rhymechizel

Wow, I'mexcited to start this year. I planted 9 varieties of bananas in full sun and part shade yesturday. I'm excited to see how they do. After this year I should have some banana knowlege to share.

Dean W.

Congrats, on all your plants. Please fill in your profile so we know where you live.

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microfarmer

That's awesome!

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damaclese

thats awsom take some pictures so we can see them

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DarinAZ

I've never seen really bad damage here even at temps over 106, as long as you provide a little shade (esp after 3pm) It could be that we just have lots of people planting tolerant varieties. True, there is some (what I consider) minor crisping up of the leaf edges. But mostly the leaves just take on that flat folded form for much of the day and then seem to spread back out and look pretty normal again by the next morning. They tend to fold up by about 11am here. Here's one that I've seen do really well here. This was back in September 2006, AFTER the heat had come and gone.

dablo93

that musa is looking healthy! how much sun does it get?

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DarinAZ

it gets about 1/2 day+ sun. it gets full sun in the morning, and then depending on the time of year, the shade in the afternoon starts around noon to about 2:00 I'd guess in the summer. Here is a shot of it from late March. I wish I could have a couple of those new pups! I should go check on it to see if its flowering. This is on the ASU campus.

DarinAZ

oh and you're probably right, our soil is alkaline to begin with LOL. BUt anyway, that little area its in is not bad at all, I had Crossandra in there last summer and they didn't yellow or anything. As for space, it will be getting much more space in just a couple weeks. I'm moving, and I'm taking my banana with me!!

MediaHound

We have watering restrictions here in South Florida. It's hot and dry lately.
However, I have success with virtually all types of banana plants!
It requires good irrigation systems, timers, drip lines, every pvc fitting you can imagine, and a lot of inspections and some maintenance.
I would like to one day invest in water-catching barrels, a gutter system, and storage cisterns, and make proper use of the rain.

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rhymechizel

Here are all the bananas I have planted.

oronoco


large unknown and a small oronoco on the left with its first leaf


Rowe Red


Musa Bajoo and ensete ventricosum on the left


Musa itinerans var unknown from ebay


Large unknown, musa bajoo, a few oronocos, ensete glaucom, and a pisang ceylon


most have some leaf damage but the new leafs seem to be doing fine.

mskitty38583

nice looking nana mattes and nice looing nanas!

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damaclese

Rhymechizel
thats going to be some sweet looking tropical paradises when it gets all grown up good job!.
hay is your soil as hard to dig as ares is here in NV. It takes like an hr to dig a 2ft deep hole here with all the rocks? and do you mulch much? if so what kinds do you prefer. I have been using DrQ gold dust i know thats available at star Nursery

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john_ny

I once had a set-up like that. I had a greenhouse, on a piece of leased land, without a reliable water source. The house was quite a way from the road and it would have been expensive to run a pipe for that distance, and to get the water company to hook up. Having a well drilled would also be expensive and, since the property was leased, and I didn't intend to stay there long, I decided to go with a gutter system. The greenhouse was 17 X 96 feet. We dug a big square hole at one end, and lined it with greenhouse poly, forming a makeshift pool. We extended the GH, over the tank (pool) with a few extra bows, and poly cover, ending up with something between 115 to 120 feet long X 17 wide. I ran gutters down each side, close to the bottom.

For every inch of rain that we got, I put 1200 gallons of water in the tank.

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John

MediaHound

Very nice John.
How big was the hole you dug? Certainly not 20 x 17 or so... or was it?

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john_ny

Jarred- I can't remember exactly what size it was, but I had a guy, in there, with a machine, clearing some adjacent area of brush, and I asked him to dig the hole. I can't remember the outside dimensions, but I am sure it was a little less than 17' wide, as we made a little, very narrow strip, that we could walk around it on. It was four feet deep. We had covered the area, but had not yet closed off the end, when we had a big turtle move in there. Of course, he (she) fell off the edge, and had no way to climb out, so I had to build a ramp into the tank.

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John

rhymechizel

damaclese

I find a few rocks but mostly just clay. I did a few raised beds to try and give the plants some good soil.

I just buy mulch from the city wich consists of composted wood chips and grass clippings; it seems to work well and I can get a whole truck load for $30.

damaclese

good deal wish i could get some of that thers no grass on city property here in Clark county the county ban grass on state city and county owend probertys althow there is some in the three public parks we have here in Henderson (my city)

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