zone7Bbluejava

Hello to all in this bunch of bananas. I'm Kevin and I have a Blue Java Tree/Ice Cream Banana/Hawaiian banana(although it is not one),Ney Mannan,Krie or Cenizo. It is doing well and one sucker at this point. I have it in a container and the dang thing gets blown over too often damaging it. I am in Zone 7b and want to put my tree in the ground. I am hoping for some legit info about keeping it in the ground and how to protect it over the winter.
Any insight would be truly appreciated.

cincinnana

Welcome to the Jungle....

Have fun here.

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edwmax

Welcome to the Bunch. ... Please post a picture of your plant. How big is the pot ( diameter, height)? We might have a few suggestions to keep it from being blown over.


In-ground, I wouldn't have a lot hope of it ever producing a flower & bunch. The pstem would freeze to the ground each winter in your growing zone (7a). But in a pot (or green house) you could get some bananas. ... Forced dwarfism could be a good option for your in pot BJ.

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Katie Thompson

Hi Kevin,
When I lived up north, I kept fish and water lilies in 32 gal trash barrels on wheels. Winter I could roll them inside (slo-o-o-owly). Summer I could bring them outside.

You could grow your tree in a trash barrel (with drain holes drilled, obvi) and roll it in when temps dip. Or on windy days!

Here's the link to the wheel set. They cost as much as the barrel, but they are so worth it. I have about 8 sets, brought them all with me to florida.

https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Co...gateway&sr=8-4

Even though I am in florida now, I still grow almost everything in containers. The soil is not so nice (read: sand) and I would waste a lot of fertilizer. I am reading through the threads here on container bananas, to see what I can see. As I understand it, banana roots are only about 18 inches deep anyway, so you can do a lot with a container. Here, nothing outside is on wheels because... hurricanes! Yes, my trees would be sailing down the street. I use the wheels inside only, now.

Oh, the other awesome containers I've gotten are used cattle feed tubs (about 30 gallons, very heavy duty, have a rancher who supplies me) and bright blue 55-gallon food-grade barrels (hundreds of them here from aloe vera juice importers. Imagine.) Cut and drill, perfect.

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What?? I'm bananas??
Thank you.

zone7Bbluejava

I like it... I like it a lot.

Katie Thompson

Barrels on wheels, very stable. Even my giant cats didn't tip them.


Banana Gallery - barrels



You can see the barrels through the door. Grow lites on timers. Heat is from tank heaters. In fact, if you have barrels with trees I recommend a tank of heated water with goldfish. You can use the fish water as fertilizer (they are fertilizer factories, omg) and the humidity makes it nice and cozy. Also a heat sink in case of power failure. They keep the room from freezing for a couple of days.

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What?? I'm bananas??
Thank you.

sandylbuck

Hey Kevin,

I can appreciate what you are trying to do. I live in PA and have been growing bananas for a few years now. I have had 4 plants fruit and last year I was able to harvest a bunch of Saba. I keep my plants in very large plastic planters that I purchased at Lowes and I bring them into my house (obviously with help) in the fall. While I do put many of my plants under an expensive grow light in a room, the plants that are taller than my 8 foot ceilings stay in the foyer and I use clamp lights and grow lightbulbs to get them through the winter and it seems to work.

If your goal is having a plant that fruits so that you can actually eat the fruit (rather than just watch the flower produce bananas) you'll probably need to continue to fertilize the plant through the winter months. Unfortunately I learned this the hard way. I just lost two bunches of bananas. I could be wrong but my thought is that the plants just weren't nourished enough (sturdy enough) to support the bunch (no visual issues to plant or bunch). I know this isn't the ideal scenario, but living in zone 7 we can't really predict how harsh the winters will be. If you decide to plant them in the ground I would suggest keeping a small pup or two to bring in over the winter months just incase we have a wicked winter. Also, last year I planted all of my large plants in the ground, dug them up in August so they could "recover from the shock of being dug up" and took them in for the winter and most of the plants died although the pups lived. And while it was super exciting to watch the plants grow (and man, did they, so fast I swear I could actually see it happening) it was disappointed to watch everything come to a screeching halt when I uprooted them (and they were in garden boxes with very good dirt). Good luck and I hope you keep us all posted. This forum is invaluable and the information from the bunch is always extremely helpful!

HMelendez

Welcome to the banana gang!...….

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