musa basjoo is a very cold hardy banana, but not very good to taste (or not edible) I believe. I don't have any experience with that one myself as it doesn't apeal to me. California Gold is an excellent cold hardy species, but very rare and expensive when you can find it (basically I believe mainly only members here have them, and arn't very willing to sell too many, I for one don't have this variety). The last one sold on e-bay for over $100. Anything else would be good, but must be brough indoors or into a green house over the winter or placed into dormancy in a garage, in a basement or under your home. Ice Cream, Pisang Ceylons, and Rajapuri are amoung the top tasting bananas, but get very tall, but don't need that much space once tall, yet having to dig them up to over winter might be another issue. So hydro might be right, you might want to stick with a dwarf cavendish, which you can pick up at Walmart. I'm in a warm climate 80-90% of the year, so don't have the experiance of over wintering bananas as someone further north would. Good luck on your exploration of deciding on a species!
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 01:58 PM
thanks again for your quick replies. when i say small i mean 6 ft tall or less as it has to fit into my house during the cool/cold springs falls and winters. dwarf varieties sound good, and yeah i'm going for taste and that was good of you to warn me that seed grown bananas have seeded fruit which would be bad for me. i'm still intrigued to hear of more types people recommend for a beginner such as myself.
dance party banana style! :discocrazed:
Dean W.
05-22-2008, 02:03 PM
smiley, good luck with whatever you decide. I'm still learning about nanas myself too.:waving:
jpfloors
05-22-2008, 02:17 PM
Well Smiley, that greatly limits the varieties, click this link to see the dwarf varieties in the wiki. Click each one to get a description. Search results - Bananas Wiki (http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=dwarf) The most available one would probably the the D. Cavendish as mentioned above as you can get those at retail stores rather than over the internet or the nursery. I've also seen the Super D. Cav. at walmart as well. There is one other that wont come up on that search, and that is the High Color Mini, which usually only gets to 3 feet. Be aware that some of the dwarf varieties are cooking bananas, or plantains which are nasty raw unless way over ripened (to the point of the skin being black). I hope you keep your house warm in the winter as I hear it is hard to actually get flowers up north, despite what precautions you take. Hopefully someone from the northern states could help out? I hope! Good Luck
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 02:23 PM
thanks for that suggestion. To help narrow things down even further these bananas will likely be eaten raw as i don't much cook but i enjoy fresh produce. i'm glad i'm getting responses so quick, and i appreciate all the help, i don't mind buying stuff on the internet as stores here in the north charge alot for stuff like this cause its "exotic" vs. the internet might be nicer since its just normal plants to them.
woo para banana! :parachutenanner:
chong
05-22-2008, 02:26 PM
Welcome Smiley,
Josh is correct about the CA Gold banana. I am one of the lucky ones who has one and can attest to their cold hardiness in Seattle weather. M. Basjoo is also cold hardy, possibly more so than CA Gold. The fruit it bears is seeded, and diehard fans of this plant swear that they are edible and sweet, albeit that you have to contend with double-0 shot sized seeds that are almost as hard. In any case, in your area, you will need to afford them some winter protection, or overwinter them inside. You will find lots of threads here dealing with overwintering of bananas.
If you are interested in edible fruits, the one I can suggest is the Dwarf Orinoco. It is listed as a dessert banana, but to eat it out of hand, the fruit has to be very ripe, almost black. The Saba is also that way. Though the Saba is a lot bigger and stouter plant, and possibly a half or a full zone less hardy than the D. Orinoco. Both of them are excellent cooking bananas.
The D. Orinocos, I have, came from Agristarts. Because of the cool climate here in Seattle, they do not grow fast enough in the summer that after 5 years, they are only a foot high. But they've survived some very low temperatures (single digits) here in unheated greenhouse. I intend to leave some of them in the greenhouse to compare with the ones outside and see which ones grow faster.
A final caveat regarding the D. Orinoco, according to one nursery, Encanto Farms I believe, the CA Gold is NOT a mutation of D. Orinoco. Rather, it IS a form of D. Orinoco that developed a particular resistance to cold. Another similar plant is TX Star, which is only available from Ty Ty Nursery in GA. Although I've not had any problems with my orders from TTN, there are a lot of complaints from a lot of people on the internet. They are on the eccentric side. TX Star, too, may be a form of D. Orinoco. D. Orinoco is very easy to find.
Good luck and enjoy!!
