If they're new, 24 hours. If old, 5 days.
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Is anyone growing a banana plant?
- Thread starter The Hollyberry Lady
- Start date
Hollyberry,
You do know that if I become addicted to growing bananas I'm going to hunt you down and give you some Darjeeling muffins!
I joined the banana.org forum and read the germination thread - I think I will stick with what has worked for me, with the exception of soaking them for a day. My two biggest concerns - none of the seeds will generate for six months and a large number of the seeds will pop up in a couple of weeks and I'll have to figure out what to do with 10-12 fast growing nana plants for five months!
I'm hoping for one of eight seeds to pop through the soil within a month. I plan on sowing 25 at a time, which would mean maybe three seedlings will be alive and well by Christmas Day in the morning. That would work - I have a room I can probably support close to a dozen without having to buy more lights.
Mike
You do know that if I become addicted to growing bananas I'm going to hunt you down and give you some Darjeeling muffins!
I joined the banana.org forum and read the germination thread - I think I will stick with what has worked for me, with the exception of soaking them for a day. My two biggest concerns - none of the seeds will generate for six months and a large number of the seeds will pop up in a couple of weeks and I'll have to figure out what to do with 10-12 fast growing nana plants for five months!
I'm hoping for one of eight seeds to pop through the soil within a month. I plan on sowing 25 at a time, which would mean maybe three seedlings will be alive and well by Christmas Day in the morning. That would work - I have a room I can probably support close to a dozen without having to buy more lights.
Mike
The Hollyberry Lady said:They are difficult seeds to germinate - especially if they're not fresh. They take a long time before they pop, too. I just sowed some the yesterday, and it will be a 2-3 month wait before I will see anything - IF I see anything. I use my heat mat.
I have a musa basjoo pup, but not seeds. It is just beginning to take off for me, but will hopefully produce some pups of it's own next year...
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hi there
its the first time i am seeing a banana plant in a pot.
i thought they need lots of roots growing space. we usually plant it in the ground. currently i got a short variety growing in the garden. when it fruits ,( no pictures of it yet) the whole bunch will be full of fruits and its reaches to the ground.! usually after fruiting we would cut off the plant to let the new banana plant seedling shoots to grow the next generation.
The Hollyberry Lady said:They are difficult seeds to germinate - especially if they're not fresh. They take a long time before they pop, too. I just sowed some the yesterday, and it will be a 2-3 month wait before I will see anything - IF I see anything. I use my heat mat.
I have a musa basjoo pup, but not seeds. It is just beginning to take off for me, but will hopefully produce some pups of it's own next year...
: )
hi there
its the first time i am seeing a banana plant in a pot.
i thought they need lots of roots growing space. we usually plant it in the ground. currently i got a short variety growing in the garden. when it fruits ,( no pictures of it yet) the whole bunch will be full of fruits and its reaches to the ground.! usually after fruiting we would cut off the plant to let the new banana plant seedling shoots to grow the next generation.
Well yes it's true, they do need lots of root room, but can still be successfully grown in containers, as long as they are large ones. 15~30 gallons is ideal.
My Basjoo pup is only small yet, but will be transplanted into something larger, very soon.
Great you joined IBS Wordwiz! It's an awesome forum with tons of information. So you'll blame me for passing on my banana addiction to you, eh? Well I must say, thay are amazing plants, and something I intend on growing until I drop. I see you love them too.
Feel free to post a shot of your short little guy, Srin2. It will be nice to fill up this thread with shots of banana plants.
Here's some recent shots of my mystery banana plant from Texas. It is growing really well for me. An experienced banana growing pal believes it might be an orinoco...
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My Basjoo pup is only small yet, but will be transplanted into something larger, very soon.
Great you joined IBS Wordwiz! It's an awesome forum with tons of information. So you'll blame me for passing on my banana addiction to you, eh? Well I must say, thay are amazing plants, and something I intend on growing until I drop. I see you love them too.
Feel free to post a shot of your short little guy, Srin2. It will be nice to fill up this thread with shots of banana plants.
Here's some recent shots of my mystery banana plant from Texas. It is growing really well for me. An experienced banana growing pal believes it might be an orinoco...
: )
What city do you live in, Mike - if you don't mind me asking?
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Cincinnati.
Our lowest temp is usually minus single digit, though the record is minus 25. About once every five years, it will dip into the minus low teens for a night or two though there is usually a snow cover. When it got 25 below, we had two feet of snow on the ground.
Highs in summer are generally in the low 90s though again, every few years we get into triple digits. Two years ago, we had five days of 100 degrees or more. Humidity can also be fairly high in the middle of summer. Average rainfall in summer is 3.2-3.5 inches per month though in July and August, it may come in just two rainfalls.
Mike
Our lowest temp is usually minus single digit, though the record is minus 25. About once every five years, it will dip into the minus low teens for a night or two though there is usually a snow cover. When it got 25 below, we had two feet of snow on the ground.
Highs in summer are generally in the low 90s though again, every few years we get into triple digits. Two years ago, we had five days of 100 degrees or more. Humidity can also be fairly high in the middle of summer. Average rainfall in summer is 3.2-3.5 inches per month though in July and August, it may come in just two rainfalls.
