smeash

Just wanted to say hello and glad to be part of the forum! Im new to bananas, but not to growing things.. Im located in the FL panhandle, zone 9a.. ive had some success growing all kinds of things that aren't necessarily suited for my area, most recently Papaya, and artichoke, in addition to my regular hot peppers, tomatoes, cukes etc.
I love the look of banana plants, and happen to love bananas as well!
Recently I cleared a 16'x16' area in my yard, and have planted 10 blue java plants In a U shape.. I removed the top 2 feet of sand and roots, and added several yards of mushroom compost, and composted horse manure. My plants seem happy so far, but I have a few questions:
1. Should I be pruning the older leaves as the plant grows? Im referring to still green but rough looking leaves.
2. Most of my plants are putting out at least 2 leaves per week, is this normal?
3. How much growth the first year would be normal? Could I see close to mature height the first season?
4. Is there any chance a plant will flower its first year?
5. When i upload photos to this site, it turns them sideways, how can i fix that?
Thanks again.. looking forward to one day having trees and bananas that so many of you show off here!

edwmax

Welcome to the Bunch.



Q1 ... If green, i would leave the leaves on the plant but some growers trim them off.
Q2 .... that's good
Q3 ... Usually depends on the growing conditions & weather. ... Yes
Q4 ... Depends on if you planted a 2nd year pup. Different varieties growing time varies from 280 to more than 300 warm growing season days. So check your warm season length in growing days and the growing time for the plant variety. Cold weather is simply down-time for the plant and not counted.
Q5 ... try rotating the image before uploading.

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smeash

Thanks for the reply! As far as the images.. I did rotate them and they were correct until I uploaded.. strange, ill figure it out! Appreciate the answers!