How to handle the heat
 

For those of you living in areas similar to Dallas Texas that typically gets 100F or more during July/August how do your bananas handle it?
Are you doing something special besides increasing the watering and giving more banana fuel to them?

One last question, what would be a recommended type to go with?
Last year my Gran Nain seemed relateively good at handling the heat but it had some shade from afternoon sun. This year I have one without that shade and it looks bad...
The ones that I think handle heat and sun the worst is my chinese Yellow.
My IceCream is ok but not great at the moment.

Any insight is really welcome especially if there is some specific nutrition I should add due to the heat etc!

Thanks

Re: How to handle the heat
 

all mine seem to love the heat the hotter the better. I just water and feed with banana fuel. Dont do any thing special. It gets hot here in Fresno

Re: How to handle the heat
 

What kind do you have?

Re: How to handle the heat
 

I'm in the Houston area and it has been extremely dry here since last fall. The entire Houston area is about 15" below normal on rainfall for the year. Our heat has been about normal (probably a tad cooler than Dallas has been as we have not had consecutive days above 100) but the drought is really affecting banana growth in an adverse way. I water about once per week with a sprinkler and then do some more targeted watering where I just lay the hose a foot or two away from the trunk of each banana and just slowly let it trickle for 30 minutes or so before moving it again. I have fertilized two or three times this year but without adequate moisture to help fuel growth it's not doing a lot of good. Bottom line: WE NEED SOME RAIN!

Re: How to handle the heat
 

How hot? Here in central Florida temps usually are 95/75 but can got either way according to the storms.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

Im growing
2 Goldfinger
3 Ensete Maurellii
5 Dwarf Cavendish
4 Musa Ice Cream (Blue Java)
3 Thai Black
1 Musa Basjoo
1 Misi Luki of Samoa
2 Raji Puri
2 Musella Lasiocarpa
4 unknowns
1 Musa Ornico
3 Musa Bordelon
2 Musa Dwarf Brazilian
2 Musa Thomsonii
2 Musa Balbisiana
2 Musa Dwarf Namwah
4 Musa California Gold
1 Musa Misi Luki
2 Musa Dwarf Orinoco
1 Musa Texas Star
1 Musa Velutina
1 Musa Milkyway
1 Musa Valery
1 Musa 'fhia-18'
1 Musa Double (Mahoi)
1 Ensete glaucum 'Snow Banana'
1 Musa Dwarf Red
1 Musa Sumatrana Zebrina
1 Musa Truly Tiny
1 Musa Carolina King
1 Musa Saba
1 Musa 'grand nain'
1 Musa 'Mekong Giant'

Re: How to handle the heat
 

In Dallas today we broke the record for this day, 107F....!
So any variety that seems to take the heat better than the others?

Re: How to handle the heat
 

Pssh, that's all??? :rolleyes:

Re: How to handle the heat
 

It has flirted with 100 but only gone over several days. All of mine are growing well but they all get watered daily and are mulched close to 8" deep and that really helps hold the moisture. Only problem I'm having is leaf stems breaking. One of my Orinoco leaves is close to six foot long and two foot wide.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

upper 80's-upper 90's with a ocean breeze most of the time. My plants are all potted as we live in a apartment. They get several hrs of full sun on the balcony. They all wilt pretty good,but my Velutina if it gets watered as often as the others if sends up new growth thats all beat up,from over watering. We have not really had any good rains just real quick and it dries right up.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

My bananas get full sun here in the hot, dry desert. It's been as high as 112F this year with an average high of 105F for the past few months. I have Ice cream, Brazilian, and super dwarf cavendish. All are doing great. I water them with drip system twice per day. The only trouble i've had growing bananas here is fertilizing when it's too hot. They don't seem to like too much nutrients when it's super hot. I found that adding a few inches of mulch is enough. I fertilize in early spring and early fall (April, Sep)

Re: How to handle the heat
 

Ok, I have mostly red lava rock around my flower beds where I have my bananas. But the one bed I have with mulch doesn't look much better. Any view on whether I should add some mulch instead of lava rock?
However the Lava rocks don't get hot and they seem to keep some moisture below as well.
Maybe I should deepen the layer I have, what do you think?

Re: How to handle the heat
 

This is a link for the normal temps in Fresno but it usally gets hotter than that says. The last few days have been real nice in the 80's kinda nice for July. It usally gets well over a 100 here in the summer any way here is the link Average Weather for Fresno, CA - Temperature and Precipitation

Re: How to handle the heat
 

We have 5 acres, you must have half of the state.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

nph, I am in Fort Worth and yes we are hot here in the DFW area. My plants seem to be loving it. My sprinklers are set to water four days a week, then I water my bananas everyday after work. I am also fertilizing once a month.
Here are some shots taken today.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

Drink lots of water

Re: How to handle the heat
 

I'm two hours east of Dallas. We've been hammering past 100 for the past two months. I water 5 times a week. Tons of compost. Most of my bananas just love it. Saba, Black Balbisiana, Brazilian & Cali Gold. Some varieties don't like it. My Musa sikkem. "Red Tiger", Musa yunnanen. and Burmese Blue grow quite slow with the intense heat.

I just did an inventory here. I have 17 different cultivars or species of banana in the ground. Not one of them would I describe as struggling with the heat. Just slower or faster. Obviously, root mass is significant too. Water and nutrients, and the heat is just heat.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

Ahh, but have you named them all yet... :lurk:

(banana cultivar names don't count - those are like racial types)

Re: How to handle the heat
 

The temps you are talking about remind me of the times I saw the ground dry up and crack. I was raised in the DFW are and have seen that happen often. I also remember some ice storms that covered everthing with 3 to 4 inches of ice. Got out the ice skates and skated to school in Fort Worth.

Re: How to handle the heat
 

well of course I did .