venturabananas

I noticed that someone on the org had mentioned they'd ordered some bananas from Florida Hill Nursery. I hadn't heard of this company before and so I checked out their website. They list quite a selection of bananas. TC plants it looks like -- small and at reasonable prices. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Are they reliable?

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SilkKnoll

I considered ordering from them but noticed, as you did, all the earmarks of a TC reseller: the description and charts lifted entirely from AgriStarts, heights something like "may be 4-16 inches tall."

I wrote to Florida Hill with enough questions to confirm that they are turning them around as quickly as possible after receiving the liner trays. A trading friend bought some elephant ears from them and said they were tiny. I don't know if they survived.

I've had bad luck with "test tube babies" because they are in transition from sterile laboratory conditions, and, without special handling (sanitizing soil with products that kill common bacteria, etc.), they are quite fragile and vulnerable to rotting.

I do not have anything approximating a sterile environment for them, and, despite the hundreds of dollars I've wasted on them, I have still not developed an instinct of when and how to begin to introduce them to a more normal setting without traumatizing (killing) them.

On the other hand, if you can pull it off, you can save some money.

If I suspect someone is reselling TCs with a quick turnaround, I always ask, and I won't buy plants sooner than two months after having been received as liner plugs, and I make sure they're currently growing in normal greenhouse or (preferably) outdoor conditions.

There's no cost benefit in buying DOAs.

RAINFOREZT

Yes, I did ordered from them through Ebay. That was in last November. I bought ice cream, musa double mahoi and thousand fingers. This was the first time that I purchasing tissue cultured bananas and buying plants online I was expecting very small plants but the plants were more than a feet long but skinny though. They came with roots and leaves Roots were kind of taped off, so I was careful not to damage the plant when I unpacked. . I planted them in pots and moved inside my house for December and January. I was away from home and anticipated the freeze. During that time it was kind of dormant and lost few leaves. Now it started going back again. I will be planting them soon to the earth. Since the price and shipping were reasonable I may order from them again. They had good collection of colocasias and elephant ears type of plants.

drew leonard

I would be careful and make sure they have the plants you are truly looking for....I recently purchased an Alocasia Reticulata... I received an A. Sarian... They said they did not sell Sarians... I sent them pictures of the Sarian they sent me and showed them the BIG differences between the two.... He did credit my account... After about 3 e-mails.

buellracing01

Hello all, I bought around 22 plants from Floridahillnursery last year for something like 135.00 bucks and they were huge and all grew like crazy I will buy from these guys again and again. I will only buy tissue culture plants its the only way to get the best specamin.

*Sikknoll, Hellooo all bananas are grown from tissue culture no matter if its a 25 dollar plant from a garden center or a 6 dollar plant from Floridahillursery.com they all come from a tissue culture company like agristarts. Im glad to hear an online nursery is finally selling banana plants at a reasonable price. For my money i will go to florida hill again and again finally a good online nursery.

Caloosamusa

Florida Hill Nursery

RayS

I just received four plants yesterday from them, I was absolutely astounded.
I got two Ensetes about twenty inches long, a Gran Nain, and Dwarf Cavendish,
about 14 inches. All were solid plants with real strong solid root balls, they are all potted up and look great!

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Ray

venturabananas

Buellracing01, not all bananas sold by nurseries all TC plants. Some sell potted pups separated from older plants. Thanks for your input on this online nursery.

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buellracing01

Hello venturabananas, That's true but unless you plan on selling more than 100 plants per year and keeping the cost attainable the production ability one gets from pups would be too expensive and bleak with one exception the AI AI. It has to come from pups due to the variegation being lost in the cloning process hence the huge prices associated for one (1) freekin plant.

Bermy nana

Hi buellracing01
Wow 22 plants your garden must look great! Post some pics Shawn so we can see how they look now.
Thanks

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buellracing01

Well they look a little rough after this winter but i will post some soon.

cherokee_greg

I have these coming. First time trying Florida Hills
1 x Canna Lily "Ermine" live plant Cannaceae
1 x FHIA-18 Banana plant
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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
http://gardenjot.com/garden/view/1980/Gregs-Banana-Farm

RayS

I haven't ordered cannas from them, but you won't be disappointed with the banana.

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Ray

cherokee_greg

Thanks. The canna is a white one hard to find for me at least. Im sure I will be happy with both thanks

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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
http://gardenjot.com/garden/view/1980/Gregs-Banana-Farm

venturabananas

After starting this thread and getting some positive feedback, I figured I'd give Florida Hill Nursery a try. I ordered three bananas: FHIA-18, Gluai Kai, and Cardaba. They were $6.99 each and shipping was $6.99 total. They shipped 4 days after I ordered and arrived a week after I ordered. The plants arrived in great shape. (I'll post pictures later.) As advertised and expected, they were small, about 4-6" stem and 11-16" including leaves. They were not in pots, but were well rooted in potting soil.

I'd give this nursery the thumbs up. Compared to Wellspring Gardens (which I have no problem with) the plants were bigger, the selection is better, yet the price is the same. If you have the patience to grow out small TC plants, you'd probably like Florida Hill Nursery. If you are less patient and willing to spend a bit more, the TC plants available from Going Bananas and Logee's are quite a bit bigger and correspondingly more expensive.

Being impatient myself, when I can, I go get big plants from helpful folks on this site like Tony (sunfish), Jon (pitangadiego), Mitchel (momoese), or Andy (BadPun), but not everyone has that option.

banana plants upon receipt:
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one week later:
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buellracing01

After all the great bananas I recieved from Florida hill nursery I decided to buy some canna. Ill let you know how they look.

5x carnival
5x intrigue
5x Australia
5x creamcicle
5x Ermine

Bananas grow several feet a month so why buy a plant thats 3' tall for 30.00 when you can buy something for 6 bucks that will be as big as the 30.00 plant in one month, I mean they're bananas for crying out loud they will grow right out from under your feet if you stand still too long...

sunfish

venturabananas

Hey buellracing01, why continue the charade? Given that my PayPal payment for the plants I ordered from Florida Hills Nursery went to someone with the email address buellracing01@... it seems pretty clear to me that you are the owner of Florida Hill Nursery. Why pretend that you are ordering plants from your own nursery? You did succeed in generating a few sales, and I am happy with the plants you sent, but why not just come clean and tell us about your business?

FYI, bananas in California don't grow as fast as in Florida. From what I can tell, buying a small TC will set you back about year for fruit production compared to a nice potted plant in a 5 gallon container.

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sunfish

And he just bought some cannas from himself.

buellracing01

venturabananas, what?? just because you didnt like my response to your post its no reason to slander someone. Arent you the site admin for bananas.org and arent you promoting people in your most recent blog. If its B.S. lets just call it B.S.