Growin' great. Some get large, others stay short. It's all a matter of
variety. Containerizing the nanners will also stunt them too, so even
larger nanners will stay a bit smaller. Up to Zone 8 and maybe even Zone
7, you can also protect inground nanner trees by wrapping the pseudostem
with good insulation over the winter. I have both containerized nanners
and inground nanners.
Cheers,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
Noctaire wrote:
I've always concentrated on edible bananas that are sold as keiki. The
ones that produce seed do so very prolifically that you have a fruit
that is basically nothing more than slimy seeds - nothing to eat.
Give http://www.banana-tree.com/ a try. I chose rajapuri because it's a
short banana tree, produces very quickly, and is more cold tolerant than
other fruiting banana trees (tho winter protection is a must if you want
fruit). Nearly all banana's will act as perenials here in the states -
die back at first freeze and return from the corm after last freeze.
But, you can protect the pseudostem and maybe actually get fruit from
it! A pseudostem typically takes around 18 months to flower - when
winter kills it - that's it for that stem. The next stem to sprout in
the Spring basically starts the clock over - 18 months or so to flower.
So - to get it to flower without having a greenhouse will involve
putting a jacket on the pseudostem, mulching heavily and if it's a cold
winter maybe actually putting a pipe-warmer around the trunk under the
insulation. In spring, new leaves should pop out from the top and
continue the path to fruiting. Once that stem produces fruit, it will
die and be replaced by more pseudostems - or keiki as I call them.
If you get one to fruit, you will be surprised at how many bananas you
can get. Some will produces bunches of bananas weighing over 150lbs!
Rajapuri produces shorter but sweeter bananas. Then there's the Williams
Hybrid that produces basically what you get at the grocer and is another
fairly short tree.
Have fun,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
brendantx wrote:
8' is rather short - but look at my nanner shopping list I just posted -
there's another 8' nanner and a 6' nanner. I think somewhere there's one
that's even shorter...
Yes, if you grow it outside and wish to attempt to preserve it over the
winter, you'll want to jacket it for certain. That's something I need to
do with my outdoor nanners that I wish to preserve. You can do this by
placing a pipe-warmer around it (optional but good emergency protection
on really cold nights), then placing a chicken-wire cage around it
leaving a foot or 2 of space around the pseudostem, then stuffing hay
and pine straw in there pretty good. Don't attempt to preserve the
leaves that stick out the top - they'll brown and die back with the
first frost and you can then prune them off, but the psuedostem should
remain quite happy if insulated well. If you have wet winters, you can
drape plastic over it to prevent rot from setting in, but don't seal it
around the bottom or it could over-heat on warm days. With luck,
depending on how the winter faired, you'll have new growth when it warms
back up.
Cheers,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
Anthony wrote:
Heh - you could always cut out the ceiling. :) If you time it right, it
won't be fully mature when you move it inside. Mine never outgrew the
greenhouse over the winter. If it's tight, it'll just have to be
squished for a bit. :) Where there's a will, there's a way. This winter,
I may have to dig part of the greenhouse floor down a bit to fit one of
my larger nanners. I would investigate the dwarf cavendish. There's
supposed to be a super-dwarf as well - 4' tall.
Have fun,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
Noctaire wrote:
This guy rated high in the Garden Watchdog reviews:
http://www.bananaplants.net/bananaplants.html
I may try him with my next nanner order...
Cheers,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
It's just a descriptive name. Kinda like ice-cream bean tree - which I
also grow. Refers to the taste of the nanner, methinks. Also called Blue
Java. I think it's supposed to be reminiscent of vanilla icecream. Heh,
I grow vanilla too... beginning to see a reoccurring theme here. :)
Your particular circumstance largely dictates the size of tree you get.
Some houses are two story and/or with vaulted ceilings and would happily
handle an 8-10' tree, providing there's enough light. Other houses are
basic 8' ceilings and while they can squeeze an 8' tree (remember, the
pot takes up a couple feet), a 6' Dwarf Cavendish would do better. The
Double Mahoi is basically a Dwarf Cavendish that can produce more than
one bunch of nanners at a time. And still, other houses are miniature,
or perhaps an apartment? With good bright windows, these small houses
would tolerate a 6' dwarf, but perhaps a 4' super dwarf Cavendish would
be better? It really depends on your house, how much light you get
(nanners can't get too much light), and how creative you are at
providing the most with the least. :)
http://www.bananaplants.net/bananaplants.html has a super dwarf
available, BTW.
Be well,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
sharie lush wrote:
Yes. For such gorgeous tropical plants, they are extremely inexpensive.
Anyone with a little room in their sunroom/bright-window/greenhouse
would do well with a nanner or three. Especially when you can get them
to fruit! Yum! Get it growing so that you have a full sized tree, a
medium sized sucker and a sprouting sucker. That way when the full size
fruits then dies back, the medium size takes it's place, the sprouting
sucker becomes the medium and a new sprout will come up and soforth.
That way you have a fairly regular succession of growing. You can prune
off other suckers (keiki) - share or trade them with fellow gardeners.
Be aware that there are two types of suckers tho. One comes up right
next to the mother tree - they are the best kind. Then there are the
oportunistic root-born suckers called water-suckers that come up some
distance away from the mother. They should be discarded. They will start
off with big showy leaves, but are poor performers and poor producers.
The keiki coming up by the mother are the most common ones you'll see,
tho...
Vanilla is a different story - a bit more expensive, and a bit more time
and work to get fruit from, and still even more work to process that
fruit into vanilla. But, still a very pretty orchid!
Don't forget you can also grow your own pineapples! Get crowns off your
favorite supersweet Gold pines and get them growing. In 36 months or so
you'll get another full-sized pine from it, plus more planting material!
Another sun-loving plant that is easy to get starts for... I've got
golds growing here, and will soon have sugarloaf pines growing too!
Be well,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
sharie lush wrote:
Those are ones sold for ornamental purposes and has no info on the fruit
itself.
Cheers,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
sharie lush wrote:
For every person who says you'll get nanners with the correct methods,
you'll have a dozen naysayers who ignorantly deny the possibility. These
same naysayers woulda told the early human that controlling fire was
impossible... So long as you protect the pseudostem, it will mature to
flowering. A nanner produces a limited number of leaves then it produces
the flowers. So long as it's allowed to produce those leaves - either by
protecting the pseudostem or by bringing the tree inside - then the
flower is inevitable. There's only one way to find out!
Hey, I've gotten chocolate trees to flower here in Texas... anything is
possible if you give the plant what it needs.
Be well,
Mike
--
Zone 8, Texas
http://www.taroandti.com/ Exotic Plants and More...
http://www.mjv.com/ Home...
sharie lush wrote:
