EzrieAlan

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and to gardening in general. I live in Henderson, NV and I'm planting bananas for a more tropical look, but I also want the fruit. Am I just dreaming or is it actually possible? I've grown a red dwarf in a pot for a year, but lost it while moving. Anyone have any pointers? I'm really interested in the dessert varieties that I can't seem to find in stores.

Kostas

It is doable and you will eventually get bananas in zone 9. The higher your minimum temperatures,the better the chances of all going smoothly and getting a flower from the very first pseudostem,which in the ground will take 2-3years to reach flowering size.
You cannot expect yearound harvest,etc but you do can expect a bunch from each mat annually if you get the timing of the flower right so that the bananas can mature from late summer to early winter. Some cold hardy varieties are 'Orinoco','Namwah','Ice Cream','Praying Hands' and others.

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pmurphy

Welcome to the "bunch"....

caliboy1994

Many of those cold tolerant varieties also take the heat well, especially Namwah and Orinoco. I prefer Namwah fruit.

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Illia

As said above. Thousand Fingers is another variety that loves heat, but not everyone is tolerant and patient for its multiple and small fruit. Welcome, btw!

Like said above as well, if you want more consistent and less death-prone bananas, best to avoid red fruited ones, Cavendish ones, most if not all Plantain types, and special rarities like AeAe.

Chironex

Great having you join us! This site has a wealth of experience and many experts.

I lived in N Las Vegas for a year and grew over 100 varieties in pots. Damaclese lives in Henderson and has some in the ground. I believe that may be your only chance for successful fruiting. They all do well in-ground, except those with strong white colors in variegated varieties like Ae'ae.

Plan on installing a drip system for watering according to the water control restrictions. Most of the growth will occur at night. They will also need some protection from the high Mojave winds that can really damage the plants. Henderson is lower in elevation than N Las Vegas, so you might squeeze out a few extra days for ripening.

Another member lives in Scottsdale, AZ and has successfully fruited bananas in-ground. I think it was Lil Eggbeater. (check the member map to find their galleries.) The soil is crap in the desert so you will further need to dig a huge hole and refill with good soil and add something to reduce the alkalinity of the desert hard pan.

With proper nutrition (talk to Richard) I think it's possible. The cold winter is the only concern as far as being able to ripen fruit. I would seek varieties that have the shortest fruiting time and perhaps after a couple years you could see fruit.

Being that most back yards in Las Vegas are walled, I would suggest sticking with dwarf varieties. You will probably need some sort of winterizing to protect your bananas during the winter months. The year I lived there, we had snow one day! (2008-2009) So, by sticking with dwarves, it should be easier to protect them from the winds and the cold winter temps.

One final note, the intention during the first year should be to develop a good root system. I would suggest topping them in the first year to promote this. More energy will be directed to rooting than leaf growth. Of course, you will need to adjust your watering to reflect the reduced water uptake from reduced leaf area. Transpiration will be diminished so be careful not to overwater.

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Scot

EzrieAlan

Thanks for all the info. What I've done so far is create a raised bed for the plants because I was concerned about the drainage and dug about 2 feet under the beds and put soil conditioner which looked like finely shredded tree bark and filled the 2 ft above ground with native soil, some really cheap potting soil, manure and some soil moist granules that I normally use to feed and water crickets. I also made a 3x3 above ground bed with the same stuff and planted a tiny ice cream (from what I've read here is probably a namwah) that I got from Florida Hill Nursery as somewhat of a centerpiece.

As far as the heat I have these 8ftx4ft aviary panels that I was planning on putting around it with some misters or maybe using that garden shade material to prevent the leaves from burning during the hottest parts of the day. I'm not really sure there's much more I can do for them other than the soil which I'm pretty sure I've got horribly wrong.

I'm also looking for a place where I can get some well established plants. So far all I've been able to find are 4-8 inch tissue cultures so any help on that end would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you guys!

Chironex

Sounds like a plan. I would not use misters, as long as they get sufficient water, they shouldn't burn. Drip gets the water right where they need it and won't get blown away. Misters can create water droplets on the leaves, acting like tiny magnifying glasses - remember burning bugs with one as kid? Misting at night might be beneficial though. If I were going to do anything until they are established, I would use the woven sunscreen cloth available at many of the garden centers. Make sure the manure you're using is composted and organic.

