zfallon84

I love seeing success like this from someone who is in a colder zone than I. As a new grower, this gives me hope for usda zone 9a. congrats!

Akula

You can have huge success in Jacksonville!

Southern California has an advantage because they don't get the winter freeze but they also don't get rain!! Play to your strength!! Rain plus Summer heat = Turbo Growth!!

beam2050

get your winter hats out fellas, its supposed to be in the mid 30's middle of next week here. wonder if flood lights will help save your bunches. one of these on a pole pointed straight up.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

JCA433

Those bunches are almost filled out! Congratulations!

zfallon84

I took no action, and had little damage. My dwarf red, and a "mystery Blue Java" (looks like cavendish type) had a little bit of leaf-edge wilt. Everything else did fine. In fact, I believe my "mystery red" is more likely to be a Rhino Horn Plantain since it did not wilt like my dwarf red. But, I'll have to wait until it blooms next summer. How'd you do?

beam2050

just lower 40's here everybody looks good. just all this draught, should have had more than a few fruiting. it affected my dwarf reds more than any, they look terrible. I dug up my variegated florida and she had no roots and the ground below was dry dry dry, despite the irrigation.

how big did your mystery dr get this year? got any pics.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

Akula

Thanks JCA!

I had back to back overnight lows in the mid 30's this past week and everybody looks fine with the exception of a couple six foot pups showing some very minor leaf spotting. No protection.

The lower temps are effecting the nanners growth or lack thereof. I had a new flower bud emerge about a week ago and it hasn't done much. Stuck in the "ear of corn" phase. My earlier buds busted out really fast going from bud to bananas in about a week. Leaves have faded in color too from a deep green to a light dusty green. No leaf damage other than color fade.

Looks like low 50's to mid 60's for the next two weeks here.

zfallon84

Beam,

My mystery banana has a four feet tall psuedo stem. I have it potted since we rent, so it looks 2’ taller. I’ll try to post later.

zfallon84

https://imgur.com/Lsdj2Cn

https://imgur.com/KY2Ym34

https://imgur.com/Ov3lmaY

It was sold to me as a "Red" corm. But it appears to have some red, with a majority of it being dark green. I've to wait until next season to see a bloom if it is ARH or Dwarf red. Otherwise, I won't get anything here. Heck, if it is a red, it might melt when we get into the low thirties/high twenties (in my hoophouse).

beam2050

I got mine from a member who has had them fruit, mine have yet to do that.

so going by your pics I would say it is not a dwarf red. for the length of the leaf it should be much wider, in other words the leaf should be shorter and wider. also the p-stem should be pretty much all red. so will have to get her to fruit so you can get a positive id. it could also be a Puerto rican morado going by the pics in the wiki, it kind of looks like that.

my dwarf reds are prolific puppers, so if you want one you can have one now or one in the spring.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

zfallon84

I wouldn’t be upset if it was a plantain. Do your Reds grow back after our freezes?

beam2050

after last year one of my mats had 10 pups but the mother corm died. slow grower hates draught. very pretty plant.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

Akula

Update!

Banana patch is in winter decline which is always sad! Temps have dropped with daytime highs in low 60's and overnight lows in the high 40's with some +/- 10F outliers. So far four overnight lows low 30's.

Development of the bunches has slowed dramatically since my last pics on November 4. The quality of the leaves specifically and the plants in general has declined so even when we get some warm sunny days the plants' ability to capture the benefit is reduced signficiantly vs. earlier months. I did have a an Unknown banana plant push a flower out over the last few days warm weather after being in suspended animation for a couple weeks so there is activity in the patch.

The finger sizes in the bunches ranges from about 1" to an 1.5" wide which is close to
the size of 1 and 3/8" that N. Narange's harvests his in S. Florida. I harvested three fingers off of "Rabbit Ears" namwa today to see if they will turn yellow and if so how long the ripening process takes at this stage. This plant has the smallest fingers. I'm excited to see what happens and hopefully to eat my first banana from my patch! If all goes well I plan to put a bow on a few hands and give them out as Christmas presents to friends and family.

I would like to get the bananas as mature and fat as possible under the conditions but I'm not sure that anything much is happening at these low temperatures and at some point we will have a hard freeze. I think cutting them down and giving some away at Christmas would be memorable.

The condition of the patch:



Monster namwa after pruning:



Mediume namwa after pruning:



Small nawma "rabbit ears" after pruning:



Unknown banana plant showing some spotting (maybe mildew). This one isn't gonna make it:



Test harvest from Rabbit Ears with comparison to store bought. My bananas on my other two namwas are bit larger:

zfallon84

What do you mean by “Rabbit Ears” Namwa? Is that a special cultivar?

Akula

Its a normal namwa. I just named it that for fun. I peeled the pstem like an onion and then had to cut off about a third of the top due to rot after the winter. When it grew back it had two long skinny weird leaves which emerged that looked like rabbit ears coming out of the pstem. I commented about it earlier in my thread.

HMelendez

Donald,




Thank you for the update, for sharing/posting the awesome pictures!.....Job well done!......


You should try this banana solar bags!.....It might help you better with the fruit filling process!.......Banana solar bags for bunch protection

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Akula

Hey Hector! Thanks!

The specialized solar bags would probably help getting through November and December with better gains. I'll try them out next season if I have a late September flower.

Deepsleep

Thank you for the update, looks like you will have some Christmas bananas! As you may remember, we both have the same Namwa strain. I harvested a small bunch a few months ago, and have had a couple more flowers with huge bunches since. I also have bunches now on Manzano, Dw Orinoco, Dw Red, 1000 hands, Sweetheart, and Goldfinger. Sadly, I think it's unlikely much of it fills out at this point, although some appear to making progress. I am a decent distance south of you near Lakeland, but I'm learning from some of your experimentation for use in later years. Thanks again for the update, and enjoy those Namwas, they are very tasty.

Akula

Thanks Deepsleep!

Did you get your Manzano from JFE? If so could you post some photos of how the bunch develops? I have an unkown from JFE that I suspect may be a Manzano but who knows.

Deepsleep

I got my Manzano from a local place. I would post pictures, but it seems to be a struggle for me on this site.