pabloo120

Well, I present my very first banana plant in its final location!
I´ve had it for a long time in a pot, because it was quite small when I ordered it, and I wanted it to grow bigger before planting it into the ground. By then it was autumn, so I waited more yet, until now.




It looked beautiful right?
Well, it had to travel quite a long journey in car, so I choped out some leaves, and in the car, another leave broke off, and was hanging... So two leaves were left untouched... And then, we stopped to eat, and we left the car in the sun... And we came back... And in only one hour, nearly all of the two leaves left intact looked like cooked spinach!!
I forgot totally about the risk of leaving the car in the sun...Its very evident, but I simply didn´t remeber it... Hahaha.
And so I planted it, removing the broken leave (which ironically was intact except for its broken stem), and also the banana-spinach that where once leaves...
And the plant was left looking like this...



Beautiful isn´t it? Hahaha.

The stem is totally healthy, and the leaf that was just coming out too. So I guess it will grow just fine.
But that was a change...

I digged like 70 litres of well composted manure into the hole (1 meter wide, and like 50 cm deep), and after watering, I added a growth stimultant to the mishap thing.
The soil is very deep and sandy. Through years of cutivation, itr organic content has grown a lot. Before it was pale, yellowish in colour, and now, its actually quite dark (it doesn´t show very well in the photograph). Couldn´t be better! Specially since it´s quite alkaline in nature, and I´m sure that now it´s quite neutralized (specially afet the massive amounts of manure added...).

I will post more photos as it grows!

scottu

Well it certainly was healthy in the pot before you moved it! you may have stressed the mother even beyond it's capacity on your venture, but thats doubtful, make sure it's not sitting in water when you water it, it needs well draing soil, roots cannot sit in water. don't fert til it is showing growth. wait it out, they are very durable.They grow roots first, so let it be for a long while, more than likely it will come around!

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Viva La Banana

GreenFin

Congrats on the successful journey!

Your plant looks pretty healthy. It might sit there for 3 or 4 weeks just growing roots, but then it'll take off and start pushing out new leaves like crazy.

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Set out runnin', but I'll take my time; a friend of bananas is a friend of mine.

www.GreenFinGardens.com

pabloo120

It seemed to be growing quite slowly... but that has changed! And I hope it keeps on like that, because I just added another 50 litres of composted manure to it!







For quite a while these where the only two leaves it had grown. I suppose it was pulling roots into the soil rather.





And its actually pupping...





The planting hole was completely taken over by purslane, and then I noticed that the St. Augustine grass we use for the lawn, was also trying to get in... This was after taking the weeds out... But I had to fight the grass still... Damn those roots! They are made of steel...

pabloo120

It´s really taking off! The trunk now stands well above a meter above the ground, and each new leaf is just bigger than the one before. And I´m getting a glimpse of what a full grown leaf is like, though they are still far from max size.
Just as a new leaf unfolds, the next one is just starting to push out! I´m really happy with the speed it is growing at!







Pupping like crazy






There are six of them.
Can I start removing them, or is it too soon? I want it to center the growth towards the main stem and the big pup, but I don´t want to shock the plant...
The new leaves seemed to be yellowing so I went for some epsom salts.

boffcheck

well.. if you don't want to keep the pups just remove them..

I'd suggest.. cut 5 of them let one root and send it to me

You said you the new leafes seem to be yellow?! The leafes of the mother or the pups?

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I'm not nuts! I'm Bananas!

pabloo120

The yellower leaves came out of the mother and the bigger pup.

So no problem in de-pupping it? (does that word even exist?)

boffcheck, where are you?

boffcheck

haha never heared of de-pupping but i know what you mean
Well I can only tell you my experience with pups. Sometimes i de-pupped my plants when i saw the first sign of a pup.. sometimes i let them grow to some size as the mother plant. they never seemed shocked or so..

About the yellow leafes... do they seem healthy to you (except the color) like a good leaf? if so just let it grow. if not you need to check if receives enough / not too much water. Or if there are any other parasites.. If you see nothing unusual just let it grow


Im from Karlsruhe Germany

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I'm not nuts! I'm Bananas!

Abnshrek

Once a new leaf comes out it takes a couple days to color up to normal.. As for Cutting Pups this might help.. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

boffcheck

Thanks for the guide but I think he wanted to remove the pups in order to support the growth of the mother plant which there are controverse discussions around the board here.

I don't know whats best for the banana.. but if you want to cut them w/ keeping the pups just cut them at whatever size they are and get rid of them..

except of the one you want to send to me of course haha


oh and +1 to Abnshrek: I saw that happen on my bananas too.. fresh leafe have allways a lighter green than the other leafes (yes this may seem yellow but its only a very light green)

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I'm not nuts! I'm Bananas!

pabloo120

Hmm... didn´t know there was a controversy about leaving pups or not... Interesting.
I haven´t had the chance to go to Cadiz (where I have the nanner- Im in the capital, Madrid, quite far away).
The next time I see it, if the growth is still good, I will just leave the pups for the time being. But I might well get some out for an exchange... Dwarf Brazilian anyone in Europe...? Hehehe.

I was aware that new leafes are lighter green, like the mayority of plants, but the leaf before the newest one was also a little bit yellow too, so just in case I added some Epsom Salts.

Abnshrek, thanks for the pup removal link!

pabloo120

Keeps growing. The unseasonable warm weather for the time of the year and some early rains that came before the heat, are benefiting the plant.

boffcheck

looks very nice

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I'm not nuts! I'm Bananas!

pabloo120

I haven´t posted anything in aaages. A few things have happened to my banana...

February was quite cold and one night temperatures dropped to something abround -1ºC. Leaves died...


Cut them off... Pseudostem still alive and well


In May it looked well and alive but a little bit off. Strong, dry persistent winds didn´t help. I made the planting hole larger, and added liquid organic fertilizer and some epsom salts.


June. Seems the plant really liked that fertilizer...

Snarkie

That's quite a saga! Looks like it's doing well though.

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The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"