The main thing they need during the growing period is potassium. Our member Richard can hook you up. In fact, you can do what I did. Take a drive to San Diego and meet Richard, Pitangdiego and Sunfish. They're all fantastic and you can probably get some established pups reasonably. Richard can also sell you some perfect banana food, and it's cheaper than anything you can buy in stores.

I would suggest some type of mulch on the ground after planting to keep the moisture from evaporating so quickly. Something that isn't diseased or contaminated with spider mites and what not.

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Scot

venturabananas

Are you sure about this? Where will the energy to grow roots come from if the energy capture system, the leaves, are gone?

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Chironex

I see your point, I don't mean removing all the leaves, but topping it will help to develop the roots in a newly transplanted banana. In the dessert, strong root growth will make the plant stronger as new leaves emerge in a few weeks. I did this with several of mine and never had leaf burn. I have no research supporting this, just personal observation. I cut off the top few leaves when transplanting, leaving some leaves below.

Also, I also transplanted many purchased or donated pups with no leaves and the p-stems chopped off before shipping to me. When trying to transplant bananas from another zone and save all the leaves, the leaves will generally burn.

As Dennis Miller says. "But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong." It did work well for me in N Las Vegas, so I expect it will be similar in Henderson (which adjoins LV to the SE)

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Scot

PR-Giants

Excellent point, Mark.

By chopping the top you are temporally changing the leaf to root ratio and the plant will naturally start
to increase leaf production to compensate the imbalance, severely pruning will have a similar effect.

Developing a good root system is very important and everyone is aware that roots will grow faster
and longer in loose soil, up to 30' in all directions.

The hard part is maintaining loose soil without disturbing the roots while they are growing.

http://www.haifa-group.com/files/guides/banana.pdf

1.1 Description
The banana plant is a large perennial herb with leaf sheaths that form trunk-like pseudostems. The
plant has 8 - 12 leaves that are up to 270 cm long and 60 cm wide. Root development may be
extensive in loose soils, in some cases up to 9 m laterally

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venturabananas

Scot, I misunderstood your post. I thought you were suggesting topping established plants, not newly transplanted ones. Topping newly transplanted bananas seems to be a common commercial practice. Can't recall if Keith does that with his newly separated pups, but do I recall Nick saying he cuts off everything except the cigar leaf. But I was under the impression this was done to avoid water stress from evapotranspiration at the leaves when much of the root surface area has been lost, rather than redirecting energy stored in the corm.

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Nicolas Naranja

For me it has everything to do with cutting down evapotranspiration. There are plenty of carbohydrates stored in the corm to push out new leaves and roots. When you dig up a sucker, you loose a lot of roots. I've tried planting without cutting and I don't have much success.

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Sammie

I live in the Phoenix area and my main problem is the low humidity. Years ago I constructed a banana house and picked up 3ft stems from Ventura CA.
They all grew like crazy and fruited. After that I wasn't able to get any banana plant to really grow. I gave up a few years back and tore it down. Now I am getting back into growing again. This time am planning to fertilize a lot more and grow them under shade screen during the summer heat. Problem in the desert is the low humidity sometimes getting near 0% before the monsoon. I am thinking of growing other plants around the bananas in hopes of raising the humidity level in that area. Any ideas on raising the humidity would be welcome.

Nicolas Naranja

If you have a pool, plant near the pool. Otherwise, think about putting some misters in.

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PR-Giants

I think you originally understood his post correctly, he suggested
and a banana plant would normally be considered "established" in the first year.

There are too many variables to have a simple answer for "to chop or not to chop".

It's a judgement call that is made in about a half of a second, based on expected harvest time and bunch size.

How much time is being saved, if any, by not chopping, compiled with the expected smaller bunch size?

All pups can be separated from the mother with all their leaves, if the proper technique is used. In some cultivars all the leaves will survive regardless of the technique used.

When it comes to separating small pups, with or without leaves, my preference is "to chop". The main reason is because eliminates temperature from the equation, makes monitoring new growth easier, and almost always produces a stronger plant.

The bottom line is, just about everything will work, but somethings just work better.

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raimeiken

I also live in Peoria. My bananas are all doing well especially with all the rain we got this summer. I would suggest creating a micro climate around them. I have a lot of Canna lilies planted around them to give them a bit of shade from the sun and also it increases the humidity around the area.