gianluk

Hi, I am new on this great web site for bananas lovers.

I am a plant hobbist with an interesting collection of species of all sort of plants, bushes, trees, cacti, bananas..., from very old ones to seedlings, extremely rare to common ones, with over 300 species and 4 to 500 specimens right now, going up.

I got my eyes on a banana plant a couple of years ago and started some try outs which sadly failed. So, I started seeking for cold hardy bananas, which I can safely(or almost) grow outside here in Italy, zone 8.

Last year I seeded a bunch of Musella Lasiocarpa, Musa Sikkimensis and Ensete Vetricosum, without apparent success. Then one day of last winter I got a lot of Sikkis sprouting in my indoor pots. I saved two of them, which two months after planting them in the garden, grew like nuts from 5cm to more than one meter in hight (which in feet would be from 2inches up to 3 feet). Amazing.

All the seeds I seeded in open land didn't sprout, yet didn't got why they didn't.

A few weeks ago, walking around the property I noticed a strange herb in the middle of the lawn. Man, it was a banana! Probably some birds picked the seeds and lost it somewhere... Great. It's growing slow and it's still little, but after that I found three more. I think they are E.Vetricosum.

Right now, I am about to start a nursery of Sikkimensis, Lasiocarpa and Itinerans, which I found to be more suitable for our climate here. All you can buy in our nursery right now are just M.Paradisiaca and M.Cavendish or Dwarf CAvendish.

I hope some more experience member here, can give me good tips to get my little private hardy bananas nursery going.

Thanks to all in advance.

Best,

G


Ps.: I will post pics ASAP.

MediaHound

Welcome!

That sounds like a wonderful undertaking!

Make sure you setup a very good irrigation system for your plants, use a good substrate for planting, and keep a lot of compost on hand and teach your customers about composting kitchen scraps and other compostable items from around the home such as paper towels and napkins.

I also urge you to tag every plant that leaves the nursery, check them at the door to make sure they are tagged.

And please encourage them to join the IBS!



Please keep us updated with the progress!!

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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.

the flying dutchman

Hi Gianluk and welcome aboard. That is an amazing story about the birds
dropping the seeds just somewhere and they sprout though.
Musella Lasiocarpa is a difficult one, it is said it needs a cold period first.



Ron

STEELVIPER

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gianluk

Hi Ron,

yes, I think what happened is that after a year without any sprouting from a couple of pots, I remixed the soil and used it for some other means. Of course in there there were the banana seeds that didn't sprout. So I guess birds picked some looking for worms and lost it during the flight somewhere in the garden.

I guess I should give more time to the time... things not always happen at the speed we think.

Lasiocarpa seeds are in the ground since October 2006... but no sign of any sprouting yet.

Cocerning the irrigation I am set with Hunter Sprinklers all over and and a 200 lts/minute pump getting water from my well.

I am concerned about preparing the pots now and seed the seeds before the winter come, so they can go through the cooling process or waiting until January.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,

G

Kylie2x

Hey!!! Welcome.. and Congrats on your good fourtune...LOL That is wonderful I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to seeing you around..
Blessings!!!
Kylie