Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

Hello everyone,

I just recently found out that I apparently have some Orinoco Bananas growing in my back yard. I have been trying to do some research on the internet and I came across this website. Is there anyone here that could possibly point me in the right direction as to basically everything I need to know about caring for Orinoco banana's in Magnolia, Tx? Stuff like what type of fertilizer I should use, ?-?-?, can I cut all the male flowers off of the bloom to help the banana's grow faster, should I remove certain trees out of a set so the others have more energy to grow, etc. Just anything I would need to know about taking care of my banana trees. Love the site btw.

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

Banana Fertilizer - 2 Lbs.
I use MG and a potash supplement Sul-po-mag but this stuff works great Water it alot
If you want a big box store fertilizer some people say MG bloom booster works as well
send me a PM and I can tell you how to do it with regular Miracle- gro

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

I live in Pearland, TX (about an hour south of you). Read my article (see link below) and see if it helps you any. You may have to do a little bit more in the way of winter protection but luckily for you, 'Orinoco' is one of the hardiest banana plants, so you have that working in your favor. Feel free to PM me with any questions or just post them here.

Here's the link: http://www.bananas.org/f2/gulf-coast...cle-16184.html

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

Thanks for the replies.

It’s funny you link that article and that you are the one who wrote it because myself and a guy here where I work are both VERY new at growing bananas and a couple of months ago he found that very article.

I do however have some more specific questions for you if you don’t mind.

I read somewhere, and for the life of me I cannot remember where, that after the males start showing and you cut off the bloom so that the plant will go back to maturing the fruit instead of concentrating on reproduction, that you can put a clear blue plastic bag on the bananas with a hole at the bottom of it so that any moister in the bag can drain and this causes like a greenhouse effect to help speed up the ageing of the bananas. But over the weekend I went to a few local nurseries, one of which was Arbor Gate in Tomball, and none of them knew what I was talking about. I was just wondering if you had heard of this before.

Thanks,
Rhinehart

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

I believe some people cut the male flowers and bud off after bananas stop showing, however leave sufficient amount of space after the last hand of fruit because the flower stalk will shrivel up a bit and if you cut it too close it will take a couple of hands down with it which would really suck. Not sure how much space to leave, maybe someone with more knowledge can answer better.

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

Yeah, I know about that. I cut mine about 3 inches below the last hand. I was just wondering if there were any tips to speed up the maturing time because the first hand appeared about 2 weeks ago and I'm afraid they won't be ripe in time before it gets to cold.

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

I do recall reading about some people who put the blue bags on their fruit (I think it is common practices amongst commercial banana plantations) but I cannot recall the point. Maybe you are correct that it is to speed maturing, but likely not ripening, as they are picked green and shipped out. It may also be to protect the fruit from damage from insects and the leaves hitting them. I never put plastic bags on mine and they do just fine.

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

If I said it would help to ripen them I apologize. I meant to would help to mature them. However, do you know if mine will be mature in time before it gets to cold here seeing as how the first hand appeared about 2 weeks ago?

Re: Caring for Orinoco in Magnolia, Texas
 

It will be borderline but I think you'll be OK. From my experience here, we need about 4 months (depending upon cultivar) from the time you see the first hand of fruit appear until they are mature enough to cut if you need to. So let's say your first hand appeared around July 9th or so, you'd need until at least Nov. 9th for them to be mature enough to cut the stalk and bring in for ripening; however, as cool weather approaches, I have found that the maturation process slows, so if you can leave them longer that would probably be a good thing. Sometimes we don't get a frost here until around mid-Dec. but with you being north of Houston you could get one sooner. Just keep an eye on the weather forecast!