subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

well to kick it off...
i finally checked on my "dormant" box of bananas
i was really hoping to see a bunch of green stems in there... but instead it was a giant pile of mush
too wet and possibly too cold.. cant say for sure
i will attempt this again some time.. but not in the foam box
in a root cellar or something similar
one small plant which was sitting on top of everything else made it... it might be a basjoo
the dwarf orinoco was the most promising of the remaining ones
i planted it in the front yard.. hopefully it wakes up
i have started the process of bringing the plants out from the basement so i will update this later today

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i had to work today so i did not get them all out
tomorrow i should get some help with a few of the bigger plants

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

all of my plants except my two fruiting pineapples have been brought out now

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

lots of transplanting and potting up this weekend
this dwarf green will stay in the same container though

the basjoo is growing, it has a tomato plant beside it now


these are the first banana plants i have ever planted in the front yard
from left to right
mystery seedling, "ice cream" hopefully tall namwa, basjoo


the pots on the roof got veto'd
it wasnt really necessary anyways since all the "dormant" ones in the garage died
there will be more room in the yard this year

see pics below V V V V

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Sorry to hear about the boxed plants, otherwise looking good. Should be fun to fill out the now vacated spaces. Thanks for posting.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

You plants kept very well in your indoor grow room.
And you basjoos are doing what they do...busting loose:)

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

considering it snowed lightly for over an hour last week the plants are doing fairly well
here are the ones in the front yard

and a close up of the mystery seedling


the backyard:

in that pic you can see my fastest growing plant right now
as cincinnana said its busting loose... the basjoo which overwintered outside

which is showing some red on the underside of the leaf as it unfurls as well

but also the new leaves are very light green... am i not giving enough nitrogen cincinnana?
i have started putting coffee grinds down and peeing there... now that i think of it i might put down some fish fert too

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Amazing....your plants look just like mine.

Your leaves will come up light green and darken as they mature and unravel.
The burgundy sheen on the underside of the leaf is an added bonus.
Make room for pups:)

NOW is the time to hit the plants with the fertilizer of your choice.
Use what you can afford.
I purchase most garden stuff at end of season sales or broken bags at the big box.
A general garden/turf fertilizer will keep the plants well fed.

Locally some basjoo and pro rose growers growers fertilize their plants when there is no growth (Said whaaaat). Hostas too!
This gives the plants a great start and feeds them when when they need it.

Great grow space.....and garden.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

well the weather has been up and down some hot days but also 11C forecasted overnight soon
here is a group shot
the basjoo is on the left in the background
in the foreground from left to right are:
pisang keling with the nice coloured underside to the unfurling leaf, dwarf namwa, thai black, supposed blue java
on the right is the matoke east african highland banana
which is growing quickly!


gros michel did not like being snowed on but is recovering


the basjoo is still the fastest growing


the plants in the front yard:

the mystery seedling could be a musa thomsonii

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

we had a strong storm blow through including hail
it shredded the plants a bit but i think they liked all the rain!


my mystery seedling in the front yard has a couple pups now!

it sprouted along with two others that were in a container where i had put all my seeds which had not germinated
one died the other was a little slower growing
i thought at first that they were the same variety but it is clear now that they are not

what tipped me off to the difference was where the leaf meets the petiole

different from the one in the frontyard which has ear lobe type leaf shape where the leaf meets the petiole... that feature had me thinking the one out front might be musa thomsonii

i am stoked to have another variety and it will be interesting to try and figure out which type it is

here is an update on the basjoo....


a pic of the pretty p stem on the lacatan


also a couple non banana pics.. my sago and madagascar palm are producing new leaves

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Looking good!!

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Great job. Thanks for sharing your pics

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

sorry about your plants.
Waiting to see the Matoke/East African highland banana plant , I have checked your Gallery several times I cant find it . please pictures, I have high hopes for the offsprings. I think they produced it once and never again

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Subsonicdrone,

Plants great. Tahnk you for sharing them. Good luck with your seedlings. Can't wait to see what varieties they are.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Your garden is amazing....

