What!! Not Now!!!!

I've been noticing the leaves not as long as they were normally,so I knew time was getting close.It was just a pup last spring,and grew fast to 15ft,I had to cut 3 ft off the trunk,just to get it into 12ft tall greenhouse,and every time it put a new leaf on during the winter I had to remove it,before it pushed out my roof on the greenhouse!!!
It normally takes 3 summers before I get a Orinoco to fruit.
On average the lenght of the leaves are 8ft long,I noticed a 6 fter,then a 4fter a2 fter which I thought,was the paddle leaf,only to find this this morning!
A 1 fter paddle leaf!

Wow, that's neat! Take pics and post them when it fruits.

Karen

Thanks I sure will!

I have a Raja Puri. I don't know if it will produce bananas here. I doubt it.

Karen

I've had Raja Puri fruit for me 3 times,but yet to have them get full ripe,before cold weather gets here.
If you can keep the trunk from freezing over the winter,you can get it to flower and fruit.

Don

I have lots of frost cloth, and I'm going to get some greenhouse plastic to put over some of my beds this winter and take it off during the day. If I put frost cloth around the Raja Puri, kind of scrunched up so there is air space and then wrap it in the greenhouse plastic, would this work? It is in one of the beds I'm going to put the plastic over. The bed has a fence around it, so I can use the fence posts to keep the plastic up off the plants themselves.

Should I trim the leaves back after we get a first frost?

Karen

I've tried plastic,it seems to keep the moisture in and causes the banana to rot I think I'd put a wire cage around the banana about a foot from the banana or more,and fill with dried leaves then fill ,put a plastic cloth over the top so the banana won't get too much water and rot.
Yep I cut my leaves before the first frost.

Kid,

If you can spare the electricity - wrap a string of 50 mini lights around the trunk and plug them in during freezing weather (only). Tropicman's suggestion for wrapping the trunk is a good one, but, I found leaves would pack down. I used vermiculite. And the lights are for a little heat.

Since I no longer live in zone 8b we just let them go.

This message was edited Aug 19, 2008 8:04 PM

Tropicman,

I was going to put the plastic on the outside, drape it over, and put the frost cloth next to the trunk. I can make a cage, though, like you suggest. I have plenty of wire. Have you had any problems with the leaves in the cages staying too wet? I had some other plants last year that I heaped leaves/straw over and when it rained they got too wet and stayed too wet. I had thought if I tried the leaves again I would cover them when rain was predicted.

dale_a_gardener,

I have an outdoor plug next to the bed where the banana is, so I could put lights around it, too. Thanks for the suggestion.

Karen

Just cut the leaves off,and only try to overwinter the trunk,I found if the plant can't breathe somewhat,it turns to mush,yes protect the entire cage from the rain,so the leaves don't get wet,you can buy a thermostat control pipe heating tape that they use to keep pipes from freezing,or the Xmas lights will work also,but you must remember to turn on and off when needed.
Those guys in the far north,use plywood boxes with Styrofoam attached to the walls,and a removable plywood lid they can take off and on when needed,to protect there palms,and it works real well,they still use the Xmas lights for extra heat when needed.

Tropicman,

I have to smile every time I read the expression 'the people up north', for me almost everyone on this site are the people up north..

LOL!
I don't even hardly consider myself a north people,LOL!
Because I'm right smack in the middle of the country!
Although It can get cold here as up north!
I

Thank for the info and suggestions from both of you. I cringe whenever I have to cut off healthy leaves, but I will do it. Tropicman, you confirmed my experience that even though people say to put leaves in cages around tender plants they usually don't mention that the whole thing needs to be protected from too much rain. I did find that frost cloth lets the rain through too much, so I am looking at plastic to put on and take off as needed.

You're right. It doesn't get any more "middle of the country" than Kansas. As for me, this is as far north as I am going. I don't like snow in my front yard.

Karen

Karen,
My mother's side of the family is down Greenville,Ala. way,but some of them have migrated down to Foley,hope top get down that way sometime in the future,say not to bad in the winter there either!

When I left for work this morning the flower on the banana was standing straight up,now,it's hanging almost straight down,getting ready to pop out some nanners!!!
Little rain now going on outside,and only 70*'s

Tropicman,

When we moved here, I voted for the Mobile area. Problem is my daughter is afraid of hurricanes, so she turned thumbs down on that. So, here I am in Zone 7b. Tuscaloosa is about Zone 8b, but we are out of town up in the hills on the east side of Lake Tuscaloosa, so it is colder here by about 10 degrees. Foley is, indeed, nice in the winter. Our winters are more temperate than yours, though. I hate snow in my front yard.

I picked the Raja Puri as it is supposed to take only nine months to produce fruit. Do you know any others that take a short time to fruit also?
It's exciting to me that you are getting yours to fruit there in KS. When I lived outside of Hilo, the next-door neighbor had a banana that fruited two great big bunches -- she didn't even bother to pick them!

Karen

Way to go especially in Kansas.

Thanks Dean,

Karen,
I also have a dwarf Cavendish in flower and fruit in the ground,inside the greenhouse.
I have had Raja Puri fruit for me twice,each time the fruit didn't not fully ripen.
Something they call choking I believe.
I also am zone 7,but we tend to stay colder longer,before a warm up comes along,weeks at a time freezing or below temps.
I do like raja Puri and dwarf cavendish as they can handle the wind better than any banana I've tried,and I have grown many varieties.Saba as well can handle the wind,but does grow taller than the RP and DC.
I too hate snow,and sometimes we go thru a winter without snow,but get freezing ice,which is worse in the long run!!!

