warblingostrich

Howdy Folks

Banana plants due to arrive this week. Excited, never having tried bananas here. As a child, living in Mexico City we had some that never produced fruit that I can remember.

As I am so far north, in a dry environment, that sometimes gets some pretty wild winds, it's obvious that I have to keep these plants in containers. I'm curious though, after a few days of reading posts here, I read a mix of opinions regarding size of containers and soil / media mix. Some say they do better crowded, (transplanting when growth seems stunted), others suggest up to 30 gallon containers from the start. Some say commercial mixes or equivalent mixes of soil, are just fine, others suggest more sand and perlite.

I do have a "portable" greenhouse to winter over some of my more fragile perrenials, but it does freeze in there. We do get spells of below zero that last 10 days or so, combined with an inversion where very little, if any sunlight breaks through the smog.

I have set up the single car garage and laundry room as growing areas with metal halide and HPS lights (as well as flourescents). I can control temps, humidity, and light intensity there as opposed to the rest of the house or greenhouse. I rotate my houseplants, orchids, bonsais, overwinter some what here are considered annuals, and start cuttings from interesting plants I find locally, (I also have a dwarf Bouganvilla that I can keep blooming year round, by rotation indoors in window, outdoors, and back under lights, and have several cuttings that might start blooming this winter). I find that I really do need the extra light and keep dirt under my fingernails to get through some of those bleak inverted days.

Besides the soil mix / container size question, is there some way to keep an "ice cream" under 6'? I have only 8' ceilings except in laundry room where I have 10', but still have to hang the lights. I'd be tickled to have it flower and produce fruit. Oh and anybody here so papayas in containers?

warblingostrich

So far, so well

1- super dwarf Cavendish
2- dwarf Cavendish
1- ice cream
1- green red
1- dwarf Orinoco
1- cuban red

All are doing well so far in my laundry room under lights. Can't wait until they can go outside to watch them really take off. It's been quite a bit of fun so far

Mud

Tony O

Been there - done that too. At one time, I only had a path from the front door to wherever I wanted to go, with grow lites hanging from the ceiling.
Looks like you have quite a collection there. Do you need a machete to do laundry?
This coming summer, you may want to build a TALL greenhouse for them, so you can keep them warm & get some fresh bananas.

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warblingostrich

Been there - done that too. At one time, I only had a path from the front door to wherever I wanted to go, with grow lites hanging from the ceiling.
Looks like you have quite a collection there. Do you need a machete to do laundry?
This coming summer, you may want to build a TALL greenhouse for them, so you can keep them warm & get some fresh bananas.
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Happy Gardening
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From - - - - Tony O.

The situation you describe regarding paths pretty much describes my current situation. Besides the nanner's am also growing Bouganvilla, white ginger, vanilla, coffee, a few large "ti" plants, a 6' tall ficus with 4' bole, a couple of "tree Begonias", two papayas, two chocolate trees, pineapple, two plumerias and a few impatiens, and this all in the "tropical" laundry room. Which fortunately, is one of the larger rooms in the house

The rest of the house is more "temperate", dealing with more of a regional winter light situation. Several large Draceana's, two fairly large Schefleras, Myrtle, a mess of generic house plants, (Pothos, ivy, Moses in a boat, prayer plants, wandering jew, ui palm, etc, between the uprights and hangers it makes a pretty nice curtain for the S facing picture window). The kitchen is where I am forcing bulbs, have some fresias blooming now. I also winter over my fuscias there.

The spare bedroom, (more of a large closet actually), holds my sucullents. I find they winter there well, because they are mostly out of sight, so that I don't kill them by caring for them.

Almost everything goes outside as weather permits. So then the house looks empty, I start gathering more plants. The cycle continues. Guests have commented that if I had some poison ivy growing in the house, it would be more like camping than visiting. This year I am going to try cashews.

When I get the garage seasonally reorganized, I usually start new annuals and new cuttings from over-wintered plants there. I have a plastic green house where I keep a few of the more fragile perennials. I share this house with two medium sized dogs ~45# average, one less than a year old. It's less than 900 sq ft. I have no idea why I do any of this, and keep filling the house with more plants. I really don't know what I am doing, but have always been pretty lucky. Lucky enough to keep me at this "fool's endeavor".

The "tropical" laundry room is a bit of a sanctuary. Found enough room to add a water feature. I take a low folding chair, something to read, and turn on the stereo. When the valley is covered by an inversion where I might not see the sun for a few weeks at a time, I might find no reason to leave the laundry room, if there were a cute waitress that would bring me a Margarita from time to time.

Mud

dragr13

damn, i want to be just like you. lol! keep it up!