View Full Version : Hello from Arkansas
frankbrad
02-22-2018, 12:23 PM
I joined this site last year but never got around to introducing myself.
I am originally from St. Louis and my neighbor there would grow some dwarf variety of Musa. He would get fruit maybe once every 7 years or so. I though he was crazy for putting that much effort into such a small reward. Turns out I had the wrong idea.
I moved down to northeast Arkansas but quickly realized it was not a great place it live. Rice fields breed mosquitoes. I now live in northwest Arkansas.
Last year I decided to grow a Gros Michel so that I could taste that old style banana I've heard about. Problem was I live where winter exists, so I bought a Highgate back in March of 2017. I brought it inside in August and put it under growlights. It has had some ups and downs, but we have almost made it through our first winter.
Looking forward to becoming an involved member here. I want to expand my selection of banana plants and learn more about them.
PR-Giants
02-22-2018, 12:55 PM
Welcome Aboard :woohoonaner:
Great plant :08:
Your city seemed familiar so I check my records and saw that we shipped a dwarf Gros Michel there on April 25, 2017. If that was to you then our records show that your plant came from an offshoot of the plant on the right in this photo.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=52673&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=52673)
I joined this site last year but never got around to introducing myself.
I am originally from St. Louis and my neighbor there would grow some dwarf variety of Musa. He would get fruit maybe once every 7 years or so. I though he was crazy for putting that much effort into such a small reward. Turns out I had the wrong idea.
I moved down to northeast Arkansas but quickly realized it was not a great place it live. Rice fields breed mosquitoes. I now live in northwest Arkansas.
Last year I decided to grow a Gros Michel so that I could taste that old style banana I've heard about. Problem was I live where winter exists, so I bought a Highgate back in March of 2017. I brought it inside in August and put it under growlights. It has had some ups and downs, but we have almost made it through our first winter.
Looking forward to becoming an involved member here. I want to expand my selection of banana plants and learn more about them.
frankbrad
02-22-2018, 01:58 PM
Welcome Aboard :woohoonaner:
Great plant :08:
Your city seemed familiar so I check my records and saw that we shipped a dwarf Gros Michel there on April 25, 2017. If that was to you then our records show that your plant came from an offshoot of the plant on the right in this photo.
That was me! It is my first banana plant ever! Lots of learning to do but it is surviving just fine. It had to battle a spider mite infestation when I brought it inside for the winter (my whole garden was impacted). Got everything sorted out for now.
Hopefully I will be able to plant it outside next month.
https://s19.postimg.org/u6iu43chf/20180217_141913.jpg
https://s19.postimg.org/7htn4hd37/20180217_141233.jpg
https://s19.postimg.org/4z7y4bu37/20180217_141349.jpg
HMelendez
02-23-2018, 06:56 AM
Welcome to the banana gang!........:2723::bananarow::2723:
edwmax
02-23-2018, 09:24 AM
Welcome to the Bunch!
frankbrad
02-23-2018, 11:25 AM
Welcome to the Bunch!
Welcome to the banana gang!........:2723::bananarow::2723:
Would you guys say you are bananas for bananas? :ha:
cincinnana
02-23-2018, 06:08 PM
Welcome to the Jungle...:woohoonaner:
If you can move your plant 1-2 feet closer to the light ....
Your stuff looks awesome....
frankbrad
02-23-2018, 10:14 PM
Welcome to the Jungle...:woohoonaner:
If you can move your plant 1-2 feet closer to the light ....
Your stuff looks awesome....
Thanks! I agree that ideally the light should be closer. Maybe I can use one of those socket extenders. There are 3 36watt led grow bulbs for and total of 108 watts. According to my calculations those lights should be pushing the same par value of 25 ish standard daylight cfl bulbs. These are the new taotronics bulbs from amazon. They really put a nice concentrated amount of light down, 60 degrees of throw. Right now they sit 4.5 ft above the top of the pstem. the plant is pushing out a new leaf every 2 weeks. I thought by the end of winter it would have closed that gap but it has pretty much stopped vertical growth. It did have a rough start to this winter though, spider mites, aphids, and nutrient issues.
Snarkie
02-24-2018, 12:00 PM
Welcome aboard the Banana Express! :nanerwaveytrain:
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