Petey

Forgive me if I am usurping subsonicdrone here, but wanted to kick off a thread.

I currently have the following bananas in containers:

• double mahoi (one mom, two babies)
• likely namwah (sold as ice cream)
• viente cohol

I just split the pups off from the mahoi. This is one tough plant! I got it in summer 2021, and it has now survived two winters at my parents' cabin in NH, where the winters are mostly very dry, cold (house kept at 50F), and it only gets watered perhaps once a month, with bright indirect sun. It's gotten raggedy both winters but has come back strong, and has now produced four healthy pups (two each year).

I think I need to fertilize it now that it's in growth cycle.

I'll post the Namwah (four years old, six feet high, recently repotted and hopefully will bounce back from some struggles) and VC (new as of a few months ago, in a bucket) when I get home.

See below for the mama mahoi + babies.

https://i.imgur.com/7kpe6zV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QDw6Bkb.jpg

Petey

Well, I got home to good news and bad news.

The good news: my VC seems like it pushed out probably 2-3 leaves in the few days I was gone, and is overall pretty happy with the heat and rain, even at the cost of the sun.

https://i.imgur.com/J6fSGDw.jpg

The bad news: my venerable namwah, which I repotted 5 days ago from a 10 or so gallon clay pot to a 15 gallon metal pot (with drainage holes drilled in the bottom, and sandy tropical soil), and moved from inside my house (where it had appeared mostly healthy but drooping with some crispy brown edges, as it usually does in the summer when the sun gets too high, with some spider mites I wanted to douse with neem) to outside in dappled sunlight, seems to have...rotted almost overnight?

All of the leaves are brown or yellow and brown. Is there anything I can to do improve its chances of survival and growth? Do I just wait to see if new leaves get pushed through, or do I cut the stalk? I've never seen this before, even in other soggy bananas:

https://i.imgur.com/LxdmPIa.jpg

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Are you sure it is rot? Is the corm actually rotting? If it's just the leaves then it is probably shock from being repotted and moved to outside. If just leaves were lost then fertilize it with half strength liquid fertilizer and then definitely hold off on water. No leaves means it does not need water. If the underground parts are actually rotting then use hydrogen peroxide diluted with water to soak the corm.

Petey

No, I haven’t inspected the corm. I’ll move it into a more sheltered by rain location and give it a bit of Boomerang.

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

As soon as you see a new leaf emerging go ahead and give it as much sun as you can. The new leaf can take it as can all following leaves. If you want to move it to more shade towards the end of summer to get the late summer leaves to be used to indoor conditions then that would be ok.

Petey

*gene wilder voice* it's alive...IT'S ALIVE

https://i.imgur.com/7IuBFyz.jpg

subsonicdrone

no worries!
i think this one could get huge this season
ensete glaucum in a 55 gallon fabric pot


i also put a big mike in a 65 gallon pot but it is not growing quickly yet...

supposed blue java in a 35 ( i think) gallon fabric pot may end up the tallest potted plant this year... it has a good lead despite me dropping a tree branch on it

Petey

Question for @subsonicdrone or others:

This likely namwah (sold as blue java) is about 3 years old and 6" tall which is getting a little too tall for it to get sunlight in my house. Normally I have kept it in my house year around; it got lots of sunlight in the low sun of the winter and less (and got sad) in summer.

If I were to cut the p-stem shorter, to say 2 feet, what happens? Does it push up a new leaf and start again at that shorter height?

Is the downside risk mostly in the chance there is a flag/flower somewhere in there?

Petey

Repotted Mahoi doing well two weeks later. New baby already on mother plant.

https://i.imgur.com/yznh7em.jpg

Petey

Revived Namwah has 2 baby leaves; VC has a robust billion https://imgur.com/a/m58GlCb

cincinnana

I noticed in the background of the photo there are a few blue bags .

If that is Milorganite your banana plants, tropicals and hostas/landscape plants will benefit from it as a fertilizer.

It's like hot sauce .....Use it on everything.

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sirdoofus

Nice - looking good!

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Who keeps calling me nuts??

Petey

It’s Marine Cuisine from Fox Farm and it’s my primary fertilizer for tropicals — bananas seem to love it.

subsonicdrone

the namwa looks good i am reviving mine as well

Petey

Namwa revived with three babies (my first babies ever on this plant), and my Veinte is huge. About the move them inside in the next week or two.

If anyone has good suggestions for a large bucket for inside a decorative planter please let me know. I believe it measures 20" diameter and 20" high inside. So unfortunately a lot of the cheap farm buckets are just barely too big for it.

Texas_gal

Is that a jigsaw pepper in the pot on the right?

Petey

Yup! 3 years old — I bring it in and out every year.

Petey

Moved the bananas inside, but decided to put the VC in a 10 gallon pot inside a planter and take it to my office where there is a big sunny window. Problem is doesn’t fit in my car. Solution:

sirdoofus

Excellent solution and I am sure a good conversation starter on the train. Or did you just get a bunch of funny looks? I suspect the location you have picked for overwintering will work out just fine. Watch out though, the rest of the building may decide they want to keep it there

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Who keeps calling me nuts??

Petey

A few amused looks and. a few thrilled kids. It was nice.