wm

I have received some really conflicting information in the growth habitat of the grand nain banana. Having a smaller space to grow a banana, I've had people tell me this particular variety will grow to 10 ft tall and would take over the neighborhood and you can never get rid of it. However on Wiki the claim is it grows 6 - 8ft and is a really nice landscape feature. Producing bananas would be a real Plus. So I'm asking anyone who has grown this variety for any length of time if they would clarify with me what their experience growing this banana has been. By the way I'm in southeast Texas near the coast so growing conditions will be hot, humid summers and typically mild, except for this past Feb., winters.
wendy

smeash

While i dont grow grand nain, it wouldnt be much different than any other variety. 6-8 feet would likely be the psuedo stem height, with the canopy height being much larger. In other words an 8 foot "trunk" may have a canopy of 12 feet or more. You could certainly get rid of them if you no longer wanted them.. and you could cut them back if they were taller than you liked. Bananas are essentially a rhizome, but nothing like bamboo or anything. You can remove pups to control the size of the mat, or remove the entire corm should it get too large.

wstrickland1

my very limited experience is they're not the cold hardiest banana you can plant but they (mine) are prolific puppers and I have a few in the ground and several to many in various size pots around the pool. This year their markings have been really gorgeous. I may never get a banana out of one but they really are nice to look at.

wm

Thank you for your prompt response. So what size pots do you have them planted in?
Also, how tall do they get in the container?

QUOTE=wstrickland1;341936]my very limited experience is they're not the cold hardiest banana you can plant but they (mine) are prolific puppers and I have a few in the ground and several to many in various size pots around the pool. This year their markings have been really gorgeous. I may never get a banana out of one but they really are nice to look at.

wstrickland1

Various pot sizes from 8" up to about 24". Mine really don't get really tall, the larger planter last year maybe 3' tall. In the ground around 4-5'.

wstrickland1

This pic was taken about 3 weeks ago or so and it's pushes a few leaves since. Not the best pic quality wise but if you enlarge it you'll see the main plant came back but the pups passed it by. I'm not wanting anything out of it and the others but looks so I'll let it just pup out and do it's thing. I'll take a few more from the pool shortly. It finally quit raining around here.

Also I had this one in a smaller pot inside over the winter. The cool thing about these is you can have an unlimited supply of decorative foliage!!

wm

[quote=wstrickland1;341941]Various pot sizes from 8" up to about 24". Mine really don't get really tall, the larger planter last year maybe 3' tall. In the ground around 4-5'.

[wow, that certainly would be manageable.
Several years ago a friend of mine dug up some bananas from a neighbor who wanted to get rid of them. No one knew the variety. He really didn't take much care of them because he really didn't know what to do with them but they did produce some small bananas. They spread and he didn't tend to them prior to a freeze and so by spring they became real smelly and mushy so then he just wanted to rid of them. I remember that it was really messy digging them up because they were mushy but they didn't seem to be overly aggressive to the point of not being able to get rid of them. There is a local social website called Next Door and my daughter asked about the gran nain and many people were really basically telling her to run the other way! My guess is they either didn't have a gran nain and they I didn't know what variety they had.

wstrickland1

Most of mine in ground will mush up but push pups. I like them for what they are but many don't want to care for a non-reliable fruit producer.

wstrickland1

Same vantage point, 3 weeks later.

wm

[quote=wstrickland1;341945]Most of mine in ground will mush up but push pups. I like them for what they are but many don't want to care for a non-reliable fruit producer.

[hmmm, unreliable producer, not exactly what I'm looking for. It was purchased at a large texas chain grocery store's garden center. It is a beautiful tree already 4 to 5' but I have the option to return it. I already have a Little Prince which I've come to find out is mainly ornamental, so don't want another non producer. In wiki it sounded like it produces a large (150lb) bunch, maybe that's under ideal tropical conditions. Perhaps in my area 9a we're slightly different than yours. Seems I remember you're in So Carolina? ]

wstrickland1

[quote=wm;341960]
For the record I have never ever had a plant fruit, unless you count the little seedy things my bordelon produced so literally don't take it from. All I know is mine die back every year so in my yard I'm calling them a no-go. In contrast my namwah made it through so I think I may get some this year out of that. No way on the nains though.

canaryhunter

I am growing Gran Nain in 40 gallon pots on my lanai. The highest leaves are touching the screen @ about 15', so subtracting the pot height, they are about 12' tall overall. The stem is about 7'. They are producing fruit. Each has 8 hands of 16 right now. They make lots of pups and are trying to bust out of the pots, but they seem to be doing well. This was my first attempt. I'm in Tampa zone 9b.

all43

Post up some pics please.

canaryhunter

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all43

Looking great canaryhunter!!