asacomm

Hello friends,

I am living in zone 9 and have been trying to harvest as many hands as
possible in a container of 6olit.(abt16gal).
Unfortunately,however, I could get only 5 hands and never more than that
even trying every thinkable methods including fertilizers, soils, watering etc.
So I began to think that a 60lit container meight be too small to harvest
many hands of bananas.

I meight be wrong to begin to think like that, so if anyone has an experience
of harvesing so may hands as 7 or 8 hands in that size of container, please
tell me how it was attained including fertilizing, soils etc.

Thanks in advance.

caliboy1994

Try a 95 liter (25 gallon) container. Planting it in the ground would be even better.

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Abnshrek

what types are you growing in those 16 gal pots? :^)

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Gabe15

What cultivar have you been trying? If it's something like 'Orinoco', you will never get many hands off of it, even in the ground, so you need to start with a cultivar that is genetically capable of producing larger bunches.

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asacomm

Thanks Michael and Gabe,

The bananas I have been growing in a 60lit pot are Pisang Awak and Orinoco.
Now I know Orinoco does not produce so many bunches. I really didn't
know this fact.

Gabe15

Try 'Dwarf Namwah' if you can (a dwarf 'Pisang Awak'), dwarf plants do much better in containers. 'Dwarf Cavendish' also does rather well in containers.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

caliboy1994

Pisang Awak definitely produces a lot more fruit. But I would give them bigger containers. Remember that banana roots spread outward, so a wide container would be better than a really deep one as long as it's deep enough to allow room for the roots.

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~ Masanobu Fukuoka

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asacomm

Many thanks Gabe and Andreas,

I live in a place of zone9 , so I wonder if Dwf Namwah can overwinter outside
without or with somekind of protections.
What is your opinion about the hardiness between Dwaf Namwah and Pisang
Awak?
Although I haven't grown Drwf Namwah, it sounds like Dwf Namwah is less cold
hardy than Pisang Awak.

caliboy1994

Jon told me that dwarfs are generally less cold hardy than tall plants, but Dwarf Namwah would still be a very hardy plant. Definitely a lot more hardy than Dwarf Cavendish.

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~ Masanobu Fukuoka

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Gabe15

'Dwarf Namwah' is a dwarf 'Pisang Awak', they should be relatively similar in hardiness, they differ mostly in size.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

bananimal

The Dwarf Namwah is a good choice, and I would step the pot size up to 40 gal or 150 L. You will need a dolly or a hand truck to move it into a garage or greenhouse for cold snaps.

venturabananas

Dwarf Namwah is more cold hardy than the tall Pisang Awak cultivars in my yard. My speculation is that by being closer to the ground, it traps more of the thermal inertia of the soil under the canopy of the plant to keep the plant warmer on cold nights.

Bear in mind that this cultivar has a very thick pseudostem, if you are considering growing it in 60 L pots. The ones in my yard have about the same circumference (nearly 100 cm) at ground level as a 60 L pot -- in other words, full grown ones wouldn't come close to fitting in a pot of that size. But they are an awesome cultivar.

I have seen tall Pisang Awak ("Misi Luki Awak") fruiting in 60 L pots. They had very few hands. Basically, there's not enough space in a pot that size for these plants to reach anywhere near their full potential, from what I have seen.

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caliboy1994

Well, if you're in zone 9, it might be worth giving it a shot in the ground. I'm in 9b and it's possible to harvest fruit here.

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"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
~ Masanobu Fukuoka

Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer:
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