Hope everyone in banana world is doing well. I recently received a Tall Namwah, Tall Orinoco, Dwarf Orinoco, and Manzano corms from my buddy Ty, Tytaylor77 here on the forum. I can't express my gratitude enough and how much of a really cool dude he is. He really knows his stuff when it comes to bananas and he guided me through the whole corm process.
I just started growing bananas this spring with some Basjoo pups and now, just like everyone else here, I'm hooked and wanted to start growing some edible varieties. With autumn on the horizon, my plan is to get the corms going and then bring them inside to my winter grow setup just before the cooler weather hits to get a jump start on next spring.
Here's how the corms looked when I received them. The roots looked great and not hacked up like others I see on the forum from people who always sell corms. They were packaged awesome for shipping!
5 gallon pots
The latest pics below are after just under a month from when I planted the corms. I kept them outside in the shade and out of the rain so the roots can establish nicely and I could 100% control the water they receive.
Tall Orinoco. 3 weeks until a new green leaf.
Dwarf Orinoco. 3 weeks until a new green leaf.
The Manzano below is about to bust out a new green leaf any minute. I can see the bright green leaf through the white part of the P-stem. Since the new green leaf is about to happen any second, I'll call this one 4 weeks.
The Tall Namwah below was the most interesting. This corm really mushed up quick and I thought it was done for. I just kept carefully cutting off the mushy parts with a new razor and tried to air it out as much as possible. At one point, I was even carefully soaking up the water coming out of the corm with a paper towel until I could tell the mushing was getting under control and bouncing back with a very light shade of green. 3 weeks until a new green leaf.
They're now out of total shade in about 2-3 hours of sun per day and they seem to be very healthy and stoked to be living! I'll post updated pics from time to time if anyone wants me to and I'll definitely post some pics of them in my winter setup once they get moved in. It's official, I'm a banana plant addict!