Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

What is considered to be "best practice" for the "home grower" to grow young TCs that apparently are just out of the rooting tray & greenhouse. I have not found much info for these.

I bought 5 plants the beginning of November. 2 appear to be dead and the stalk of the 3rd has collapsed after about 2 months. I closely watched and metered the potting soil moisture trying to keep the plants from giving too dry and the potting soil too wet.

2 Plants (one is the one that collapsed) were not looking good last week. I started giving these water every day. That was the way they were watered (or more) in the greenhouse. 1 is now growing and looking good while the other collapsed. These plants are inside and under a grow light.

The next TCs I buy, I will re-pot in sand so they can be watered once or twice and spray mist on the foliage daily until there is good leaf and height growth.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

Check this thread: http://www.bananas.org/f310/richards...tml#post296373

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

Thanks for the link, but that is for "field ready" plants. TC plantlets from Florida Hill Nursery & like suppliers are not "field ready" nor potted house plant ready for that matter. ... These (new) TC plantlets will not survive those procedures ... yet.

These plantlets have just been harden from in vitro to open air greenhouse shaded environment with a mist system. The plantlets have just grown its first roots, but have not grown a corm of any size.

To get the plantlets "field ready" they still need filtered sunlight and constant moisture until they grow the corm and obtain plant size. Then be acclimated to normal sunlight and outside environment. ... I've seen the micro prorogation videos for this, but this was for mass production in a shade house.

So that is my question ... does someone have a 'best practice' system to accomplish growing the TC and hardening it off to be 'field ready".

MY thoughts or what I will try with the next TC's:
** re-pot to sand and water with fertilizer twice a day (1/4 cup) tapering off as the plant grows. This is to keep fresh water to the roots and reduce root rot from excess stale water until obtaining stalk and corm size for self storage of water.

** Mist the plant daily with a spray bottle with water-fertilizer foliage mixture to assist plant, root and corm growth. This is how the in-vitro worked and the greenhouse misting system while the plantlet grew roots.

** Keep plantlets inside with filtered sunlight or grow lights until ready to be acclimated to the outside environment.

Dose anyone have a better way or additional suggestions?

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

I put them in the ground here in central Florida where it is all sand anyway with some Black Kow and water daily until they grow a couple leaves, then taper to every other day. I put a lawn chair up to protect from mid day sun exposure.(They still got morning and evening sun.) I did this with three tender TC starts and all three took off and grew a corm in a month or two. After they began growing I removed the chair.
Nothing fancy, but it worked. I am a firm believer that plants like it best outside in the ground where God made them to be.
I have had several plants of different kinds that were near death I found in people's trash, markdown bins and that people gave me and once they were in the ground, BAM! off they would go.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

That's basically what I was doing. Repotted to 6 inch pots and set them at a morning sunny window under a grow light and kept a close check on the water. The Grand Nam and another died; the Gros Mich collapsed ( i think it might come back). They are inside for the winter because the 26 deg F we had a few weeks ago would have killed them. ... Any way I'm trying to improve the success rate; 60% loss sucks.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

No it isn't. And if you have further questions send me a PM so I can update the guide.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

first, forget the 4 inch pots. I haven't had any nanners survive in them. they last about a month maybe 2 and end up with what you just described. 2nd to much water and I think that is why they die in 4 inch pots, no room to breath and stay to wet. I bought 7 what are supposed to be blue javas from wellspring gardens the end of September, potted them in one gallon pots. I haven't watered them in a month, by my gauge, the soil is still moist and in this cooler weather they are putting out a leaf in 8 days. I going to have to raise my igloo style green house because they are growing to fast. I got 3 zebrinas and 3 sumatrana x from well spring gardens last week, their in 6 inch pots and except for one they all are throwing out leaves. and the pups are throwing out leaves. these are on the table in the dining room. I gave them about a quarter cup of water when I potted them. I have a really nice nain pup in a gallon pot if you want it.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

I have never seen anything do well in a 4 inch pot. Always too dry then too wet. Plants are always stressing. I agree.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

@Beam

Just so we are not talking apple & oranges, what was your plant size from Wellsprings? I'm specifically referring to TC fresh from the rooting tray cell with a root ball 1 1/2" diameter x 4" deep and a corm smaller than a pea. Plants with bigger root balls have had further root development and growth.

And, I did not replant in 4" pots. I used 6" pots. I have 2 of the TC plants that are doing quit well, but 60% plant loss is not acceptable (3 out of the 5 TCs).

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

PM sent.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

@Beam

Thanks for the offer of the Gran Nain. I have 5 in the ground planted the first week of November with 4 to 6 inch pstems. These TCs are a learning project for me.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

thought you said 4 inch pots.these were the same size when I got them, same as yours

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

@beam
Actually I did say 4 n the above post. That has been corrected. thanks

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

60 percent plant loss is inacceptable.? back in the 80s I had a place with a magical grove of bananas already on it. always wanted since then to get me a banana [tree]. when I retired I got one. a nain, had 20 pups on it, not the spear leaf type. then it had another 20 and then another 20. never was a house plant guy, get a small tree or a cutting throw it in a pot and watch it get bigger. did you know that bananas are hard to grow? especially in pots and of a small size. I lost 2/3rds of those pups. this is like being a general in the army, do your best, sacrifice them and gain that hill.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

Keep in mind that banana plants are not trees, but stalks that grow from a bulb. The stalk is called a pseudostem and the fruit they produce are technically berries.
Info:Plant Morphology - Bananas Wiki

In my opinion, it seems that some of the folks in this thread are struggling with basic gardening practices. I recommend to you this book:
Plant Propagation, edited by Alan Toogood.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

you know there is a lot of excellent information lost, people who no longer participate for one reason or another. but there are still some people with a lot of good information that still participate who still help out. thank you

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

Are you saying these are the plants and pots from Wellspring? They look to be much bigger than my TCs. If so they are not the same as mine.

My TC that is surviving, a Gros Mich, has grown in the past week. The 3 leaves are about twice as big. The pstem is 5" tall and less than 1/2 in (.4") diameter. This plant has much improved since i've been watering it every day disregarding the 'wet' indication of the water meter. I'll back off the water now before root rot set in.

The other Gros Mic that collapsed as a pstem of less than !/8" diameter. The pstem of the Gran Nain that died was about 1/8" diameter. These were shipped with the root balls (1 1/2" x 4" deep/long) warped in plastic and obviously straight from the 72 cell rooting tray as shipped by AgriStarts to Florida Hill.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

yes the blue javas were that size when I bought them from wellsprings. and if you look closely at the zabrinas and the sumatranas 3 of the plants have pups.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

The three I spoke of were like green onions with a couple skinny leaves on them. Tip of the root to the tip of the leaf was about 18 inches max...
Say what you want, but I am usually quite successful with plants unless I try something new. Nobody bats 100% in Florida, too many bugs, diseases and fungi here.

Re: Best Practice to grow TC Bananas
 

That's normal. I used to buy them 3 full trays (3 x 72 TCs) at a time.

That's about double the height I would receive from AgriStarts. My guess is that Florida Hill had them for a few months before shipping to you.

It's the same in my locale, and the reason I have a CA State pesticide applicators license.

Here's my banana growing area at my previous home (USDA zone 9) in October 2009.