txmissy

Hello, my name is Missy. We bought some dwarf banana trees from Lowes 3 or 4 years ago (Dwarf Cavendish, if I remember right). They've never produced bananas, but they do produce a lot of offsets. We had them in an unheated greenhouse each winter, but that didn't help fruit production. We did keep it heated enough to prevent freezing, but not to keep it even remotely warm. This winter, I transplanted a few of them into pots inside the house for the winter, and I'm really hoping that will help them fruit this year. Unfortunately, they don't get enough light inside the house. I joined this forum in the hopes of finding out which varieties of banana trees have the highest chance of producing fruit here, in Zone 8a, in east Texas, and what I can do to increase the likelihood of getting fruit! I will be away from the computer a lot today, but will be back later tonight. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a few of you could tell me which varieties to buy and what to do with them in the Winter, to make this all simple? It feels like a pipe-dream at this point. I even found a wonderful website about cold hardy banana trees. It had a ton of information, but most of it was only about ornamental varieties. It encouraged questions by email, so I emailed, asking which variety they recommend for my situation. The reply? Try davesgarden.com to see if you can find out there. I've had no luck with my Internet search, so am very excited to find this forum! I'll be anxious to look around here later tonight when I get back home.

kubali

Welcome aboard,
pull up a chair and have some fun learning.

Snarkie

Hi Missy. Welcome to the board.

Why don't you try leaving them indoors as you have, but with the addition of a flying saucer grow lamp? You'll keep your temps up and you can control the amount of "sunlight" the plants will get.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

txmissy

I may have to do that each winter, with at least some of them. Honestly though, I hope to grow many more than I would have room for inside the house.

txmissy

"Doug
(D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1"

That's you? Interesting! What books have you written? It just says, several.

Snarkie

My novels were self published and out of print, but here's one that's still a bestseller for this particular publisher:
The Workbench AR-15 Project by D A Hanks

Yeah I know, I'm into plants and guns... what a combo, eh?

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

txmissy

It's a typical combo for our neck of the woods. The only people I know who aren't into both, I've met online, and most of them just leave out the plants.

Snarkie

Well, the problem I typically run into, is that most people assume that because I am an actor and a redwood conservationist, I am automatically a tree-hugging Liberal. Many people are surprised to learn that I am not only a Libertarian, 2nd Amendment guy, I also build my own firearms from scratch and kill my own meat along with growing my own veggies.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

txmissy

Libertarian here too. And we raise (or hunt for) all of our own meat. We raise rabbits, chickens, ducks and guineas, and hunt for deer and hog. We're building colonies for our rabbits, so we can get them out of cages. We also have an aquaponics system to raise fish and veggies. We're working on planting fruit and nut trees now, so that we will not have to buy those at the store either. Bananas and oranges are proving to be a problem.

I must say, you are the first actor I've ever met, and I am pleasantly surprised that we have so much in common. I'm really impressed with the Redwood Forest project. You must be very proud!

Snarkie

Thanks! That project is my life's work and I am fortunate to have seen that early enough on in my life to get it going when I was in my 20's, so I can live to see the preliminary results.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

lmswayne

Hi Missy , if you put up some photos of your plants it can be helpful in answering your questions. Some times plants are miss labeled at the stores.
Welcome to the form.

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txmissy

Here's a pic of them growing in our aquaponics system last winter.

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