Mari

Greetings fellow banana growers,

I live in Northern California and have been growing my grove of bananas in my backyard for a few years now; although this past winter was VERY harsh on my poor trees. As soon as I figure out how to post, i'll add some pictures of my proud beauty's...

Looking forward to chating.

MediaHound

Welcome!

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STEELVIPER

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STEELVIPER

Hey mari. Do you have any pics after the freeze? How is your grove doing now? This last winter was a very cold one for are whole state. Even down here in SoCal is was very cold.


mark

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Mari

Hey Mark,

I lost most of my trees, however, the hot weather hasn't quite set in yet and so they're taking longer to get going this year. I need to take some pics of them now so as soon as I do so, i'll post. Our summer doesn't ever seem to be long enough to actually get some good bananas. I think if we had about 6 additional weeks of hot weather, I could probably harvest a bunch. I can't believe I don't have a picture of my bananas! They're very cute; short and fat.

So did your trees survive? It tends to be warmer in SoCal right?

Mari

STEELVIPER

Okay Mari, you have the coolest avatar on the site!! LOL. i love tikis! i collect tiki mugs! Yeah my bananas did survive this cold winter for are area. the lowest i t got down here was 22F. But we were at a constant 32F for a very long period of the winter. I did lose two small TC Musa Ice Cream's. But i was out there every night covering and protecting from the frost. P-stem wrapping etc. For the most part we have a much longer growing period for bananas down here. I would say from about March-October it is warm enough down here for good growth. Sometimes even in the dead of winter we can get into the 70's for day time highs.

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Mari

Thanks for the compliment! I too LOVE tiki's. That pariticular one I picked up at Tahiti Fete (polynesian dance competition and festival @ SJ State University) last year along with a plumeria. I have two fake tiki's at each corner of the backyard but i'm very tempted to order a real one.

I never had to protect my trees in the past and I KNOW I should have this past winter but didn't know how! I just watched as they were taken over by the extreme frost. You'll have to go into detail on how and when to secure them for the winter... Someone said I should wrap them in burlap. ? ? I did have enough sense to bring in the plumeria which did beautifully in the warm dining room. Did you see the pictures I posted today? That's all that's left of them. We don't nearly have as many warm months as you do in the South.

As the mature trees die off, my gardener chops them down and leaves a 1 foot stump behind. It looks hidious so I was thinking of digging them up myself. What do you think? bad idea? OR will it help the other trees flourish?

Another question: How long do I wait to dig up a pup? I had a little nubby coming through my grass and I wanted to dig it up and plant it along the fence where it belongs instead of the gardener mowing it!

MediaHound

I always wait till they're past the turtle-head knobby stage, wait till they resemble a cone or a fountain, with several skinny leaflets, and even maybe one or two leaves that are much bigger than the prior ones, when they just start to resemble the more normal leaf shape. At that point or later is what I wait for.

This will ensure there's a good amount of corm and root material underneath, and they'll be off to a good & fast start.

However even if you cut them sooner, they would most likely live to make it. So long as there's corm and an "eye" it should eventually take off.

Regards

__________________
Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.