milliebasset

Can anyone tell me how you start off a banana plant please? I am mad about bananas and would love to start growing but have been told I need a specific part and I don't know what it is or where to get one. I live in Stockport, England; can anyone set me straight, and if necessary I will buy what I need? My email is mandapuds@gmail.com if anyone can help.xx milliebasset

HMelendez

Welcome to the banana gang!

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CraigSS

Welcome from those of us on this side of the big pond.

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siege2050

If you want the edible type which are mostly seedless, you need to get what is called a Tissue Culture plant that can take a few years to produce, or a larger pup/baby banana plant which will be quicker, but this depends on your climate, and ability to overwinter where you live. There are sellers that sell them on Ebay, and other places on the net. This site is a good place to research the varieties, and also the wiki. If you just want an inedible ornamental type you can grow them from seed. Mark Davies seed on Ebay in the UK is good, I just had some germinate today from there. There are a few types that can take the cold, but germinating bananas from seed can be time consuming and difficult so patience is required, or you can acquire something like an ornamental Musa Basjoo pup that is sold in a lot of places, that is very cold hardy, and will come back each spring from the roots. It looks like you are in around a zone 8B climate so should have a few choices, but it also depends on how much cloud cover you get each year. The forum at this link below might be able to help you as there are a lot of people that might live close to you there, and maybe can tell you where to purchase them where you live. Hardy Tropicals UK • View forum - Bananas and relatives (including Canna, Ginger, Heliconia etc)

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CraigSS

Is tissue Culture like taking a pup and growing new stock from there?

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siege2050

Tissue cultured plants are small clones grown in a lab from an adult plant. They take the growth point (Probably from an attached pup?) and divide it into pieces add some hormones, etc. and make lots of new plants this way. There are some Tissue Culturists on this site that know more than me about it. Some places in the US that sells them are
Buy Banana Plants & More Tropical Plants For Sale, Florida Hill Nursery
Wellspring Gardens
They are small, usually under a foot tall, but sometimes bigger if you buy them at the end of the summer I have noticed. It takes a couple of years to get to fruiting size, but growth is usually pretty rapid and you can have a decent size plant to look at the first year. It depends on the variety though, I have had some ornamentals like Bordelon get about 7 foot the first year from tissue culture, while my Saba is still small 2 years later. Getting a pup would probably be preferable as far as how fast a plant grows, but TC plants are good when you cant find what you want as a pup, and usually arrive very quickly in the mail.

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CraigSS

Thank you.

Craig

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Snarkie

Hi Millie-

Welcome to the Banana Express.

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Botanical_Bryce

I buy pup cuttings. I hear pups are dirty and contaminated but they do best for me. Tissue cultures always rot for me within 2 weeks or so.