wordwiz

I ordered some plants which arrived yesterday and were transplanted into containers. Apple Banana, Musa Basjoo and Dwarf Cavendish. The first two are upstairs in a window and also under two 14 watt Red/Blue LED panels, the Cavendish is in my greenhouse.

So begins my growing banana experience!

Mike

CValentine

Welcome Mike!!!
I hear Manzano (Apple-banana) is the best tasting!!!

Glad to have you here with us!!
From Zone 8a, Central Texas!!! ~Cheryl

__________________
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix

AV1611Corbin777

Congrats of the plants I see more in your near future =]
Welcome to the forum also!
Now all we need is some pictures =]

__________________
The first law of thermodynamics, an expression of the principle of conservation of energy, states that energy can be transformed (changed from one form to another), but cannot be created or destroyed.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermod...thermodynamics

Eric

Congratulations on the new banana plants ! Had a feeling you'd be getting them about now! Noticed ya got some great soil-mix info from Richard in the soil thread. With the setups you're using, sounds like they'll do super! Hope you're not gettin too cold in Cincinatti. We're def freezing here in central Oklahoma. Best of Luck!

Abnshrek

I need to get me one those Apple jobbies too.. one these days :^) Good Luck growing..

__________________


I'm a Nannerhead :^)

wordwiz

Eric,

I saw brass monkeys heading for warm caves last evening.

It got down to 16 but my GH stayed at no less than 58 with the kerosene heater set as low I could get it to go. Currently, it is 26 outside and 59 inside but I am running only a couple of heaters: one 450 watt and another that is 1200 watts. But what surprises me is that they are running off a 15 amp breaker.

C21H30O2 - Here's a pic of the plants upstairs.



The Apple is on the left, the basjoo on the right.

Mike

Eric

I know what ya mean about the brass monkeys & warm caves! Even down here we got down to 19 degrees F Thursday night ! But it's been warming up (a bit) since then ! Nice setup ya have! Have grown Basjoo & Cavendish but haven't tried Apple yet. Been growin 2 Orinoco corms... as close to a heater as I can get them, LOL! Dont freeze up there and i sure hope it aint gonna be as bad a winter as some people think!
Oh, and thanx for the pic! They look great!

The Hollyberry Lady

wordwiz

Eric,

I'm using the same mix I grow tomatoes in, at least for the most part. I found that all dirt = compacted containers that allow a plant to grow, albeit slowly, to a semi-decent size then stop. All potting mix is even worse.

For years, I had a large spot in the garden where nothing, and I mean not even weeds or crabgrass would grow. In September, 2008, (on a Sunday) we had hurricane-force winds here for about three hours that toppled hundreds of large trees. It knocked out electricity to thousands of home, in my case until Friday. I spent the time tilling up a bunch of that ground and removing the top six inches of soil. Then, I sowed winter wheat on it.

Last spring, I used part of that dirt, mixed with compost in various stages of rotting and used potting mix in with the dirt and filled back in part of the area. It grew fantastic beans and carrots.

That's the same recipe I'm using for the maters and nanas. These were transplanted about five weeks ago:



I do tend to trim the bottom leaves off the plants, until they start developing blooms. I have 20 plants in about 35 sq. ft.

Hopefully, I'll have a vine-ripened tomato for Christmas!

Mike

Eric

Thanx for the info on soil mixes, Mike ! We have a 10' x 10' x 8' deep compost area in our back yard. Me & dad started it, years ago, mostly for mom so she could use it to pot plants with. I'm gonna try your method, for sure! We get some really strong winds (and some tornados) here and that ice storm, in December 2007, left us without power (for a week and 6 hours) and left huge tree limbs all over the yards. It was 3 whole trees that fell and knocked the power line off the back of the house, ouch! Discovered that life kind of s*cks without video-games for a week .
We grow tomatoes, too, and those are some really sweet tomato plants for only 5 weeks! Looks like I need to experiment some more, for sure!
Sorry, Richard, but looks like this guy's already got some super experience with soils!

jeffreyp

If the toppled trees are still available, get a chipper and grind them up for mulch/compost!

wordwiz

They aren't. One community, where their trees are treated like cows in India, hauled the cut up trees to a landfill, as they have more compost than they can give away to residents. That was a bad mistake. Bunches of green trees, rotting underground - produced one hard to put out fire!

Mike

Scott

Hey Wordwiz (Mike), do you have any pictures of your new plants?
And who did you order your plants from? Would like to see them.
I have quite a few Manzano Tall Brazilians and they produce great fruit! Ask my neighbors and friends hehehe
And post up where you are at...and Zone please.
Thanks and congrads on the new family members

__________________

wordwiz

Scott,

I got the plants from Ted Taylor of GreenEarth Inc. Extremely good prices and shipping. I've done business with Ted a few times and he is the one who may be responsible for me building a greenhouse. I posted pictures of two of the three at the beginning of the thread.

I'm in Cincinnati, (Zone 5, I think!)

Eric,

It's the compost tea. I have a bucket of dead leaves, green leaves I trim off plants, tea bags, onion peels - just about every thing I can find that is good goes into it, along with a bit of potting mix here and there. Once it starts decomposing, I'll pour a little water on it (the buckets have holes in the bottom) and let it drain. Repeat that several times) then bottle it. A week before I need it, I aerate it for several days. Add about a cup of this to each plant every other week until I see blooms starting.

Checked out some of my older plants this morning (I shake them each day to aid in pollination) and counted at least 13 toms, a couple larger than a quarter. I may have a ripe tomato for my Christmas meal!

Mike

Seaner

Hey Mike! That'd be totally sweet, to have fresh Toms on Christmas, for sure! I'll have my brother check the compost tea thing when he gets back. Just one thing. About how long does it take for the leaves/vegie thing to start decomposing? We'll def wanna try that out!

wordwiz

Seaner,

Never really paid that much attention! A lot depends on the heat, as well as the amount of green to brown material. I seldom use paper towels, large stems, egg shells or similar in the buckets - rather stuff that breaks down a bit quicker. Potato skins, toast or left over pieces of bread, table scraps as long as they do not have grease or oil on them. I start adding a bit of water once the bucket gets a few inches of material. Once it drains, I put the container in a different bucket and pour the "tea" on it again. Repeat a few times, usually adding an extra pint or two of water every week or so.

I bottom water all my seedlings and so always get a bit of potting mix in the water. I love adding that instead of tap or rain water. A side note: I love tomato-tone fertilizer, not just because it is organic but it also has a better N-P-K ration (not as much N) which is great for seedlings. So the water I am adding to the compost has trace amounts of fertilizer in it also.

No doubt, I am sold on this stuff, especially since it is about as free as it gets. From what I have read, nanas love water and ferts (at least outside in warm weather) and if so, I can't wait to use some tea on them this summer.

Mike