microfarmer

Tissue Culture is a process of taking samples from the meristem, pureeing it, and growing it as hundreds of clones of the mother plant. the 'babies' come with very little corm and so can die without extra care.

You are right that the TC clones don't like a lot of water, but the established, full grown plant will need alot of water.

I ordered a couple plants off ebay and am positive they are TC plants. They came out well even though the box was crushed. I got mine in about 4 days after I ordered in (frozen) December. I recommend ordering from someone that'll give a full return guarantee.

I planted mine in 2 gallon containers and am keeping them in my living room. They are putting out a new leaf every 2 weeks. I watered them in when I transplanted them upon arrival, but have not watered them since. Until the weather warms up and the light gets brighter, I'll keep them inside and won't water or fertilize them unless they look like they are asking for water.

After I harden them off outside, I'll put them in their permanant spots and will increase the water as the plants get larger. A full grown banana will require alot of water/fertilizer if you are looking for fruit. If for just foliage, you can hold back on the water/fertilizer, but the growth rate will suffer.

Since your yard (and the banana's permanent locations) won't be ready til fall, you can keep them in large (20-50 gallon pot size) containers for this year or plant them all in in a single out of the way corner temporarily til they're final home is ready.

Depending on the variety, if you leave them in pots outside overwinter, the cold and freeze may damage the corm, but in the ground, the corm will survive (if not waterlogged thru the winter) even though the leaves and stem may die back.

If you get good growth in pots thru spring and summer, and if you can plant in the yard in early August, you might be able to get away with planting out in your yard this year in their permanant spots and have enough time for the plants to acclimate to their final homes before they go dormant.

If the yard isn't ready til after that, it's prolly best to leave them in the containers til spring 08 when you put them in their final places. The other option, if you planted in the 'out of the way' corner is to do what Big Dog does to overwinter his, which is to dig them up in fall and overwinter in a sheltered place.

Also, for their final home, plant them in a raised location to help with winter water draining so the corms don't rot.

Good luck!

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