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oil
07-15-2009, 06:58 PM
I am new to growing bananas by myself and I need to keep it in a pot as I live in an apartment at the moment. My question is this: what is the effect of keeping the plant in a medium pot instead of a large pot?
Rot?
Will not grow as big?
Will not give fruit?
All of the above?
None?

LilRaverBoi
07-15-2009, 07:39 PM
Well it shouldn't cause rot unless you have poorly-draining soil and over-water. The main thing is that the plant very likely won't get quite as large. As for fruiting, it's definitely possible, but may be more difficult to get it to happen. And when the plant does fruit, it will have fewer and smaller fruit than it would have had in the ground. If you can only do pots I'd stick with dwarf varieties or things that don't get more than 8' tall or so. Any of the large varieties will be very difficult to grow in pots....but I'm sure it's been done. There are plenty of people who grow container plants on the site (I'm one of them) and it works fine for most of us....so I'm sure you'll be just fine! When the plant gets large, just put it in the largest pot you can do with your given amount of space.....when it comes to container-grown naners, the larger the pot, the better luck you will have with plant health/fruit. Hope that helps!

oil
07-15-2009, 08:47 PM
Thanks for the answer. I really don't want to treat the plant badly. But I am not a tall person and I don't want to get a pot that is too big for me to work with.

LilRaverBoi
07-15-2009, 08:55 PM
My plants are in 7 gallon pots right now and the biggest is about 4 feet tall. I would say eventually you'll want a 25 gallon or so and for most dwarf varieties that should work fine. Like I said though...the bigger the better.

ewitte
07-16-2009, 05:56 AM
Currently using

45gal - Raja Puri
65gal - Ice Cream

Dalmatiansoap
07-16-2009, 06:00 AM
How do U handle with such large pots?
:woohoonaner:

ewitte
07-16-2009, 06:17 AM
They do not move. If I were to change houses and they had to move I would dig up the corm and repot.

A few weeks ago the 45gal. Its on the 3rd leaf since this picture. Notice the blue 25gal righ next to it is about the same height but this one is wider.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=19096&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=19096)

Patty in Wisc
07-16-2009, 11:38 AM
My Ice cream is also in a 65 gal Smart Pot like Ewitte's. It is made of a heavy weed barrier type fabric & impossible to move unless you have it on plywood w/ casters under. Nanas like wide pots as the roots don't go deep but they will spread out. It was in a 30 gal (indoors here) all winter till it got rootbound. Signs were: the last 2 leaves came out smaller & real skinny.
I have seen pics here (somewhere) of a big nana in a pot that produced a real nice bunch of nanas so don't give up!!
Oh yeah, to move a large pot - use a dolly if you don't have casters. I move all my plants in & out in spring & fall & could not do so w/out my dolly.

Patty in Wisc
07-16-2009, 11:43 AM
Ewitte, have you noticed that you have to wet down the outer part of SmartPot more often? It dries out more than a plastic pot so I really soak it around the perimeter of pot.

Bob
07-16-2009, 03:40 PM
Patty, somehow you conveniently didn't mention the skid steer at your disposal.:ha:

LilRaverBoi
07-16-2009, 04:00 PM
LOL....yeah, a minor detail omitted. :ha: Guess I have access to one at my parents house, but I'm 5 hrs away and my naners are on a 3rd story rooftop, so yeah....that doesn't really help much, huh?

ewitte
07-16-2009, 04:28 PM
Everything has to be soaked this time of year ;)

Most of the water that plant gets is from the sprinkler system that runs for 15 minutes every day about 5am. More water gets on the ground than in the pot.

I also fertilize about once a week.

Patty in Wisc
07-16-2009, 07:20 PM
Oh yeah...ha ha, forgot to mention the skidster for the 65 gal pot. Tog said I looked like I was fighting aliens -- like Sigourney Weaver in her machine LOL.
I fert every week too. I mix 4-5 gals. worth & pour all in that pot & in between I water the edges.
You know, we'll have to use the skidster to move it back into the house (arghhh). Through the garage & set it in doorway on plywood w/ wheels on & push it into living room. Nope, I don't think that'll work. Gotta take it out of pot & move both seperately after scooping out the soil into buckets. Sheesh, I'm tired thinking about it.

ewitte
07-16-2009, 08:43 PM
Lol I'm just going to cut the leaves off and put something around the stem, mulch on the bottom. Rarely goes under 32. We had a time last winter about 25F but thats rare for here.

Talking about cool temps I'll be so happy to get out of the heat. Lol I just got a $370 electricity bill. Where I'm going next month the highs and lows are in the 60's right now.

LilRaverBoi
07-16-2009, 10:33 PM
Rarely goes under 32. We had a time last winter about 25F but thats rare for here.
Damn...must be NICE! Last winter it hit -37 degrees in my hometown. I hate winter in Iowa! But luckily 4" of snow in Missouri is a 'BLIZZARD!!!!!' and they cancel school for it. And then it melts in 2-3 days. Hell...if they canceled school for 4" of snow in Iowa, we wouldn't have class from November through February!! LOL.

musa_monkey
07-17-2009, 07:48 AM
How big they get will depend on your water and feeding regime. I have a lot of basjoos in 30 litre (approx 8 US gallon) pots. Some of them are up to 7ft tall. They are watered heavily every day and fed at least once a week with liquid seaweed or similar high nitrogen feed. The larger ones are now three years old and are looking great in the middle of our typical wet summer.