lorax

Well, given that escapee bananas here tend to gravitate towards the boggiest ground available, and our native heliconias are always most abundant there, I'd say you're probably heading in the right direction, Al. Just make sure your water never goes stagnant. Here, the highest density of Zingiberales is in the swampy ground right next to creekbeds - lots of aeration, fish wastes, and water up the wazoo.

Vicki - I'd guess that you don't have pups yet because the plant isn't big enough. If it is a DC (and it sure looks like one) then in my experience it won't start pupping until it's about 4' tall.

Lagniappe

I want to do it too. I have several that I plan to put in systems but I've been goofing around with tomatoes and basil.
Thanks for the pics...I'm getting fired up again!

Michael_Andrew

Ok so she has a fish in the tub and it feeds the plant. The plant removed the toxins for the fish. Kinda scratch my back I'll scratch yours. Ms Vickie do you have a bubbler in there? Do you chang out any of the water?

bananimal

MiamiAl,

If you have a canal bordering the property this is the ideal area for planting bananas in So Fla. Plant them on the crest of the down slope and the roots will reach the water. Jeffery P does this at his place and the results are fantastic. His Saba are huge and all the others are very robust. Since you are in Miami you will see great results. Just apply the fert - suggest Lesco 8-2-12 four times a year at 3 or 4 pounds per application. You will be amazed.

Otherwise provide irrigation with 1" poly, not 1/2", with emitters rated at 5 to 7 gals of water per hour, 2 lines from the main with a "tee" to 2 emitters. That's 4 emitters per mat spraying towards the trunk , 90 degrees apart on a irrigation controller system.

Wish I was down there, my Uncle Frank had fantastic banana mats in SW Miami.

Dan

Michael_Andrew

I said Zebrina cause none of my DC's have red on the stem. But after further review I agree with Lorax that it appears to be a DC.

Vickie H.

No air in the tub in the basment. No water change. I only add water when needed. I am doing everyting wrong and it still keeps on ticking. I have had it since summer of 2007 and it has not grown much. But it is alive and that is all I care about. LOL I have fish in all ponds. I have Gambusi in every pond and tub. They gobble up the mosquito larve. I have 18 inch koi in some ponds. But they uproot plants so cannot put much in with them.

lorax

If I may make a suggestion, Vickie, next summer try putting a single male Beta and about five females in along with your Gambusi. They'll take care of the larger bugs like horseflies. Besides which, they're purdy.

Vickie H.

lorax I have tried that. But since I put the banana in a 600 gallon pond when it comes time I cannot catch the beta to bring back into the basement. I hate things dying. I have a gazillion micky mouse platies because stupid me thought I would try 3 of them. Now I have hundreds. And no end in site.

Bob

Vickie, I used to have the same thing when stocking my old koi pond. I'd put a couple of orange and black sword tails in for extra color and by fall it would be full of young'ens for my arrowana, Could never get them all out and hated the thought of their freezing..

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lorax

Hated the thought of their freezing and yet you were feeding them to an arrowana? Those things are pure, distilled evil.

I had an arrowana jump out of a river and INTO my canoe after a piranha I'd caught myself for dinner. I almost capsized from the force of the fish's landing, I lost my dinner and had to go downriver and try fishing it again, and the dang thing tried for a couple of my fingers while I was chucking it back overboard. Yeesh.

Bob

Must have been a huge one. Mine only got to about 5lbs before I gave him away in favor of a red tailed catfish(another brilliant choice). I'm glad it didn't get your fingers, with those bony mouths of theirs that would be bad.

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lorax

It was about 20lbs.

Bananaman88

Arowanas and red-tailed catfish! Two awesome fish, but one's I've managed to show some restraint on so far.

Why am I not surprised that Beth goes actively looking for piranahs??? Actually, they are a very misunderstood fish.

lorax

Very misunderstood and extremely tasty, IMHO. I prefer the red-bellied ones, which get to about 3 lbs on average, but black piranha isn't bad either. They're really really difficult to hook, though. You have to use steel leaders.

Arrowana are good eating, too, but they're a protected species here so I wasn't about to conk the one that jumped in my boat with a paddle. I like my liberty, thank you!

Bob

Yep they're tasty alright. We had a fish farm raising pacu up here when the tilapia craze first hit. Well the Pacu didn't pan out and they gave them all away to anyone with a cooler. I was eating them for months. Good stuff.

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john_ny

Caught some black pianha in Guyana, on my honeymoon.

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John

lorax

I love how this thread has ceased to be about submerged bananas, and become about the finer points of carniverous fishes.

Ueberwinden

As for the banana grown in water, some plants are able to grow water roots. The problem is converting them back to being able to grow in dry soil conditions. My experience is you have to allow the soil to dry out over a period of time (days). As you head to dry conditions the soil must slowly loose it's moisture. In other words it goes from saturated to wet to moist to damp and so on, but this is done over a period of days. I have had to do this with hard to root plants in water, some times I loose track of them and they continue to root. When I finally notice they sometimes have very large root systems.

Michael

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White Horticulture
Rare, Tropical, Unique

sandy0225

I grew a bordelon for a couple of years, potted and then when it got rootbound I set it into the pond display in about a foot of water. But last fall, I forgot and left it sitting out there and just threw it away the other day. The funny part is that a canna I left out there is actually ok. They are zone 7 hardy. Maybe I'll try a basjoo this year?

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
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www.northerntropics.com


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john_ny

Beth - Don't most of the threads veer somewhat off course, as they get older? Sometimes it's good. other times it's not.

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John