Eric

This is the, well, 2nd time I've tried to grow bananas from corms. The first was a Bordelon but it kind of disintegrated . These "seem" to be doin okay but I'm Very worried. The first one looks like it's pushing up a green leaf so maybe it's okay. The second one, though, is pushing up good but looks Real yellow and there's a hollow space in the middle, yikes! The p-stems are solid, no soft spots, yay!
Am growin them indoors near sunny windows. Keep them around 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). Been giving them Very little water. What I need to know is what I should do now. Would Very Much Appreciate any help I can get . Here's a pic of the first & two pics of the other one (the yellow looking one):







Thanx for any advice ya can offer!

Abnshrek

It's fine I'd stay on track. The next thing you'll see is a leave out the hole unless something changes in conditions.

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Bob

They look like they're growing. Keep them as warm as you possibly can and they should push out soon.

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Dalmatiansoap

They are doing fine. Just keep good eye on watering and dont warry.
Patience

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Eric

Thanx for the info, guys ! Guess I am over-worrying. And Thanx again for the Orinocos, Bob ! Just cant wait to see them with leaves!!

djmb74

I would stop your worrying, all the Orinoco's I planted even from just chopped up roots took off like weeds eventually. From what I noticed out of all the varieties I have gotten the Orinoco's seem to be the hardest to kill and grow like gangbusters.

Its probably just not finished spreading out its roots yet.

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Bob

Yeah they are tough indeed. I know of some that traveled half way around the world in a box and were sent back and still survived

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LilRaverBoi

Looks and sounds like you're doing the right things, so just keep doing them. I'm sure they'll take off in a month or two once they get situated!

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Eric

Thanx, guys !

Wow! Were those the ones that were sent from the North side of Jersey to the South side of Jersey !! Gotta Luv USPS, LOL!!

A month or two !? That's way past Christmas even!! U R Def right about the patience thing! But, when i have 2 Orinocos, it'll be Def worth it !!
Just need to find a way to get Christmas to get here faster. That always takes forever.

Clare_CA

I'm in the same worrying place as you are. I got two Dwarf Orinoco's in September. They were big beefy corms. One rotted, but one is growing and looks a lot like yours. It did take over a month for the one corm to show some growth. I cleaned it up a bit.

This was on September 9th when it was planted:



These two pics were taken on October 23:





This is the same one today, over two months later on November 15:




This was the other one that didn't make it:





Good luck with yours! I bet it will be fine under the conditions in which you have it. Mine is in the ground and will have to go through our winter.

Richard

Eric, the place to check your pots is at the holes in the bottom. If the soil there is moist, then wait until it is less than moist. Note that in terms of wetness, soggy means very saturated, and moist is less than soggy. Make sure your pot is not sitting on a plate or in a tray that traps moisture in the pot. If so, put spacers on the plate so you can see any water that is draining out of the pot and discard it on a daily basis.

Clare - Here you see irrigation operating on a dwarf Orinoco and other bananas (beyond photo). The water for these plants in the ground comes on once per week for 5 minutes, controlled by an automatic valve. The potted plants you see are watered on a different schedule by a different valve. The red valve you see is controlling the water volume delivered to the potted plants. Notice there is 4 inches of 1-inch mulch covering the soil in the planter and also an inch of 1/4 inch mulch in each pot.

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Dalmatiansoap

This is great done Richard

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TommyMacLuckie

Those orinocos look like they are planted too deep.

I dig up corm chunks (when moving plants) and tend to throw them into the bushes or they end up in a compost pile. I'll forget about them and then one day I notice a banana growing where I didn't plant anything. But that is a rare thing - usually they just die.

There is a dwarf cavendish I dug up that I just set down one day and forgot about it. It's hilarious - has a nice amount of fruit on it right now and tons of pups.

Clare_CA

Thanks, Richard. You are right that I'm probably watering too much. I know you mentioned the mulch to me before, and I have been adding it slowly to all my bananas but have not gotten to that part of the yard yet.

Five minutes once per week is a lot less than what I am giving my bananas. Most of my bananas are on a soaker hose and run for several hours, several times a week. My soil does dry out exceedingly fast, especially with the heat waves and drying winds. I'll work on putting the mulch on though over the next week or so. The other bananas in the same area seem to be doing okay thankfully.

Richard

Clare, my bananas are planted about as deep as yours. Those sprinkler heads you see are called "streamers". They deliver water to a reasonably wide area without generating a significant amount of spray -- which would quickly evaporate in your or my climate. I am estimating that each plant is getting 15 gallons per week from the 5 minutes of watering. You might need the same every 5 days in the summer with your fast draining soil.

When I set up watering I always have fun measuring the output per plant. You could do the same by throwing your soaker hose (at least a section of it) in a barrel and running it for 10 or 30 minutes. Then go ahead and estimate how much water you've been giving those corms.

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Eric

Richard: I just checked the big holes in the bottom of the 2 pots. The soil is damp (feels lightly wet but doesn't make my finger wet). Thanx about the "raised pot" thing! Will remember that! The holes in these pots are on the sides & bottoms. Am considering changing to using smart pots, but not till spring. The yellow looking corm has water in the top, outer rings & is soft. Guess I should cut that off. The other one is still firm.

Tommy: Thanx! I only planted deep enough to cover the roots.

Richard

For "tropical understory" plants that enjoy wet soil and are sold as house plants -- smart pots work well. For other plants like bananas, I think it can be slow death by root rot. I don't sell them or recommend them to my customers.

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Eric

Thanx Richard ! I'll Def NOT use smart pots for plants that don't like too much water, then.
The top of the yellow looking p-stem was like a soggy sponge. It was black around the outer surface & if ya squeezed it, water came out of the top, outer rings Real easy. I carefully cut that off down to drier stuff. I also cut off a little of the top of the growing, inner stem to be safe. It wasn't water saturated, though, and no soft spots on it.
Also, no soft spots on the lower P-stem.
Will quit watering that one for a while & reduce watering when I restart.
Also, have set the pot near a heater to help dry the soil up & keep it warmer.