Moshin

Greetings!

I just moved from Chicago, IL, USA to Lana'i City, Hawaii. Behind my new home I've discovered some sort of Banana thing going on. I am very much a newbie but even a newbie can tell that this plant could be happier. I have been lurking here for about a week and have decided to upload some photos of my plant with hopes of identifying not only what it is, but also to learn more about how to care of it and make it happy.

Not exactly sure how to start so I just dived in. Im uploading photos of the plant now and while they upload decided to introduce myself.

So without further ado...

Hello! I am 32M, born and raised in Chicago and have negligible experience with things that are organic. (Im an IT guy, big time nerd) I love plants and animals and love to learn. I just put in a raised bed garden for greens and am trying to live a more sustainable life style. I just happened to inherit a banana plant!

I am really looking forward to learning more, as well as the rewarding experience I hope to have nursing this plant back to health.

See you around!

kubali

Welcome aboard,
Have fun,if you got it,grow it...

Abnshrek

Hello, Welcome & Happy Growing.. :^)

__________________


I'm a Nannerhead :^)

robguz24

Congratulations on your move! I've only been to Lanai once for a few days, but there's got to be somewhere to get fertilizer. A hardware store may have Hawaii specific banana fertilizer. They do even at small ones here on the Big Island. You guys have a quite different climate in Lanai city than do most of us in Hawaii who are at much lower elevations.

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

raygrogan

Welcome - and maybe lay a hose on them. And be patient, it will take weeks for them to adjust to a new paradise - having you to feed them.

scottu

Really good timing! Welcome

__________________
Viva La Banana

Magilla Gorilla

Aloha!
You will love Hawaii over Chicago. I moved to the Big Island last year. You can grow almost anything. Be careful of Banana Bunchy Top Virus. Look it up. It's nasty!!
Happy gardening.

__________________
Andrew

cincinnana

Welcome to the Jungle!!!!!!

Have fun here.

__________________

ronnie roussell

Lotta nerve you got mentioning the likes of those warm green words when our bananas are shivering.
Hey no kidding, I'm trying to grow some big kahunas and move to Hawaii too one day.

Very nice intro. Send us some pictures of Napali and Iho when you get time. Welcome






Tell us some stories when you get settled in. Good to hear from

Moshin

Hey guys, thanks for all the love. I am excited to learn about how to care for this thing and maybe even get some fruit out of it.

I am already looking for the proper banana fertilizer, but I already have a couple questions.

1) WHAT kind of banana plant is it?
2) the leaves that are all frayed/tassled. Should I just hack them off? Someone told me that the banana plant is quite hardy here and that I should chop all the crappy looking crap off and the new will shine through and grow rapidly.
3) the weird/speckled skins of the stalks, should I be tearing that off/clipping it? If so, how aggressively?
4) Around the roots/corms (Am I using that right) there was A LOT of crapola. I suspected some sort of rats nest, and indeed there was urine smell as I tore all the stuff away and threw it out. There seems to be a little more, but I cant tell if its root or corm or what. It seems pretty dried out.

I suppose all in all I am trying to take an aggressive stance but am a little concerned to do more harm than good.

Advice?

designshark

You're lucky! I would love to move to Hawaii, my wife and I got married there, maui. Lanai city seems so small and isolated.

Abnshrek

That can be a good thing.. :^)

__________________


I'm a Nannerhead :^)

Moshin

Lana'i City is small, and isolated. Moving from the big city it was quite a leap, but I don't miss the city at all yet... well, sometimes when my friends are posting photos from their seats at the bears games.

It's a small town, but its got a boomtown feel with the new owner and all. I stay busy enough at work that I haven't really experienced a lot of Lana'i much less started to get sick of it.

It's a special place. I recently went to Oahu, and then spent this weekend in Maui and they are nice, but certainly not the same. It's very cool to come back to our isolated little island.

Now if I can just figure out this banana... I just read that once a stalk flowers, it will never again. The stem grows underground and new pups emerge. The way I read this, that means the plant, or at least the fruit bearing part, moves.

If that is true, how can I keep it in one place. I like the banana plant, but i dont want it taking over my whole yard! There are other things growing!

Thanks,

-mo

robguz24

Don't remove leaves that are still green or even half green. They get tattered here in high winds and it's not something to worry about. You definitely need some kind of mulch over the mat--the thicker the better. That's probably what the crapola was, and it probably should have been left there. For the most common type, the Hawaiian Apple banana, known as the Dwarf Brazilian to most on this site. It is fine to mulch with the leaves of the plant. That's what most people do, and yes it just looks like a mess. It looks like the one stalk was hacked off after it fruited, which is also normal. While it will still grow if you hack off green leaves, it's winter now and they don't grow as fast as in summer with enough water.

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage