edwmax

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Some of you know that I've been sweating blood over the possibility that I lost my 'real deal' Blue Java, FHIA 18, and fla Williams due to the 3 hard 12 hour + freezes we had this past winter. I got pups from the Blue Java and one pup from the Fla Williams this past week. So I'm down to the FHIA 18 (????). ... This morning I intended to dig up one of the FHIA 18 corms to inspect for any possible points for pups or if the corm is rotten.

When I got to the large Banana patch with a shovel & hoe in hand and ... ... this little girl was there. The pup came up in the past 24 hrs and is 3" at the pstem, about 6" overall.



So I have at least ONE FHIA18. ... I transplanted 3 FHIA18 pups last fall about 4 weeks before the first freeze. All 3 of those died. The pup is from one of the transplants. This next photo shows the holes (red arrows) left by the rotting corms. The new pup is on the right. So this was TOTALLY unexpected!



This next photo is of last years FHIA 18 mat. Those 3 stumps/corms fruited last year. They are still hard, but no pups and last years big pups have rotted away. I raked the soft & rotten mush off the corm last week with a hoe. ... Since I now have one 18 pup, I'm not digging out one of these now. I think more pups are still possible and I believe I saw some white roots around one of the corms.




The Blue Java pushed pups late last week. I had saved a Blue Java pup to the green house for a backup if I lost the mat during the winter. That pup is doing fine and will be replanted soon. Several of these are last years pups regrowing; these are this years fruiters.



Also, I transplanted 3 pups to a new mat last fall. Two of those pup died and only one came back. The red arrow point to the holes left by the rotted corms.



I transplanted 3 Fla. Williams to a new mat last fall. Two of those pups died and only only one came back. There is no growth in last years mat.



The FHIA 1 pushed a pup5 days ago and a new one in the last 24 hrs. Note also, how bad and mushy the mother corm is. ... As big as the FHIA 1 & 18 corms were I never thought I could lose these over the winter.



This is an over view of the Banana patch. This time last year the plants were standing5 & 6 ft tall. It is about 6 weeks behind last year, so fruiting anything here is going to be difficult.

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edwmax

I applied more fertilizer and some murate of potash this morning. Fertilizer was also applied about 3 weeks ago. So the total for the month is 40 lbs of 10-10-10 and 22 lbs of 0-0-60 (today). ... Next application is the first week of June.

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HMelendez

Max!.......


Woohoo!......Awesome!.....This past winter was a very long one, but finally it's over!......I'm glad that your Nanas are recovering, they are coming back!....

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beam2050

this winter was a bad one. good come back there ed. hope you get some fruit. been raining over there with this storm off the coast?

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

edwmax

It's been raining ... all last week ... predicted all this week too. That's part of the reason I fertilized again yesterday, so the rain would wash the fertilizer in.

This nana patch is about 60 days behind last years. My last freeze was in March. Most all the growth shown in the pics are from NEW pups and not pstems regrowing.. ALL last years pups are dead and the corms that lived had to grow new roots. ... I lost about 1/2 of the corms in each mat.

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beam2050

your pics weren't working for me this morning, without pics it sounded better than it actually looks. guess there will be more pups in the greenhouse next year. hopefully youll be seeing more pups come up with this rain.

I assume this drought we had in this part of the country was hitting you to. I had pups appearing when it first started raining.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

edwmax

I've been watering the small nana patch (at the house) twice a day for the past 2 weeks or so because of the drought. The ground got really dry.

Yes, more pups will be saved to the greenhouse next fall for backups. About 2 of each. Then if the mats recover without replanting the pups, I'll make those available for trade in the spring. ... I'm still trying to expand that patch by transplanting the extra pups. ... I should have though ahead and done this for the past winter.

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beam2050

pretty tough to see the future and be all knowing. I got a feeling that drought hurt as much as anything. I watered 2 hours or more almost every other night and I still have a few floundering

break a banana

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5