Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

For those of you that do not remember, I lost all my Bananas (18 yo mats) to the local Utility Co. herbicide spraying last spring. So I have been replanting my Banana Farm. Early last November I obtained the following Bananas from Our Forum Member on the Southside of the Big Lake in Florida. Who was supposed to call me when he came to South Georgia this past March and didn't. Hurt my feelings.

These were planted early November and most were showing new growth when your first frost and freeze hit in December 9th (32 deg F) & 10th (29 deg F) . The lowest temp was Jan 8th at 23.9 deg F.

For South Georgia zone 9b-8a 9a-8b ... my Bananas as of May 16, 2017.

Dwarf Red: planted 3; 2 came back & 1 pup
Dwarf Brazilian: planted 5; 4 came back
Dwarf Namwah: planted 5; 5 came back

Gros Michel: planted 3; 0 came back **I now know these are cold sensitive and because of this not recommended for growing in Florida zone 9? by the USDA. These would need special protection or Greenhouse to grow and fruit.

Blue Java: planted 5; 3 came back
Williams: planted 3; 2 came back and 2 pups
FHIA-18 : planted 3; 3 came back
FHIA 1: planted 3; 1 came back
Pisang Ceylon: planted 5; 4 came back & 1 pup
Hua Moa: planted 3; 2 came back

Raja Puri: planted 1; 1 came back and 2 pups **Planted in the little patch at my house.

Paggi : potted 3 ; ** Kept these in the house with temp above 65 deg. They never showed any growth and slowly died.

While I lost some corms, with the exception of the Gros Michel, I did not loss all of the corms of each variety. Hopefully with the pups I can get those mats to thrive. For the Gros Michel, I'll likely replace & grow something else.

:woohoonaner: They're ALIVE!

Re: Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

I can say Paggi seems to be a very tender plant that needs special care, at least so far. It is still the weakest of all my plants with a thin PS and grows vigorously sometimes and not others. Hopefully it will make some progress this summer.

Re: Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

Yes the Paggi's were added at the last moment with out research. The Paggi's and the Gros Michel were poor choices for my growing zone. Other members seem to be growing the GM north of zone 10, but I see comments these are difficult and not likely to fruit. I have another GM from a different suppler. It was the last plant to break ground this late this spring and is still a slow grower. The GM appears to be a zone 11 plant. ... The Paggi I my try again in a container since it is not a big plant and I now have a greenhouse. But not right now.

All of the above plants were 3 ft or more tall and the corms were large. The pstems were cut at 3 or 4 ft and placed in the trunk of my car for the trip back to South Georgia. A few plants less than 4 ft, Paggi and a couple of others were left whole. So I didn't expect to lose the GMs.

So may be my list can help someone else in zone 8B.

Re: Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

Paggi was very vigorous here. It created so many pups that it was problematic. The fruit was delicious but very fragile.

Re: Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

Great job! Keep doing what your doing.

Re: Bananas !! or New Banana Farm
 

My Paggi was struggling also until I re rooted it and now it's going crazy! Very fast growth now. I'm still not sure what caused it to stall out and start to die back to the corm. Wasn't temps I don't think. I hope yours takes off Steve.