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edwmax · 08-05-2018, 09:57 AM

Banana Patch Update: No Christmas in October!

This was what I had same time last year: I had about 80 to 90 plants growing here.

This is the same patch now:

This has been a disaster for the patch. Except for a few pstems of the Dwf Brazilian and Dwf Namwah every plant you see came from new pups this year. ...What this means is 'No Banana Bunches'. These pups are not old enough. ... I lost more than half of my established plants. There is less than 40 plants growing. … Plus since 1^st of July I’ve had more than 10” of rain. These plants are standing in soggy ground. ... In this patch, I had planed to have 130 plants or more growing by the end of this year.

Due to the rain washing away the fertilizer I put out, I foliar sprayed these plants this morning. The spray was 80 g of Miracle Grow; 4 g of SOP; and 1 ~~Tsp~~ Tbsp of Epson salt to a gallon of water. The gallon barely covered the 40 (??) plants. … This was why I made the thread about foliar spray and nitrogen content. The spray is much stronger ( 5.6 Xs) than Miracle Grow’s directions but still inline or less than what is normally used on bananas by the commercial growers.

Next the Small Patch: Actually this is my nursery patch where I try raise the pups to expand the large patch or trade off. ... I basically disagree with the practice of thinning or removing pups from the mat. As hobby farmers we can afford to add the extra fertilizer needed by the pups. It's not that much. Where as the Commercial growers don't need the pups nor the extra expense. ... So now these pups are needed to replenish the large nana patch and again no extras to trade this year. ... I think a couple of our members just learned this lesson: lost more than half of their plants and no pups to replant.

Actually this patch is doing good. I only lost my 'one' Gran Nain here. Anyone have an extra they can send???

Ty’s VCs; Pagie and the Huo Moe (I saved from the Large Patch last winter).

The 2 large pots in the back with tall plants: Pagie on the left and Huo Moe on the right. Both of these really started growing in the last 2 weeks. They got very yellow looking, so with 2 weak foliar sprays in the past 5 days they have greened up a good bit. This morning I spray them & the patch with the new mix.

Next row of 3 pots are the VCs: The 2 pots on the left are the original plants Ty sent. One just put out a pup last week. The 3^rd pot, that’s was a problem Vc. The mother corm die back twice and then rotted away. The pup die back 3 times, then rotted away. The 2 pups you see are from 2 pieces of the mother corm I salvaged and cleaned. The pieces were about the size of half dollar cut from the side of the corm with a node. … 2 new pups growing like crazy. The pieces were planted in sand which is on top of potting soil (bottom ½ of pot). When I moved the pot, roots were already coming out the bottom. … So don’t just throw a bad rotten corms away if you can salvage any nodes.

Next row of 2 pots: This is the FHIA 18 on the left and a Williams (Fla) on the right. As you can see both of these are still small. But both have put on a little height (almost double) in the past week or so. I hope the foliar spray will push these to grow more. … I’ll keep these in the pot over the winter. It’s too late in the year to plant to the ground. I'm afraid we will have and early fall and cool weather. Night time temps are already dropping into the low 70°s.

The front row: Are 3 pots of my Truly Tinys. The pot on the left has 3 pups & Mama; the other 2 pots are singles.

That’s my update. It’s been a really disappointing year for the bananas. … It’s 5:30 now (Saturday) and been steady raining for the past 1 ½ hours. Just what the Large Nana patch needs. I think I need to learn how to grow hydroponicly in the mud.

08-05-2018, 09:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
edwmax Location: Cairo, Ga Find me on the map! Zone: 8b Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 2,891 BananaBucks : 115,407 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1,740 Times Was Thanked 4,437 Times in 2,093 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 414 Times	Update 2018 on my Banana Patches Banana Patch Update: No Christmas in October! This was what I had same time last year: I had about 80 to 90 plants growing here. This is the same patch now: This has been a disaster for the patch. Except for a few pstems of the Dwf Brazilian and Dwf Namwah every plant you see came from new pups this year. ...What this means is 'No Banana Bunches'. These pups are not old enough. ... I lost more than half of my established plants. There is less than 40 plants growing. … Plus since 1^st of July I’ve had more than 10” of rain. These plants are standing in soggy ground. ... In this patch, I had planed to have 130 plants or more growing by the end of this year. Due to the rain washing away the fertilizer I put out, I foliar sprayed these plants this morning. The spray was 80 g of Miracle Grow; 4 g of SOP; and 1 ~~Tsp~~ Tbsp of Epson salt to a gallon of water. The gallon barely covered the 40 (??) plants. … This was why I made the thread about foliar spray and nitrogen content. The spray is much stronger ( 5.6 Xs) than Miracle Grow’s directions but still inline or less than what is normally used on bananas by the commercial growers. Next the Small Patch: Actually this is my nursery patch where I try raise the pups to expand the large patch or trade off. ... I basically disagree with the practice of thinning or removing pups from the mat. As hobby farmers we can afford to add the extra fertilizer needed by the pups. It's not that much. Where as the Commercial growers don't need the pups nor the extra expense. ... So now these pups are needed to replenish the large nana patch and again no extras to trade this year. ... I think a couple of our members just learned this lesson: lost more than half of their plants and no pups to replant. Actually this patch is doing good. I only lost my 'one' Gran Nain here. Anyone have an extra they can send??? Ty’s VCs; Pagie and the Huo Moe (I saved from the Large Patch last winter). The 2 large pots in the back with tall plants: Pagie on the left and Huo Moe on the right. Both of these really started growing in the last 2 weeks. They got very yellow looking, so with 2 weak foliar sprays in the past 5 days they have greened up a good bit. This morning I spray them & the patch with the new mix. Next row of 3 pots are the VCs: The 2 pots on the left are the original plants Ty sent. One just put out a pup last week. The 3^rd pot, that’s was a problem Vc. The mother corm die back twice and then rotted away. The pup die back 3 times, then rotted away. The 2 pups you see are from 2 pieces of the mother corm I salvaged and cleaned. The pieces were about the size of half dollar cut from the side of the corm with a node. … 2 new pups growing like crazy. The pieces were planted in sand which is on top of potting soil (bottom ½ of pot). When I moved the pot, roots were already coming out the bottom. … So don’t just throw a bad rotten corms away if you can salvage any nodes. Next row of 2 pots: This is the FHIA 18 on the left and a Williams (Fla) on the right. As you can see both of these are still small. But both have put on a little height (almost double) in the past week or so. I hope the foliar spray will push these to grow more. … I’ll keep these in the pot over the winter. It’s too late in the year to plant to the ground. I'm afraid we will have and early fall and cool weather. Night time temps are already dropping into the low 70°s. The front row: Are 3 pots of my Truly Tinys. The pot on the left has 3 pups & Mama; the other 2 pots are singles. That’s my update. It’s been a really disappointing year for the bananas. … It’s 5:30 now (Saturday) and been steady raining for the past 1 ½ hours. Just what the Large Nana patch needs. I think I need to learn how to grow hydroponicly in the mud. __________________ Last edited by edwmax : 08-05-2018 at 11:10 AM.