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

thanks everyone... i will post up some pics on the weekend
i was just out there and they have grown since i saw them last
i saw a hummingbird at the monarda on the weekend and it is starting to look nice

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

so i took a lot of pictures and also a video which it a bit blurry since the sun was still coming up but it turned out good because i caught the hummingbird at the monarda toward the end of the video
https://vimeo.com/576393995
i made a folder for the pics so you can see them all there but i will post a few here as well
https://ibb.co/album/3B3J2R
starting with the pics of the matoke as requested.... my gallery on the site here has been full for some time now.. i upload them elsewhere





the mystery seedling out front has 3 pups now and i noticed yesterday that my supposed blue java has 3 pups as well, here is a pic


i planted some sugar cane stems and to my suprise a banana plant had sprouted in the centre of that pot. another mystery!


this mystery seedlings morphology has changed a bit as it gets bigger.. for a while i was hoping it was velutina


its a bit blurry but here is a pic of the hummingbird at the monarda


dwarf green:


this dwarf puerto rican is growing nicely!


my balbisiana is not growing dangerously fast... but is chugging along


big mike had a couple setbacks but is grooving now


you can see the rest of the pics if you go through the folder i linked

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

this poor plant... i am about to give it more soil
its a banana snowman!

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

for some reason after i added dirt to the pot the banana in the last photo got torn to shreds by an animal

here is that matoke again... it is one of my fastest growing plants right now



the plants are on a roll...




i might start marking the hydro pole with dates and plant heights :)
soon the no parking sign will be a good marker to track the growth in pics

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Your garden looks very green and bushy:)

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

cincinnana, thank you for showing what basjoo should look like
they really do like spending the winter outdoors
my biggest basjoo by a long shot

i like wstrickland's funny names for banana plants
i think i might start calling my basjoo : count trunkula


my balbisiana decided to start growing fast


this mystery seedling is growing fast as well... its a beauty



another beauty in the garden is the pisang keling
it has a pink sheen on certain angles on the underside



a curly end to the cigar on thai black

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Count Trunkula is a beast!!!

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

so i did some transplanting and the balbisiana and mystery seedling seem to like their new container


big mike is getting bigger


as are the ones out front... you can see the no parking sign now for future reference of height


count trunkula


new look to the pisang keling


my supposed blue java in the 65 gal pot is pulling away from the rest.. i thought the matoke might outgrow it at one point.. thai black is still in the race.. but lagging



in other news something ate one of my pineapples last night! i managed to salvage half of it. i had a cage around the fruit but did not secure it well enough

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Beautiful landscape as always! Did I spy a plant that would make the likes of Bob Marley happy? :)

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i went out of town for a week and some friends watered for me while i was gone and during that time my pisang keling got knocked over
one good thing i noticed a couple days ago is that my hua moa is flowering!
not the most thriving of specimen so i do not have super high hopes for the fruit but it will be interesting regardless
i need to get a prop going because the stem is rather thin


the ones out front are growing nicely... the ice cream (hopefully tall namwa) has a bunch of pups now


i was wondering since both plants are balbisiana if the edge of the leaf would curl on my balbisiana var balbisiana well that has been answered here is the thai black (balbisiana atia black)

and here is the balbisiana var balbisiana


which is growing nicely.. here you can see it is much taller than the monarda now

here are those two plants again with the taller bananas in the background


they are in a slightly different part of the yard this year but the thai black and the plumeria are still neighbours


a pic from the back deck.. you can see some of the damage to the pisang keling
it is being propped up with a chair for now


in this pic you can see the flowering hua moa on the left side
left to right behind the hua moa: thai black, supposed blue java, matoke, basjoo and big mike on the far right...sorry i only named the tallest ones.. lots of others in that pic as well


the thai black, supposed blue java and matoke are dukeing it out for tallest plant in the yard


so far the supposed blue java has been holding its early lead...
it was the tallest when it came outside in the spring
its pups are starting to get bigger as well


last but not least... the count (anyone watch the hilarious house of frightenstien?)

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Beautiful looking plants and spotless foliage.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Beautiful landscape as always!

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

What zone are you in again? You obviously work very hard on your plants. Very nice work.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i am in toronto, canada
it is hard to say what zone i am in since apparently the US and CAD zone maps are not compatible
"The United States Department of Agriculture hardiness map and the Canadian hardiness map shouldn't be used interchangeably. The two systems differ anywhere from half a zone (warmer or colder) to as much as two zones, preventing an exact exchange or even a standard means for conversion."

likely around 6 though

thanks everyone, i will post some frequent updates on the flower as it has changed even since yesterday
see pic below v v v v v v

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Seriously nice work up there. I mean you're practically at Santa's Workshop for cryin out loud. Amazing garden in ANY location but damn....

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

starting to see bananas!

