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Blossom · 03-08-2008, 03:07 PM

Hi All-
I've lurked for a few days, but decided to jump right in, so to speak, and ask what is probably a basic question of all you experts.

We have a banana tree in our back yard that is about seven or eight years old. It was given to us as a little sprout by our neighbor, who said the parent tree kind of bloomed, but never produced any real fruit or a real blossom. Our tree, which is taller than our one story house with leaves roughly 10 feet long, has the start of a bloom. I'd LOVE to get some fruit, and wonder if there's any chance we will. So...here are my very newbie questions:

1) Do banana trees need to pollinate with other banana trees to bear fruit?
2) Should I cover any fruit that starts with a plastic bag (my great grandmother used to do this with banana trees in her back yard in Los Angeles--my mom thinks this was to keep tarantulas out, but I'm wondering if it was for warmth).
3) Should we be feeding the tree at this point?
4) I know the tree will die after the bloom (which me makes in incredibly sad--I love this tree), what are the chances it will reproduce asexually and we'll find sprouts in the yard?

Thanks in advance for your answers and help!

(My avatar is the blossom as of last weekend).

ETA: We live in a temperate coastal climate and the parent tree came from a banana farm that used to be along the coast just south of Santa Barbara--I doubt we'll have any more frost this winter, but we don't get very warm here either.

03-08-2008, 03:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Blossom Blossom's Photo Gallery Zone: 9-10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 14 BananaBucks : 7,682 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Newbie Question Hi All- I've lurked for a few days, but decided to jump right in, so to speak, and ask what is probably a basic question of all you experts. We have a banana tree in our back yard that is about seven or eight years old. It was given to us as a little sprout by our neighbor, who said the parent tree kind of bloomed, but never produced any real fruit or a real blossom. Our tree, which is taller than our one story house with leaves roughly 10 feet long, has the start of a bloom. I'd LOVE to get some fruit, and wonder if there's any chance we will. So...here are my very newbie questions: 1) Do banana trees need to pollinate with other banana trees to bear fruit? 2) Should I cover any fruit that starts with a plastic bag (my great grandmother used to do this with banana trees in her back yard in Los Angeles--my mom thinks this was to keep tarantulas out, but I'm wondering if it was for warmth). 3) Should we be feeding the tree at this point? 4) I know the tree will die after the bloom (which me makes in incredibly sad--I love this tree), what are the chances it will reproduce asexually and we'll find sprouts in the yard? Thanks in advance for your answers and help! (My avatar is the blossom as of last weekend). ETA: We live in a temperate coastal climate and the parent tree came from a banana farm that used to be along the coast just south of Santa Barbara--I doubt we'll have any more frost this winter, but we don't get very warm here either.