monkeypickle

hi all you buncha banna dudes [and dudettes]! It's me, monkeypickle. I'm new here. I found youall whilst prospectin' for 'grow banana' info. figured "what the heck, maybe you banana growing experts out there in cyberwirld could help me out. I dont' know much obout babanas exdept how to eat 'em, but I bought 2 pups off the e bay and got em delivered here just ahead of the big storm. they are currently living under the lights in my bathroom. Seemed like a good place, lotsa humidity, and a grow lite bar up above them. They seem to like it as they have put on a new leaf [both of them]. I am 62 years old, an avid gardner for about 50 of those years, but i never did anything so goofy before as to try to grow bananas in Kansas. lol!Well ill just find out for myself if it can be done. HAH:06:

MediaHound

Welcome!
Good luck with your bananas. You'll find that they're pretty easy to take care of.

monkeypickle

it's me, Monkeypickle. I certainly hope they are easy as i have absolutely no experience with banana plants. My daughter got me talked into this venture. She is growing some basjoo plants in pots in front of a bid ceiling to floor glass window on the east side of her house. I don't have anything like that, but i found a place on the internet tha said it could be grown under growkites, so i'm trying that. Temp. outside is 22 f. right now. Sno is about 10 inches deep. Don't reckon that i'll be very tempted to ever grow outdoors.

MediaHound

You can do it, but it's gonna be some work to bring the plants in and out throughout the seasons.

Check some of the threads in the Cold Hardy Bananas forum
http://www.bananas.org/forumdisplay.php?f=15
While your in there, this thread is a must-read: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter

D'Andra

Hi Mari. Welcome!
You are going to love bananas! I'm in zone 7 and we've been down into the teens a few times this year. I followed BigDogs directions in his thread, and mine look like they're doing fine. Although they are in our garage for the winter.
Look around abit and you'll see many members in areas even colder than yours. You can get invaluable info from sooo many people here. Get ready to get the camera out and post us some pics.

Best of luck!

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D'.

monkeypickle

Boy, sure hope so. I may need some information now already. I think I might have poisoned my bananas maybe. I found a website that said I should feed my banana plants with a high phosphate fertiliser, so i did. [10 54 10] Then, I found another website that says that i should feed them a high POTASSIUM fertiliser. Who's right. have i killed my nanners with kindness? perplexed

AnnaJW

Welcome Mari!

__________________
-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

monkeypickle

Thank you Anna Banana. Glad to 'meet' you. Monkeypickle

Monkeypickles is what my youngest son used to call nanners.

AnnaJW

I was wondering where the name came from. How cute!

__________________
-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

monkeypickle

thanks Anna Banana. I thought it was too.

STEELVIPER

I like your anti-damping off fomula monkey. I made some up just in case my seedlings need it.

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monkeypickle

When you apply it just spray it on lightly, don't use it to water in. What it does is to set back the mycelial growth of the fungus. It does not kill it. But, if you improve the conditions for your seedlings [by decreasing the humidity factor]the seedlings will outgrow the stage during which the fungus is able to infect the stems. at about 1 wk after germination, most seedlings develope a tough coat over the outsie of the stem which prevents fungus infections. But the humidity must not be so high as as to allow the mycelium to penetrate into the cell walls by riding on water droplets. As soon as the surface becomes too dry to support the myceliel growth, the fungus dies. good luck

chong

Mari,
With bananas, the Potassium(K) component should be the highest, followed by half as much Nitrogen(N), then 1/4 as much Phosphorus (P), i.e., 2-1-4 (N-P-K). Those are the ideal proportions. There are many fertilizers that come close. I use soluble fertilizers that have 15-10-30(Peters®) and 15-8-27(Champion®). I use these for maintenance of tropical plants. When the plants are young, I use 30-10-10 (Miracid®) for stronger growth. I believe that for tropical fruit plants, the Phosphorus level should not exceed the Potasium level.

There is a granular fertilizer from Home Depot under the brand of "Vigoro" called "Citrus and Avocado Plant Food"(10-4-10) that I picked up on sale for $6/10-lb. bag, the last time I was in Calif. I had to put 1 bag in each of my 2 carry-ons, and I got questioned at the airport because of the OK scare thing. But they let it thru.

Hope this helps.

Chong