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yesterday morning:


this morning:


ten bananas showing so far

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i pruned the male flower bud off


i put a balbisiana seedling next to the mekong giant to compare growth rate
surprisingly the mekong giant is holding its own
it was growing very slowly in the spring


this mystery seedling is now looking different from the one out front with the splotching on the leaf
it has no pups whereas the one out front has 5


the plants out front


pic i took from the stepladder


count trunkula

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

That's Awesome! Do you have a place to put that Hua Moa so those bananas can continue to develop?

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

my plan is to let them develop as much as possible outside and then cut down the main stem...
dig up the corm and pup and plant into a smaller container
the one pup is my only copy at this point
the plant is already a little unhappy with the cooler weather





here are a couple pics of my latest mystery seedling which popped up unexpectedly in some sugar cane i had buried in a pot
i am hoping it is velutina!

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i took a pic from one of the 2nd floor windows


the balbisiana is growing fast
that is it in the middle trying to join all the tall banana plants

here is the balbisiana at another angle


another smaller balbisiana on the left, mekong giant on the right


hua moa



thai black


my white jade pineapple looks like it is ripening

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i moved a tomato plant out of the way to show the thai black a little better


here are the plants out front
i noticed the mystery seedling has matured to the point where the underside of the unfurling leaf is no longer red



different angle


my tallest sugar cane


the balbisiana grew like crazy


more pics

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Wow, you have a TON of stuff crammed into that space, but it all looks really good. Lotta bananas though. If one didn't know better, one might think you were on a banana forum or something...

I see some raised beds in there too, but then again, I'm really into raised beds so I notice them.

Loo-king goo-ood! :08:

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

thank you both!
new page needs new pics!

you can see there are some leaves yellowing
especially on the hua moa which is ready to throw in the towel i think
it is probably the most cold sensitive one in my garden



i have been noticing lots of tiny pups breaking the surface so hopefully they continue to grow
sometimes the cold weather makes them stop growing
lots of my "new" varieties are making their first pup or two
the plants slowed right down the other week when it was cold but are still slowly growing
i gave a little too much fish fert to the balbisiana and a few deformed leaves came out but it has sorted itself out



the forecast looks good still... could end up being the plants longest season outside since they came out a little early this year as well

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

The tomatoes are filling out nicely......:woohoonaner:

The palm is a keeper too.

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

here are some pics i took in the morning...
the yard looks different now as i spent a good part of the day bringing plants inside
i did not get them all in though, i will have to continue tomorrow
some are staying out a little longer and i will store those ones dormant
a basjoo out front and the one that got big in the backyard will be mulched and left outside all winter
here is the one in the backyard that got big... count trunkula


this balbisiana is now in the front hallway


the thai black and matoke are also in the front hallway now



the plumeria is now inside by the sliding door.. it looks a lot bigger now that it is inside


i will post some more pics tomorrow

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

i thought i would have more room in the basement this year because the plan is to have some in the hallway but i still have a fairly crowded basement... still trying to get them organized in there with pathways for watering


i cut the bunch off the hua moa... it had started to fill in slightly but they were tiny
i dug up the hua moa pup and corm and potted them in a smaller container
there are still some which are outside which i plan to separate a pup and store dormant

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

the plants which are outside still are looking good
including the big mike
some plants which have come inside are doing what they normally do... loosing leaves
like this amberella ... happens every winter
seems like the plumeria is staring to loose some too
this weekend i will have to dig up plants to store them dormant

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

bit of a rainy day but i worked on getting the plants out
the "ice cream" out front got pretty thick towards the end so i wanted to measure it and compare to count trunkula
they ended up being the same circumference
"ice cream" (hopefully tall namwa) :


"count trunkula" (basjoo) :


chopped leaves off


dug them up and removed some pups:


i havent actually brought them inside yet... might do that tomorrow

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

How many seasons have you dug up and replanted those beasties?

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

those ones in the front yard were babies in the spring.. so none
hopefully my dormant storing attempt goes a little more smoothly this time
it would be nice to plant some big stems out in the spring
the biggest plant in the spring when i brought them outside was my supposed blue java
thats me holding the pstem in the pic below... it was my tallest plant this year
that one was on its 2nd season but it has been in a pot this whole time

so i have been working on getting plant ready for overwintering outside
i got some chips from work and piled them up....
then thought maybe it was too much too soon but also a friend needed some for his plants so i have taken away some of the pile in the pics below and brought them to his plants and i will add more in a month or so when it gets colder

Re: subsonicdrone's 2021 thread
 

Nice - Looking forward to seeing how they come through the winter. I am assuming that is a basement you have those guys in?