Hammocked Banana

Sadly it's starting to get cold here and season is winding down. Here's how things are coming along. Back in Peterborough:





In the city...Do these fruit look like they are gunna hold or is it still too early to tell?

Hammocked Banana

Well winter's almost half over and plant depression is at a maximum. Plants are at their ugliest, but some are showing signs of swinging back. Figured I would post some pics just to keep track.

My big DC/GN. Mother stem hasn't grown all winter and only has 2.5 leaves. The one pup is quickly catching up. The cigar on both of these stems hit the roof and need to be chopped a bit.


Some things in the grow space, under t5s, just maintaining.



Moro Blood Orange, was looking real bad, lost over half its leaves. Several branches on top turned brown, do you guys think they will leaf out again, or are they toast? Good news though...



Cali Gold (left) and Raja Puri (right) I got from Shrek in the fall, establishing well.


I got another question...My Ensete Maurelii that is bare root in the basement has been growing a bit because it was a little hot at first due to an open duct I was unaware of. Since then it has continued growing slowly. Seeing as it gets no water, has no soil, gets no light and has almost 4 months of winter to go, I'm worried this growth is just wasting resources. Should I chop it down or leave it? Any advice?


Lastly my poor papaya, it's hanging in there. Only one of the 6 fruits is still hanging but it seems to be pushing out some new growth now at least.

Jeff_Ajax

I had a rough time with my Pups, I didn't water them and they got incredibly dry and then I over watered to make up (I know) and I have some rot going on. I cleaned most of the rot off, potted in some new lose soil and watering sparingly. I also lifted them off the ground which I found was extremely cold and was the reason they weren't using the water I was giving them.



A quick shot of my temporary greenhouse.

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Jeff M
Ajax, ON
Banana, Palm, Canna, etc etc etc lover...

kaczercat

It's been way too cold don't ya think? lol my greenhouse had to be shut down this winter due to the rain/wind storms we had in the past month. broke the roof everything looks pretty good for mid Jan!

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Matt

Jeff_Ajax

I never actually took my temp greenhouse down this summer but we built it pretty strong so it's not going anywhere.

Jeff

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Jeff M
Ajax, ON
Banana, Palm, Canna, etc etc etc lover...

Hammocked Banana

I feel for ya Matt, how are your plants fairing this winter so far?

Jeff, what kind of temps do u maintain in your greenhouse over winter? Do u do an inflatable double poly? Are the IBCs just there as a heat sink?

Jeff_Ajax

My Temporary Greenhouse is attached to the front of my Garage (Garage Door Removed), I have a gas fired furnace hanging from the ceiling and its orientated towards the front of the garage 2/3 towards the front. If that make sense lol.

I keep the thermostat set at 60 during the day and 65 at night. When the sun shines, the temps get a lot higher inside. I was running a small humidifier as well but it seems to have konked out the other day.

I also have 3 fans circulating air inside the greenhouse, we'll say one brings in fresh air only because one of the corners came un-taped.

Since it is only temporary, I've built it all out of 2x4 SPF and used a 6 mil poly wrapped on both sides of the wall. It works very well although the temperature on the ground is pretty cool since I don't have a perfect seal around the bottom edge. That's why everything is on shelves or tables (new edition 2 weeks ago).

I'm ordering in some new gingers to pot up and grow and in the end of March I always re-pot my Canna tubers that I store in bags in the basement and grow them in time for the spring.

I'll take some pictures of my Enesete Maurelli's that I dug up, having problems with them growing to fast lol.

Not this year but next year, I plan on taking down most of my garage (14'x25') and putting up a greenhouse in its place.

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Jeff M
Ajax, ON
Banana, Palm, Canna, etc etc etc lover...

Hammocked Banana

That's a pretty sweet set-up. Im looking to build a ghouse as well, just concerned about heating costs. What does it run you to heat your garage if you don't mind me asking?

Pancrazio

Nice pics! I like your efforts. Very similar to mine.
My plant however, are far from their uglies. They reach that point usually around March, so far they are just running quickly downhill.

