The banana pup is a happy camper in this spot. Once it gains some height it will block out the utility area behind the planter wall and add to the tropical atmosphere of the backyard.

Love it!

If you can grow bananas then I should be able to right? What kinds do we need to buy to survive here?

Ray...the Dwarf Orinoco banana tree you gave me is about 5' tall now and it has about 15 leaves. There are also 2 pups coming up now too. If someone wanted one of those, when is the best time to remove them?

Wow. That thing is doing great Dan, good to hear.

You can leave them or remove the pups. Just remember that when the banana does finally bloom, maybe a 2 years down the road, the banana that produced the flower stalk will die.
Try to dig around the area where the pup is and then cut it from the main plant as close as possible to the trunk.
Being that the pups are just now forming nor sure if they will have any roots yet or not.
In my experience it works best if they have a root or two before you remove them.
Let them sit out a couple days in the shade or inside the house and callous over.
You might also want to leave the exposed cut on the main plant exposed to to give it a chance to callous over also.
It happens pretty quick with the bananas.

Thanks Ray!

I took a couple of pictures but I'm having a little issue getting them posted...still learning how to do things with the new computer. I'll get them up once I have things figured out.

I have managed to kill the banana I got at the rare fruit growers sale. no idea what kind but I cannot seem to ge ti it right when it comes to this fruit!!

Mine doesn't look too spiffy right now either Marie. Poor leaf edges are all brown and dried up, kinda like my cannas - lol. It gets as much pm shade as I could possible provide it short of being in a pot. Hopefully the cooler temps will help it rebound!

They like lots and lots and lots of cow poo and mulch and a little more cow poo.
And water.
And a little more cow poo. They are heavy feeders.

They get a lot of poo and water -

I think the leaves are sunburned...

Poor nanner.

These photo's were taken last week. It's hard to believe that this wasn't much more than a stump just a few months ago. I wanted it to provide a tropical presence in this area of the yard and to help screen the utility area from the rest of the backyard. The way it's going it will have accomplished both of those goals in a couple more months!

Wow that banana looks great. Good job!!

That is awesome!

Wow. Incredible Dan. And those pups are a lot larger than I expected.
Good job.

What kind of banana is it Dan? I've been dieing to try the Java, ice cream banana!!! But alas, I tried growing three, and all three died. I think they needed 'more' water than my roses get.

Alan

I got this from Ray and he told me that it is a Dwarf Orinoco.

This is the first banana plant I have tried to grow. It gets a slow trickle of water of varying length of time about 4 x's a week. It is in virgin soil (bagged stuff and compost) and I have not amended it since I put it in the planter. I'd like to have a straight face and tell you that I know what I'm doing but the truth is I don't have a clue.....I think I just got lucky! :o)

This will be fun to watch. Hope those pups grow for ya. Maybe we can have some Bananas Foster at the San Tan Backyard!!! I'll bring the Rum. Guatemalan.

very nice dan! how are the nanners doing now? i have a dwarf orinoco from ray, too. i think i will have fruit next year. i am keeping it away from freezing weather this winter. i has 4 pups around it now, but here is a pic of it back from the beginning of august.

Hi Dete...we had a 2 nights of very cold temps a feww weeks back and the nanners took a hard hit. All the leaves sustained severe damage. I'm going to remove all of them this weekend. Because I don't have any previous experience with nanners I don't know if the plants will survive.

I'm at work now but I'll try to remember to take a pic and post it when I get home later today.

hi dan - i would not cut them back! take a look at this pic. here's a nanner that got hit while pushing out a new leaf in january 2010. i decided to leave it alone. this is what i saw in february 2010. although the plant looked horrible the core was not affected by the cold weather.