Tropicman,

No greenhouse here, so they'll have to stay outside. I may not get them to fruit here then. We don't really have temps that often below freezing, maybe 8-10 times each winter for just a night or two, but the occasional really low temp down to 10 degrees is what keeps us in the zone 7 range.

Oh, yes, I know about ice storms. They are terrible. I lived in Portland OR for six years. There was an ice storm the winter before I moved there, and five of the six winters I lived there. Snow would have been better.

Karen

Dale-a-gardner, don't be so smug. You're up there to me.

Molamola, smug has more than one meaning>

affected, bourgeoise, complacent, confident, contented, egocentric, neat, pedantic, pompous, pretentious, priggish, self-righteous, self-satisfied, spruce, stuffy, suave, tidy, trim

I like contented best.

Dawng!
Now I have to look up some of those words!!!LOL

Karen,your a world traveler,from Hilo to Portland,and now Tuscaloosa, AL,you've lived in some great places to garden!

Dale_a_Gardener, I love to play Scrabble, but I won't with you! LOL.

I saw some Heavenly Blues recently here. There's a tiny one that grows in the ditches here, brilliant red.

Molamola,

Chicken.....dread not, fear not...I always lose at Scrabble, it's not the words, it's the tiles.

Tropicman,

I've also lived in Phoenix and was born and raised in So. CA, except for a year spent in the MO Ozarks. As an adult, the longest time I've lived anywhere is 9 years.

I think itchy feet is in the family. My ggg-grandfather left VA about 1810, was one of the first settlers in Greene Co. and Macoupin Co. IL and then his sons moved to IA as soon as it was opened up for settlement. His grandson, my g-grandfather, was the first white child born in what is now Jefferson Co. IA.

Karen

Karen,no grass grows under your feet!!!

Dale is that a mango?
Soon to be bananas I hope!

The top of the Black Death Castor Bean is between 10 and 12ft,give you an idea how high the fruit will be hanging down from the flower of the Orinoco Banana

Tropicman, We grow mango, Avo, Banana etc etc. in our orchards here. Tampa is on the northern end of the tropics. Not all tropical fruits do well here, but, many do great....

Dale,
Have you ever tried to bonsai a tropical fruit tree?
I have a jackfruit tree,about 3 ft tall and was wondering if it would work,I think I read these grow 50ft and upwards,and don't know if you can bonsai ay tree that gets that large.

Tropicman,

What great photos! Do you have to take all those out and pot them for the winter? Which ones, if any, can you leave in the ground and mulch?

Karen

Tropicman,

The best tropical bonsai are those with medium to small leaves. The large leaved plants like Jakfruit, avocado, mango aren't good subjects. Ficus benjamina, bougainvillea, tamarind are some of the best.....

Disney has a collection>

I see Ficus, many species, widely used....

Karen,
I can leave crinums ,mexican bird of paradise,trifolate orange tree,yellow groove bamboo
maypop passion vine,malanga,in the ground,everything else I have to dig up and repot.
It takes about 10 hours a day for about a week in mid October,to prune every plant back at least a third if not more,dig out of the ground pot up,and debug,and get situated in the greenhouse for the 6 months of winter.
When I'm done looks like a tornado has come trhu and wiped everything out!!!!

Dale,I have a bougie like that,not with that huge trunk though!!!
I'm trying a Jatropha nudia,the one with the Marijuana leaves ,it's about 5 ft tall,and is getting ready to flower,I almost lost it over the winter time,I let it get too dry,anyway to make a long story short,the leaves usually as large as you hand,but this summer it has refused to grow any leaves,just miniature leaves.

Looks like root problems, that happens to ours here, in the ground.

Tropicman,

Thanks for the list. I love Mexican bird of paradise. I've got some started from seed. I was concerned that I couldn't over winter them outside. Good to know I can. I don't have any crinums, but I wish I did. We have one of those maypop passion flowers. It doesn't even lose a leaf here in the winter. In fact, it like things so well here, it's taking over.

What a job to dig all those out, pot them, and then replant them in the spring! Good for you!

Karen

Thanks
Remind me in October when I cut back all the foliage on my crinums,and I;ll dig up some babies and send them to you,now in time they get huge,and need full sun,you'll have to overwinter inside and plant them out next spring.

OH OH only the yellow flowering bop is hardy and return the red and pink are not as hardy.
Thanks Dale,now I know they probably won't bonsi!

Tropicman,

Thank you for the offer. I would love them. You can be sure I'll remind you. LOL. I think I've got some of all the BOP colors coming up. Mine probably won't be big enough to winter outside this year, even the yellow one. In Phoenix the yellow ones grow wild along the parkways and in vacant lots. They get huge in practically pure sand with no one watering or feeding them. That always amazed me.

Karen

Your welcome,remind me the week of13th October,I'm off that week and will be sending lots of things out,and will include yours as well!
If you get some others red or pink,that would be great.

Don

Don,

That's great! Thanks. I've put a note on my monitor to remind me. It's funny that I now use the monitor for my notes. When my kids were young, I used to always put a note for them right in the middle of the TV screen. Worked every time.

Karen

My boys never watched much tv,always outside goofing around,but they were never late for supper,ate like race horses!!!LOL
And to this day they still don't watch much tv,and they still eat like races horses,and it's starting to show,they getting that 40 spread!!!! LOL

Pride of Barbados? Alley plants.