I just wanted to congratulate with you for your nice papayas, i have tried last winter in getting a papaya to overwinter in my house, but failed miserably. Yours seems in a really good shape, I want to know your secret!


If you are willing to build a greenhouse and you are worried about heating costs, take a look around to permaculture solutions. I did find a lot of inspiration in that stuff. As for now, I have a little inefficient enclouse for my mango built with permaculture techniques that works pretty well. Not even 1 cent of heating bill and i get consistently 16F more (that 10°C) than outside.

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Italian fruit forum

Jeff_Ajax

I wouldn't really know how much extra it costs to heat the Garage in the winter. I don't run a inline meter to track my gas usage. I also have a inefficient hot water tank and an old house severely lacking insulation so it doesn't help either with the bill.

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Jeff M
Ajax, ON
Banana, Palm, Canna, etc etc etc lover...

kaczercat

bubble wrap might help. there's numerous videos of people using it on youtube:P and half my plants died in the greenhouse the other half all cut back and slowly coming

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Matt

Hammocked Banana

I have been looking into greenhouse various techniques for heating etc. My problem is that I'm renting this house right now so it would have to be a "temporary" greenhouse, so basically I wouldn't be able to put a rocket stove in it or anything, plus I don't really have the time for wood. Would I ever love to give my plants some real sun over the winter though!

Im sorry to hear about your loss Matt, you got first dibbs on the first pups off my CG and RP still.

Hammocked Banana

I've been pretty busy this spring/summer but I'm looking to get this thread caught back up so hears a late spring update of what things looked like after the snow had all melted.

June 6, 2015 - Just finished the banana garden and planted pups. From closest to farthest - Raja Puri, Cali Gold, DC, DC.


July 5, 2015
The big DC, new basjoo and some Hydroponics (RDWC) in the makings.


Maurelii and the white fig starting to take off.


Banana garden must be getting some roots down


Some new growth on the DF also. New limbs only started one week before, but swelling quickly.

Hammocked Banana

Aug 9, 2015
The big Dwarf Cav. Expecting a flower any day now. Bigger stem on the left is 68" tall, 22" circumference at the base, and 14" circumference at the Puerto Rican standard of 1m. The other stem on right is 60" tall, 17" circumference at the base and 13" @ 1m.


The banana garden keepin on. Hoping to reach at least 4' of pstem this year. I believe this would allow me to get flowers next year once replanted.


Maurelii starting to look good.


Basjoo is growing pretty slow, but that's kinda expected as a first year plant. Also you can see the leaves are a little miscoloured, I don't think it likes the full sun, but this is its spot so it better learn to deal.


Zebrenia starting to do its job of disguising the RDWC rez.


Dragon Fruit with some really good growth this year so far. I did tie it up after this pic as some limbs were getting a little out of control.


Finally (kinda) done the hardy cactus garden.


My seed grown Washingtonia filfera.


The white fig has over a dozen fruit!


A nice shot of a volunteer morning glory about to open.

JP

Great job! You've been working hard to get these results with that crappy weather...

Hammocked Banana

Ya we had one week of heat which was way too hot, and now I'm just waiting patiently for a bit more heat to return, and hopefully push that first DC flower out ;-) Looking good for the weekend though.

Nate74

looks great

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JP

I'm competing with you for the first flower! But I think you'll win; yours is bigger than mine... That being said, it's not always about size! Lol! I got my new nanner yesterday. I'll post a new thread today. Do you need more figs? I love your large pots by the way.

Jeff_Ajax

I have two DC's in the garden as well, total height about 6' right now. Don't think they'll push a flower this year. when I put them in the greenhouse, I won't cut them back at all.

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Jeff M
Ajax, ON
Banana, Palm, Canna, etc etc etc lover...

subsonicdrone

and i thought my biggest might be ready to push out a flower being 5" diameter at the base of the pstem!

looks great

all i have is DC
if you have any pups for sale ill buy some