Hello, I am in Suburban Philadelphia. Everyone has been so helpful and I do appreciate it because I often give Banana plants for gifts because they make good conversation pieces. I once had a banana plant that belonged to some one else and I took care of it for a few weeks on Winter but I didn't tell anybody that it was not my plant. Everybody had questions about it but all I could say was that it was a banana plant. That was probably the tip off that I had no idea of what I was doing. Thanks, Chris -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lee Poulsen Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 11:52 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] culinary muscari - (Bananas) Chris, you don't say where you live. Since how to grow something (or whether it can even be grown at all) usually depends on the climate of one's location, that's why it's important to put your location after your signature. In any case, since you're with earthlink, I'm assuming you're in the U.S. The only places where it can easily be grown outside year round are coastal and southern Calif., Florida, and warmest parts of Arizona and deep South Texas. It will also survive outside in the Gulf Coast states, and even fruit in some years, esp. the last 10 or so years when winters have been much milder than they have been historically (except for maybe this winter...). Since they grow from corms, there are many varieties and a few species that will lose their tops whenever there is a severe enough freeze pretty much anything below about 30° or 31° F. However, as long as the ground never freezes, the corms will sprout new plants the following spring. The problem is that it can take as long as 18 months to grow, flower and ripen a bunch of bananas, so every time the top freezes, you have to start the clock all over again. One of the things that banana hobbyists in these areas look for are the relatively few varieties that can grow, flower, and ripen in 9 or 10 months. One newly talked about variety that supposedly does this is 'Viente Cohol'. I haven't yet gotten one to try, and in my climate most winters it doesn't get below freezing, so it's not as important a characteristic for me. I think another such variety is 'Raja Puri', which is fairly short in height for a banana. Even in such places, some people dig up the plant and wrap and store it in a cool frost-free garage and replant it the following spring to try and fruit them. Or if you live where it's too cold to grow them outside year round, you can try the dwarfs. Dwarf is considered to be around 6-8 feet, but the spread of the leaves is fairly broad and they need lots of sunlight. There is one variety that is much dwarfer and smaller than the typical dwarf types and it only gets about 3-4 feet tall. It is called by various names including 'Super Dwarf' and 'Novak'. And it fruits, but it doesn't appreciate cool weather in my experience. So if you're going to grow a banana in a greenhouse or inside and you don't have a lot of room, this might be your best choice. They're all going to need a fairly large pot since the corms are large and they form clumps and start offsetting almost right away. They also need quite a bit of water during the growing season and they respond well to lots of feeding/fertilizing. You can find lots of places that sell various varieties of bananas, but one place you might check out as a starting point that specializes in bananas is Going Bananas <http://going-bananas.com/bananavarietycatalog.htm/>. Hope this was helpful. Reading through the posts at the site Michael gave you will be even more helpful I'm sure. --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a Michael Thompson wrote: > Christine, > Here is a link to the international banana society http://www.bananas.org/ > It's really a very cool and informative site.. > > Later > Michael > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Christine Council" <scamp@earthlink.net> > > >> Hi, >> This is way off topic but I can't find anybody to ask other than the nice >> people in this group. What can you tell me about growing banana plants? >> I love to eat bananas but I have not had much luck growing them. I have >> tried to grow the corms, the bush and the trees. Please help me. I would >> like to eat some home grown bananas before my time is up. I haven't been >> writing to the group because of illness but I try to read and learn >> scamp@earthlink.net >> Thanks, >> Chris Council >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/