Chong
jpfloors
05-22-2008, 02:30 PM
Hmmmm, true that it might be more at the stores, but on the net you have to pay for shipping, and usually bananas will reqiure a recovery time, sometimes over 3 months before it will begin to grow again. I honestly would suggest purchasing one that doesn't have to be shipped over one that does for the recovery fact alone, but it all depends on the variety you want. Sometimes they wont recover at all, but that's not common, but it is a risk. Usually if you buy them in the stores, they need to be repotted quickly into a larger pot as the pots can become roots only and no dirt. I think for bananas you must keep them into a large pot, like a 7.5-10 gallon or more. I will say this though, ones in the stores are tissue cultures, which aren't as vigorous, but their pups are, ones purchased as a corm are more hardy. Definately anyone that is here most likely would sell you a corm, and some websites like webebananas.com or goingbananas.com are some good sites that most of their plants are corms and not tissue cultures. Good luck!
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 02:49 PM
this is good information and alot to absorb, i've grown some things from corms before like strawberries, if you get a corm are they easier to grow than say a full size plant with that whole recovery period would it not matter with a corm?
thanks again for all the quick replies.
batman banana? :10:
chong
05-22-2008, 03:41 PM
Hmmmm, true that it might be more at the stores, but on the net you have to pay for shipping, and usually bananas will reqiure a recovery time, sometimes over 3 months before it will begin to grow again. . . . . . . goingbananas.com are some good sites that most of their plants are corms and not tissue cultures. Good luck!
I just heard from a very good source, who visited the GoingBananas Nursery recently, that they have very few plants in the ground onsite, but lots of plants in pots from TC. To their credit, though, they send out large plants, not 4"-6" starters. They have a great reputation.
Here are sites that send out corms for sure:
RareBananas.com - Rare banana plants shipped live to your door. (http://www.rarebananas.com/)
figs4fun home (http://webebananas.com/)
stumpy4700
05-22-2008, 03:49 PM
You might give your local Home Depot or Lowes a check, Here in Tennessee they both carry a few bananas in the summer time. I just picked up a couple of Dwarf Nino's. You might get lucky there. Good luck
chong
05-22-2008, 04:19 PM
You might give your local Home Depot or Lowes a check, Here in Tennessee they both carry a few bananas in the summer time. I just picked up a couple of Dwarf Nino's. You might get lucky there. Good luck
In the Seattle area, HD sometimes will carry SDC in 6" pots for $8. Sometimes the grower doesn't even label them the variety, except as "tropical foliage". In bigger pots the come in 8 gal pots for $39.99, and they are mostly M Basjoo.
hersirsmiley
05-22-2008, 05:01 PM
yeah i've seen tropical foliage plants but i'm never sure exactly what they are or if they are the edible kind of banana or just ornamentals. I maybe look over the home depot or lowes in the area sometime and see if i can find any. I'm enjoying hearing all the suggestions and i'm taking them all into my consideration when i finally get something. I hope to get more replies still to continue helping me build a consensus.
dragon banana? :2698:
hersirsmiley
05-23-2008, 10:39 AM
well after reading the wiki articles and your suggestions i'm thinking i'd like to get a dwarf orinoco, the two links that chong so graciously bestowed on me are sold out of them so i was wondering if anyone else had any other site suggestions i could look into.
indiana banana? :2719:
mskitty38583
05-23-2008, 11:33 AM
the d.o. is a very wonderful tree. i have three that were purchased from a member on here. one of mine has 3 pups on it. they have been planted in the yard since mid april. they do not get sunburn like the basjoo do.they do seem to grow a little slower then the rest of my nanas, and they are a stout little tree. i have also found that the basjoos leaves rip more easily then the d.o.'s. between all the nanas i have they are working there way into my #3 fav. spot. the d.o. will grow to 8-10ft tall and are very tolorent to different types of fert. ive been doing an experiment with the ferts i used at planting time and they seem to like them all. good luck on growing your nanas. put up a wanted to buy thread in the wanted catagory....there are members here who have some
hersirsmiley
05-23-2008, 12:21 PM
thanks ms. kitty maybe when i have enough credits to do so i will. Any sites will do as well they don't seem to be all that expensive on the sites that are sold out.
rock out banana! :0517:
jpfloors
05-23-2008, 04:08 PM
contact bananimal I think he has some pups that he may be willing to sell
hersirsmiley
05-23-2008, 05:07 PM
thanks i'll try to contact him, and i'm still open to more suggestions.
michael jackson banana? :moonwalknaner:
lorax
05-23-2008, 06:03 PM
What we call "Oritos" here are a dwarf tree that bears a huge bunch of very sweet and tasty, although small size-wise, dessert bananas. The flesh has a slightly pink cast, and the skin is very thin. I'm not sure of cold-hardiness, but I have seen people here in Quito, where it goes to about +3 when it's cold, growing them in containers inside their house's interior courtyards. The scientific name on that one is, I beleive, Musa sapientum.
chong
05-23-2008, 06:09 PM
thanks ms. kitty maybe when i have enough credits to do so i will. Any sites will do as well they don't seem to be all that expensive on the sites that are sold out.
rock out banana! :0517:
Here are a few more sites, though a couple are in eBay - one for DO and one for CA Gold!
They have 2 corms here -cheap:
Musa 'Dwarf Orinoco' Corm (http://stokestropicals.com/Files/Product/Plants_1753/Bananas_1767/Dwarf_Orinoco_Corm_7774.asp)
Inexpensive 6" TC but good source:
DWARF ORINOCO BANANA TREE / PLANT- Hardy ----(SP) - eBay (item 200225237089 end time May-25-08 20:53:59 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/DWARF-ORINOCO-BANANA-TREE-PLANT-Hardy-SP_W0QQitemZ200225237089QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3185QQssPageNameZWDVW QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
This is the same source as above but is the actual store that advertises on eBay. Costs a little more.
Dwarf Orinoco Banana (http://www.wellspringgardens.org/servlet/Detail?no=38)
Banana Plants (http://www.wellspringgardens.org/servlet/Categories?category=Banana+Plants)
This is a famous CA Gold on eBay. I suggest "sniping" to keep the cost down.
California Gold - Cold Hardy dwarf Banana plant / tree - eBay (item 290232796275 end time May-27-08 13:21:11 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/California-Gold-Cold-Hardy-dwarf-Banana-plant-tree_W0QQitemZ290232796275QQihZ019QQcategoryZ25463QQssPageNameZW DVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
mskitty38583
05-23-2008, 06:18 PM
you dont have to have credits to put in a new thread.you only need them for the classifieds. and banamial is who i got my d.o.'s from.
NANAMAN
05-23-2008, 06:20 PM
Welcome to the forum! The banana plant that fits most of your criteria is the ladyfinger from Logee's. Grows fast, fruits at 3' in a pot,(perfect size for a large container), and is a sweet tasting desert banana.
stumpy4700
05-23-2008, 06:49 PM
Unless I missed it or it goes by another name I couldn't find ladyfinger on the Logee"s website? any help?
stumpy4700
05-23-2008, 06:52 PM
I did find at lowes here in nashville they had clearenced musa basjoo about a foot tall for 5 bucks..I couldn't pass so I bought 2 of them..If anyone in Smyrna Tn is close they had about 52 left. I'm going to wait til next week to see if I can get more cheaper than that! :hiiiiyanana:
mskitty38583
05-23-2008, 06:57 PM
thats not a bad price at all!!!!!!!!:waving::jump::2767: make sure if your gonna keep the nanas in the house to change the dirt. everytime ive bought a plant at lowes they have had gnats in them.
NANAMAN
05-23-2008, 07:13 PM
Unless I missed it or it goes by another name I couldn't find ladyfinger on the Logee"s website? any help?
I, and other forum members, purchased them from Logee's about 1 1/2 yrs. ago. You can see one in fruit, in my gallery. They have'nt listed them for sale this year though! But the plant does indeed exist.
stumpy4700
05-23-2008, 07:31 PM
I'm keeping the basjoo's by the pool..I'm putting one in the ground and one in a 10 gal container to see the difference..But thanks for the gnat tip.
hersirsmiley
05-23-2008, 11:19 PM
again thanks for all the help, i'm looking over those sites chong left links to and i'm waiting to hear back from bananimal. i'm beginning to get very excited at the prospect of having my own banana to go with my citrus collection.
stalin banana? :bigotes:
chong
05-24-2008, 12:24 AM
Unless I missed it or it goes by another name I couldn't find ladyfinger on the Logee"s website? any help?
They are not in stock right now. I just clicked the link I had for that item this morning and it didn't even say what it was. Only that it was temporarily out of stock. People from this group have been buying them left and right, plus they tell others as well who are not members of this group. Just hang loose, they'll have them again in a few months.
I find Logee's prices a bit overpriced, but I buy from them a lot, anyway. They send out good quality plants and they will guarantee that as well.
stumpy4700
05-24-2008, 12:31 AM
Yea I'm willing to pay a little extra for better quality...I'll keep checking
magicgreen
05-24-2008, 07:50 AM
Hi smiley,
Iam in Ohio also and iam growing alot of different varieties! So far i've found that my sumatran overwinters nicely in the basement. Orinico likes the ground warm when putting out in the spring. And my lil' prince will pup when changing their environment.
I have an ice cream, saba, and maurelli that grew fine, despite being put out in early april with no ill effects.(Remember those cold days? and possible frost.)
One of my dwarf cavendish I left in the dining rm. instead of in the basement is fairing better in the ground then the ones that were overwintered in the basement. Warmer temps? Maybe.
As for my others not mentioned, iam still observing. Hope this will give you a little idea.
hersirsmiley
05-24-2008, 01:04 PM
thanks magic its nice to know other ohioans grow bananas as well and that i'm not crazy.
bungee banana! :bungejumpnaner:
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