Germinating Banana seeds

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:11 pm

First time I tried these. A three day soak, then planted 1/4" deep and into the GH.

After a month of 90* - 100* high temps

(not sure as to the variety, these were labelled as being collected from wild specimens in Spain)

Any special care they should receive at this size ?

Steve

taylor · Post by **taylor** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:34 pm

Yes- do not let dry out TOO much (now, I am not telling you to flood them either) or else they will croak pretty quickly. Good luck!

Okanagan desert-palms · Post by **Okanagan desert-palms** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:33 pm

Steve now for sure your going to have to expand your green house next year again as your bananas grow huge. I read and have followed this advice it is best to transplant them into bigger pots after they get to four or five leafs with the roots full in the pot. It should be interesting to see what species of bananas they turn out to be.

John

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:34 am

Thank you for the advice!
Last year, all of mine were dug up and stored in the cellar, that did not work too well

This year's plan is to keep them in containers, and inside for the winter

Will post some photos as this one gets bigger.

Steve

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:24 am

Steve - never give up on bananas. I dug and stored a dozen banana trees/corms last fall. Overwintered some in my basement with temps pretty much a constant 65-70F. Also stored some in my attached garage , with winter temps from 34-60F. When spring time rolled around I had some sad looking dried up and beat up banana trees and corms. I planted corms and banana trees that I would not have paid 10 cents for. They looked awful and dead. I now have banana trees out my wahzoo. The corms that looked dead now have 4 or 5 pups growing off of them. It is amazing based on what I started with. Never give up on bananas. sorry for the rant. I just had to get this off my chest.

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:15 am

Make sure you don't keep them to wet like Taylor said. I've been lucky an have sprouted a few myself.

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:01 pm

Steve,congrats!

Mine our about 6 inches single leaf,I believe they look like palm seedlings instead of bananas.
Very slow at growing,I hope you have better luck than me.

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:12 pm

Dean,
How fast are yours growing?

Kent,
Feel better now that you got all that out?

Thanks for the encouragement, mine all turned to mush, was not a pretty picture. (I kept cutting them back till there was nothing left that could be planted

Don,
Thanks, mine have just broke the surface, but it does resemble a strap leaf (I have no idea what a banana seedling is supposed to look like

Had fairly good luck with the Travellers Palm seeds too, if you need any let me know!

Steve

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:35 pm

Well I've germinated lots of banana seeds in the past,but they didn't look like these,the leaf would like a banana leaf,just a little smaller,but not like a palm strap leaf,no name came with these seeds,other than what was on the package I sent to you,but they didn't look like any palm seed I've seen other.

[/img]

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:35 pm

Steve, the Ensete glacum (Snow Banana) are growing very fast. The Musa velutina are growing slower. I'll post some pictures later. I'm still having problems w/ photobucket.

Dean

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:45 pm

It will be a while before they get to be this big!!!!

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:50 pm

tropicman, what kind of banana is that? How tall is it?

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 3:57 pm

Looks good Don! Have you had any flower this year?

Those were unusual looking seeds, so who knows.....lol
(whatever it turns out to be, at least it's growing

Steve

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:09 pm

Dean,

This was a one gallon at the start of the season, starting to send out some pups now too!

Post some photos when you get things straightened out.

Steve

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:35 pm

It looks great.

What are you feeding it?

Dean

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:08 pm

Thanks Dean, mixed half a container of Osmocote in with it.
It looked so small when I first put it into that container, think I'm going to have to find a bigger planter before the year is out

Steve

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:32 pm

Musa velutina
<img src=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermar ... 707&size=1 border=0></a>
Ensetes glacum (Snow banana) these are younger.
<img src=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermar ... 706&size=1 border=0></a>

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:10 pm

Looking good

How old are those from seed?

Steve

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:21 pm

Thanks! The Musa are probally around three months old. The Ensetes about a month old. The later have grown much faster.

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:53 pm

Dean,
That is a orincco,and,it's about 17ft tall to the top of the leaf,maybe a little taller.
Steve,I had 3 bananas flower last october,2 flowered while still in the ground,before I dug them up to over winter,a saba,and a raja puri,they both produced bananas,but fell to mature,the other was a dwarf cavendished,it flowered after I dug it up and re potted it and brought in the greenhouse,just finished eating the last banana Monday,had about 3 dozen that was eatable.
Man they were the best bananas I ever ate!!!!

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:46 am

all I want is a banana plant to flower. I've been growing them for three years and nothing. What up?

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:40 am

Takes about 18mths of growing or about 43 leaves to flower,I have one in the greenhouse,doing that now,suppose to be a super dwarf musa,but I think it's a dwarf musa.Ceiling is about 10ft,to give you idea how tall the banana is.

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:43 am

I have a couple of these,hoping to get at least one to flower,before the end of summer,this one is over 12ft tall.

tropicman · Post by **tropicman** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:46 am

Steve,didn't mean to take over your thread!!

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:12 am

Don,
I'm enjoying your photos! Post some more

Steve

Dean W. · Post by **Dean W.** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:39 am

Don, great photos.

I have alot of unknowns that I need to get to flower before I can identify them. I got seven bananas of Craig's list for $20. The guy was really nice offering them to me at such a low price. When I planted them they were nothing but corms and pseduostem. It wasn't long before they filled up ten-gallon containers w/ roots.

In edition to the unknowns I have Musa sumatrana (Rojo), Musa manzano (Apple) , Musa Ice cream (Blue Java), Musa lasiocarpa, and Musa balbisana 'Gigantea'.

Dean

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