Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Hello everyone,

I am new to tropical planting in general, and after reading this forum and others, and narrowing down the tropicals I'll like to have in my new garden, started last spring, banana plants was right up there on my list.

Anyhoo....I purchased Musa Basjoo plants today for $15.99 each, from Millionplants garden center in St Catherines ON Canada. I got them home and transplanted them into a bigger pot ( 10" pot ).

Here is the picture



I plan to put one on the front lawn when the last frost is over ( May 24th )



and

The other one in the backyard




Please share you tips on how to make this plants grow taller in the first season, care and maintenance, how to wintererize them if I choose to bring them in and store in the basement?

I am also going to be growing castor bean plants, which I have going under growlights in the basement at the moment.

Cheers

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Welcome Rocco!

You are from St Catharines? That's great to have another Canadian on board :) I'm looking forward to receiving my own basjoo, you got yours for a really great price!!!

Since St Catharines is more at south than Mtl, I guess your weather is a tiny bit warmer than here. Maybe you could keep some indoors in your basement and leave one outside to try to overwinter it (I'll probably do that) ! We need more people to experiment in our weather ;)

You'll find tons of advice here, enjoy the forum! :2748:

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Thanks Celine! Where did you order yours from? I am from Ancaster, which is just further west of Hamilton.

I'll probably do what you suggested, leave 1 outside and take the other one down to the basement.

Cheers

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

I ordered some from Corolla Tropicals (a small nursery in Toronto) and they should be shipped at the end of March, depending on the weather conditions. It is quite hard to find bananas at nurseries in Mtl other than Super Dwarf Cavendish. I've also sprouted some seeds recently and waiting for results :)
There are other members in Canada who are also experimenting with their bananas, but we are so few!

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

If you're not careful the basjoo will take over your entire yard. I started with one plant and now have three large clumps one with over twenty plants.Good luck. They do make your lawn look really tropical.:islandsharkbanana:

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

if you want em pretty keep them out of the wind as much as possible

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Very nice plants, they will be over 6 feet tall by the end of the season, good luck with them

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

welcome. those are pretty looking nanas. you came to the right place for info. on them. welcome again.

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Welcome to the group. Red

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Thanks people! So should I start fertilizing now with a higher nitrogen, and how much water should I give them?

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Tips anyone?

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

What is this water I keep seeing on my musa basjoos? Kind of like tears

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

:ha: I had the same question a couple months ago with my first plants. Apparently it's what they do.

Welcome aboard.

mm4birds ... I'm sure hoping that basjoos will take over my yard!

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

That's transpiration!

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Thank you everyone. I am sure hoping these 2 take over my yard too. That will be something to :2698: about

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

The middle leaf on the right hand side plant is now opening. There is also another leaf sprouting out of the left hand plant.

So it looks like they are growing.

Here is a sprout from an Ensete I started from seeds on Jan 26th 2008



1 week later I have this after transplanting



This past week, that leaf has now unraveled, and there is another one forming

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

I'm glad that your ensetes are growing.

I use Miracle-gro All Purpose 24-8-16 with micronutrients. It's not cheap but it covers just about everything. Once the plants are outside, I put a couple of inches of compost on top of the soil June 1st and July 15th. You could add a tablespoon of epson salts every month and a half once that they get to a decent size. Keep the soil moist. While they will handle partially drying out they need a lot of water and fertilizer to grow as quickly as we want them to.

I don't use any fertilizer on seedlings as I think that there is enough in potting soil to take care of their needs. Water enough to keep the soil moist. While I can grow almost anything from seed, I have had no luck with bananas, so far.

Welcome to the forum. We can always use another Canadian.

Allen

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Thanks Allen for the advice and warm welcome. I was only able to get 1 seed to germinate though, out of 8 or 10 that was in the packet I bought.

I guess the ratio of fertilizer means we just want a higher nitrogen ( height ), no blooms and the lat number for the general purpose

Re: Losing My Tropical Banana Plant Virginity
 

Looks like my Basjoos can't wait to get into the ground. When I brought them home, the 1 that had 2 leafs, now has 5 in total, with another leaf making it's way up. :416:

How tall can I expect these to get once they get planted on my front lawn, and what will be my best bet for support from the wind?

Cheers