João Pedro

Hi!

My name is João Pedro, I am from Portugal. Recently I decided that I wanted to grow some bananas in my garden so I ordered some TC Dwarf Brazilian banana plants and they arrived today. I just potted them, some had very long roots so I shortened them to fit in the pots without bending them too much, I hope that they just grow new ones. Just watered once. For now they are staying in the greenhouse until they reach about 20-30 cm. Did I do something wrong?

Please give me tips and tell me if I did something wrong. Here is a picture.

CraigSS

They look good. Keep giving us updates.
Craig

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João Pedro

Good,yes I'm going to share updates with you all.

HMelendez

You did awesome!....Just keep waterings to a minimum for now!....What medium did you used for potting soil?....

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luisport

Boa João! Congratulations!!!

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Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

João Pedro

Good to know! All purpose compost mix, basically compost with some expanded clay, some coco fiber and some slow release fertilizer, light weight stuff, good drainage and a bit of moisture retention to avoid drying out too fast.

HMelendez

You did awesome!....Coco fiber it's pretty good!....Later on, if you decide to plant your Nanas to the ground I suggest to use any combination of soilless mix, wherever it's available to you (using coco fiber, rice hulls, coarse sand, sphagnum peat moss, perlite and biochar-crush wood charcoal)!.....I personally planted all my Nanas to the ground using pool filter silica (round grit) coarse sand!......So far has been working flawlessly in my Nanas!.....It's a beast!....


Good luck!......

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João Pedro

Oh yes, they are definitely going to the ground later on the year, maybe in early summer I guess, it all depends on how they respond and how fast they'll grow I'm very confident. I intend to use the same mix, my experience with it tells me that is good stuff, a bit low in nutrients but I intend to add some homemade compost that has very good nutrient value, then blend it with my native soil (99% sand) to encourage excellent drainage and to introduce some native fungi and microbial life. Last week I've already dug the site where the bananas should eventually go, buried all the grass that was growing there, by the time the bananas are big enough all the buried grass will be good black rich compost, bananas will love it. I can use some ingredients that you referred too that I have available. What do you think of my plans?

Thank you for all the advice, I'm going to continue with updates as needed.

HMelendez

Follow your plans!......Good luck!......

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luisport

Hello my friend! I advise you to don't plant them in the ground untill they got very big. I have to dig out all my banana trees from the ground because they suffer too much on winter and the most of them die down to the ground and regrowth on spring but not much.

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Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

João Pedro

Hi,

That's sad to know Luís. At what height do you recommend to plant in the ground?

These are Dwarf Brazilians research shows that they should reach 3m at the top of pseudostem at maturity.

luisport

The dwarf brazilian is one of the most hardy dessert bananas, wich is a good thing. What's the lowest temp you get? I could try to have them on big pots as much i could.

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Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

João Pedro

Usually 3ºC is the coldest we have, but only for a few hours and not every year. Most cold nights are on average over 5ºC, that's why I have so low chill if I have 300h of chill is a milacre . Near freezing or freezing is super rare, the last time that a light frost happened was in 2011 or 2012 I don't quite remember. This winter the coldest so far by the readings of the nearest weather station about 250m in a strait line was 4,9ºC.

My intention is to only plant the bananas when they reach about 50+ cm, what do you think?

luisport

You have a very good min temp! Maby you will not have problems like me with that. But still try to plant them as big size in the begining of spring next year...

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Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

João Pedro

Yes, is a good climate for subtropical plants. For a term of comparison I don't protect anything in my garden, peppers, passion fruit, plumeria, they all overwinter just fine, even in some locations without direct sun light. The direct influence of the sea just 1km away is crucial, high humidity levels year round doesn't allow for extreme temperatures as for low during Winter or high in summertime.

I guess I'll just wait and see how well/bad they'll grow, and decide later on the year if I plant or not, but I'll share with you first to help me decide.

Thanks for the tips.

luisport

Soo lucky you are! You should try other things like several annona types, carambola, black sapote, jackfruit, more tropical mangos, papaya, guavas , graviola, star apple, pitayas, lichees, moringa, mamey, etc!
Some ideas for you!

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Musa Rajapuri, D. Brazilian, D. Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon, Da Jiao (Himalayan Fruit), x Fruit, Himalayan Mountain, Helen's Hybrid, Patupi, Lacatan, Hajaray

Paw Paw Sunflower, Prima 1216, Potomac, KSU Atwood, Jerry's Big Girl, Al Horns, KSU Chapell

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-small-...-orchard/19936

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-pear-collection/55683

https://growingfruit.org/t/my-apple-collection/53104

João Pedro

Oh yes, I didn't mention it but I am growing some of those already like, avocado, cherimoya, carambola, mango, papaya, lemon guava, pitaya, surinam cherry and many other trees. I've tried jackfruit but for some reason it was always very chlorotic no matter what fertilizer I used so I got rid of them, my guess is that they evolved in very rich soil conditions that I can't afford to have, maybe some varieties are better than the ones I tried to grow. If space wasn't limited I would be growing all that you mentioned and others.

Now I am in the process of growing some pink guavas from seed, some say they take 8 weeks to germinate so I should get something in April.

HMelendez

Luis (luisport) is giving you very good advices/suggestions!....Just wait for the Nanas to get to a decent size before you considering transplant them to the ground!.....Luis has been on the forum for a while!....I still remembered when I helped him narrow down the mango selection list!....LOL.....Sadly, I lost all my fruiting trees during last year Hurricane (very bad girl) Irma!.....Lesson learned!.....Now, I just grow only Nanas!......More space to grow more Nana varieties!.......LOL.......Woohoo!......

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João Pedro

Luís is very helpful indeed. One of the reasons that I'm starting to grow bananas was doing research and finding this forum and Luís was one of the first people who reach me.

Is very sad that you lost your trees because of Irma. Are you from Florida? Is good to know that you are facing the situation and growing lots of bananas.

As for mangoes, here in Portugal the selection of cultivars is very limited but there are very good ones like Kent and Keith, they are the best from what we can get here, heaven when compared to other cultivars like Tommy (strings and more strings, only fiber) or Palmer (that one is more O.K.).

Bananas are only going to the ground when they reach good size.

HMelendez

Yes!........I'm in South Florida!......Located exactly in "Area 51"........

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