beetlebob

Hello, my name is Bob Bailey and I live in nice little country town called Lytle Texas. It's in south Texas and is about 30 miles south of San Antonio. We raise chickens, pygmy goats and turkeys. I just started growing banana trees that I have bought from a nursery in Florida. I had to order a couple more because one tree was damaged during shipping and just quit growing. Since I'm new to growing these in the south Texas humid heat with sandy soil I was wondering about soil mix and fertilizer. I have a small amount of fertilizer being shipped with the new trees but I was wondering what can I buy from like Home Depot or Lowes. I am excited about growing these trees!

Bob

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Bob Bailey
The BS Ranch!

Abnshrek

Hello, Welcome, and Happy Growing. There are bunch of threads on Fertilizers (including water soluble), Mycorrhizae Fungi, and Mulching. The search box and the wiki are your friend. Any fert with 2-1-3 ratio (IE 10-5-15 w/ minors) should be good. I prefer a water soluble, and everyone has a preference. You can use foliar sprays as well. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

sunfish

Members Methods

The Flying Dutchman: Dried Cow Manure and once in a week a liquid fertilizer(7+4+6)

MediaHound: I make a compost mixture with surplus material from the kitchen combined with most all organic waste from the yard. I'm now using use three UCT9.5 compost bins. I also use a variety of packaged commercial fertilizer and micronutrients. Seaweed, liquid fish, composted manure, etc. MediaHound 09:46, 24 April 2007 (EDT)

Patty in Wisc: Tomato food 18+18+21 because it has more K.

Pitangadiego: Triple 16 is cheap and effective

Chong: I find that since bananas are heavy Potassium feeders, any fertilizer that has the K component the highest, the N second, and P the least, would be advantageous since the majority of the banana make-up is Potassium. In any case, I don't think that the "P" component should ever exceed the "K". recommanded-15+10+30 or 15+8+27 E.g.

Joe Real: I use 6+27+27 XB with minors from BEST fertilizer brand. It achieves a nice balance of growth, pup and fruit production.

momoese: I use loads of steer and chicken manure as well as worm castings from my own red wigglers that have taken over the garden. I also use homemade compost and EB-Stone organic plant food 2-3 times a year.

Frankallan: I use aged rabbit manure

Rmplmnz: Compost tea wich is more or less a liquid version of compost. You take your solid compost, and soak it in water and let the mixture sit around for a few hours or a few days. Then you pour the liquid through a screen, or through cheesecloth or something similar to strain out the solid material into a bucket. What you have then is compost tea. Compost tea is great, because it is a very mild, organic liquid fertilizer that provides beneficial live organisms that improve the soil where you use it. It doesn't burn plants like store bought fertilizers can.If you can not find any of the above dump a bag of cow manure in the trash can and fill with water..

Bananimal: I use a custom fertilizer blend of 6-2-12 with minors. And especially important - I apply fert monthly. Up to 3 pounds when the plants are bigger and show real vigor.

FunSoCalTiger: I use a balanced granular slow-release such as Dynamite 13-13-13, Osmocote 14-14-14, Vigoro 17-17-17 or MiracleGro 10-10-10 every couple months or so and at planting. I also use any of several water soluable mixtures at 1-2 times the recommended doseage/frequency such as the balanced Peters Professional or MiracleGro Select 20-20-20 or the MiracleGro Tomato Food 18-18-21 (has slightly more K and also has some Magnesium). I also supplement with Epsom Salt each week to boost the Magnesium content at the rate of 1-2 teaspoon per gallon.

Nanaman: I use about 50% Jungle Growth potting mix, 40% composted cow manure, and about 10% added vermiculite, plus a few handfuls of Pre Plant Plus 7-5-7 organic fert. I fertilize about once a month with whatever I have on hand at the time, some times palm fert., some times 10-10-10, miracle grow, etc... I water them every day, sometimes twice a day if its really hot, which it usually is. In colder climates this mix may hold too.

Richard: 5 lbs of water-soluble 20-5-30 with micronutrients per maturing plant in the ground per year, applied monthly during the growing

Dalmatiansoap

WoW Tony!
Welcome to the .org Bob

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trebor

Woaaaa Sunfish/Tony is the man!
Heck I copied that and saved it to my secret banana info folder

Welcome to the org Bob as you can see the info here is complete and good!
Go Rangers!

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If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

beetlebob

WOW! Thanks everyone and thank you Tony! So many different variations of fertilizers that i've read from this. Since i have chickens and do keep some of their poop aside, i might try some of that around them. I have one tree flourishing really well and by that i mean it's growing! ha ha! it's only about 18 inches high but it's growing. My other one was damaged during shipping and i think it finally died. so today, i bought two more trees from a nursery in Florida and I can't wait to get them! ha ha! Kind of like when we hatch our own chickens! That's just as exciting. haha!

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Bob Bailey
The BS Ranch!

bananimal

Hi Bob ---- find a local Ag supplier and they will recommend a fert for bananas tailored to your soil and climate. My guess is a medium-low-high ratio blend with minors like 6-3-16 which is what I use today. Two cups per mat once a month except Nov, Dec and Jan.

G.W.

urea and potassium sulfate should cost around $25 each for 50lbs
there you go 100lbs for $50

1.5lbs N and 2.5lbs K per plant per year

poop of any variety works well

your ONLY overfertilization concern should be MURIATE of POTASH causing chloride toxicity
get sulfate of potash instead

I have YET to overfertilize a banana in the ground, and I really REALLY like to fertilize. I have burned tons of other stuff, but not bananas.

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winter winners, jackfruit, carambola, hua moa, d namwah, hak ip lychee with pink leaves 2 days before a cold snap eeeek!

Winter losers, kohala longan, misi luki, 80% jackfruit seedling loss

first bloomers, HUA MOA, DC, D NAMWAH, FHIA 17, KANADARIAN, RAJA PURI, M D NAMWAH

best bunch FHIA 17 , undisclosed

WORST BUNCH hua moa, 2 fingers

bananimal

GW --- you've never had spaghetti leaves?

About Sulfate of Potash --- trick I got from a certified organic nurseryman. Apply just before bloom shows to force the flower a bit earlier. The stuff I got is from Diamond K --- the ultra fines version 0-0-50 ---- 2 to 3 tbls per mat for 2 applications one week apart. Got all my mature naners to the fruit stage last year to avoid the cold --- which luckily never came. Great stuff!!!

Dan

TRaider

Hi Bob, I live in New Braunfels and have just gotten fruit from my trees this year. I'm a newbie and would be interested in hearing what the experts have to say on fertilizing. I've used nitrogen the first year and switched to a more balanced blend of fertilizer - i think a 23-23-23 mix? Plants seemed to respond very well to both. good luck!

Darkman

TRaider,

This is about as expert as it gets!!!!!!!!

Thanks Tony for the compilation!!!!!!!!!!

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Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

beetlebob

Thanks everyone! Just got my two new trees in the mail yesterday and I potted them. I figure I'll plant them in the spring since they're only about 8 inches tall. Does chicken poop with hay work well as a fertilizer? I have plenty since I raise chickens as well. The two trees I got are one Chiquita and one ice cream. I have another tree that's growing in the ground. It's probably 16 inches tall.

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Bob Bailey
The BS Ranch!