Mike
Here's a sort of crappy pic of my current three banana plants now crammed in the house. The big ones are Ensete glaucum which don't really produce typical bananas but they grow huge and fast.
http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/EnsGla.shtml
The small one with the "pup" is a Musa velutina which is a cold tolerant dwarf variety which produces pink fruit which are edible but full of seeds. It was hit good by frost but new green growth has already started
http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/MusVel.shtml
http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/EnsGla.shtml
The small one with the "pup" is a Musa velutina which is a cold tolerant dwarf variety which produces pink fruit which are edible but full of seeds. It was hit good by frost but new green growth has already started
http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/MusVel.shtml
How gorgeous, POTAWIE! Thanks for sharing. Perhaps we will exchange pups one day...
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The Hollyberry Lady said:
My grandpa had a favorite saying when I mentioned trying something new: well, you ain't gonna learn any younger. And yes, I have gone - excuse the wording - bananas over growing these things. See, each year at the fair, I try to have a central display of unusual plants. Two years ago, it was peppers, last year hydroponic tomatoes, hopefully this year banana plants.
My main concern is germination. With peppers and tomatoes, I get dozens of seeds in a packet. With banas, it seems 10 seeds is a generous amount, with most packets having only five.
But... if I can get a dozen or so nice looking plants by the middle of August, I might be able to promote growing banana trees in Cincinnati.
Mike
There are surely people who will tell you that seed positioning makes a difference, but I've never found there to be any.
I find the biggest concern about banana seeds, is whether or not they are fresh and viable. You have to wait so long for them to pop, as it is, that they really need to be fresh and worth the bother. This is why I am extemely leery of eBay seeds.
Don't forget that once you get some sprouts and the plants mature, you'll have many sucker plants (pups) for propagation uses as well.
Neat that you participate at the fair, Wordwiz. Good luck displaying your banana plants for next time. People will love it!
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I find the biggest concern about banana seeds, is whether or not they are fresh and viable. You have to wait so long for them to pop, as it is, that they really need to be fresh and worth the bother. This is why I am extemely leery of eBay seeds.
Don't forget that once you get some sprouts and the plants mature, you'll have many sucker plants (pups) for propagation uses as well.
Neat that you participate at the fair, Wordwiz. Good luck displaying your banana plants for next time. People will love it!
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The Hollyberry Lady said:
I'm won't have "pups" but kittens. The mascot for my paper is Valley Cat (see below - my best friend sketched it for me) and dogs wrinkle his fur - in his words!
I've become very AR (or AJ) about keeping records of when I sow seeds, how I sow them, when they germinate, etc., I'm hoping to get a handle on how long they take. I lost a bunch of tomatoes last spring because I did too good of a job germinating and growing them - they were 10" tall in early April and frost free here is the middle of May. Since then, I learned to try things and see how they work.
As to exhibiting at the fair, I first have to get the seeds to germinate at the right time (early March?) and survive transplanting, but I've gotten decent at the latter, at least with veggies.
My germination success, once I get outside veggies and some herbs, is medi-ocra at best! Last year, I tried Angel's Trumpets, notoriously hard to get to sprout and only had about 10 of 24 seeds emerge, though I did better with the second batch (I was told to soak them).
I e-mailed nextharvest.com to see if they sell packets of 5-10 seeds instead of 50-100. No way can I afford to buy 10 packets at $19-35 each but if they can sell small packets, I can get a number of different types.
This should be an interesting winter and early spring! At least I have a spare room where I can raise 20 or more if they get too big for my grow chamber.
Mike
Holleyberry,
I got my Darjeeling Banana (Musa sikkimensis) seeds yesterday. Soaked them for about 27 hours and have sown them in the potting mix. Only sowed five seeds. As much as I hope they all germinate quickly, I don't know what I can do with five banana plants even if it takes a month. I can't set them outside until at least the middle of May. But I have two 150 watt HPS lights I can use to help them grow - if they germinate!
This ought to be an interesting ride!
Mike
I got my Darjeeling Banana (Musa sikkimensis) seeds yesterday. Soaked them for about 27 hours and have sown them in the potting mix. Only sowed five seeds. As much as I hope they all germinate quickly, I don't know what I can do with five banana plants even if it takes a month. I can't set them outside until at least the middle of May. But I have two 150 watt HPS lights I can use to help them grow - if they germinate!
This ought to be an interesting ride!
Mike
If I were you though, I would have sown ALL the seeds. Banana seeds are difficult to germinate and you will likely not get all five to sprout. In fact, You'll be lucky if you get even one!
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Please let us know the very day you get a sprout, and show a pic...
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Hollyberry,
You might be able to hear me yell, even way up there in Ontario. That is, if the seeds germinate within a couple of weeks!
One thing that baffles me: the instructions from seedman.com say to keep the seeds in bright light after sowing them. Why? The photons are not going to penetrate potting mix.
Mike
You might be able to hear me yell, even way up there in Ontario. That is, if the seeds germinate within a couple of weeks!
One thing that baffles me: the instructions from seedman.com say to keep the seeds in bright light after sowing them. Why? The photons are not going to penetrate potting mix.
Mike
yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about light, as opposed to warmth.
I also wouldn't believe that two week malarkey either. More like 2-3 months for germination. If they're super fresh seeds however, they might pop a bit faster.
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I also wouldn't believe that two week malarkey either. More like 2-3 months for germination. If they're super fresh seeds however, they might pop a bit faster.
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