PalmsNorth.com

Be kind everyone. Here's my first attempt a backyard video. Unfortunately Morgan Freeman was not available to narrate so you get my mid-western accent instead.
http://youtu.be/PN5zpmykInQ

Very nice and healthy looking! I need to try growing some banana plants at some point. I'm interested in seeing how your protect all of those this winter!

very nice backyard - lots of bananas - I like it!. Keep us updating!

Nice. I try and plant different bananas in separate gardens, so I know what species the pups are. Sometimes they show up a few feet away...

Just a thought.. My two musa basjoos have at least nine pups this year. So by my math, by September you will have 100,000 pups and bananas, oh and 400,000 cannas
My wife would kill me if I ever planted that much in our yard again. I miss having the walls of green : )

The first 2 Banana plants you showed look more like Cavendish to me...at this point-

i don't think they will change though


You have a really great spot!

Nice to see your Trachys did so well-you are a pro now!

My Mekong is about the same size-really taking off now though but
it has some tough competition growing so near the Castor bean plants.



You have a lot of yard there,I wonder how long before you run out of
grass.....like Wxman and I -LOL

wheelman1976 wrote: you get my mid-western accent instead. http://youtu.be/PN5zpmykInQ

You have very nice accent since I've understood every single word. Of course your bananas field is something! And you are right being a little bit nervous about a winter coming... sooooon. Sorry for that.

Hey Doug, great visit to your yard!
Morgan Freeman's got nothin' on you

The one Trachy that you call sickly...could it be planted an inch or two too deep?
But they both look very healthy.

You'll change your handle to bananaman soon.
I like them all planted like a tropical jungle.

Thanks for the video.
Barb

Jim, were you thinking to two I first showed in the pots yet looked like cavendish? They had/have a tag on it that say fiber banana "basjoo", so I'm making that assumption thus far. I'm still kicking around a bigger pot for them so I can overwinter indoors. I'm only concerned about mites like I had last year that decimated my previous basjoos.

As for overwintering, I am planning on digging up all the cannas like I do every year and I'm planning on digging all the bananas up too and putting them in the same area I store the cannas in my basement garage. It seems to hover around 34-44 degrees there through the winter which seems to work well. Can anyone chime in here as to what the ideal climate would be for a dug up banana that is going to be left dry? Or is there a better procedure that I should follow? I'd love to start out the dwarf braz and red dwarfs with a decent sized pstem for the year and see what they can really do. Does anyone know if I can even overwinter the braz's and reds out of the ground indoors?

Here's a quick one that I took the other night to update. Had a loss of life and some good growth!
http://youtu.be/Y1kP4e0xxF8

You have such a beautiful yard!


100% those are dwarf Cavendish-what kind are all the other Banana plants in the big group.


Compare the structure and leaf shape to this one.

Cavendish
<a href="http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... ics017.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... ics017.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Basjoo

Doug, great update.
Trachies look fabulous!

Too bad you lost your BoP...sheesh, the mole could've taken a banana and you wouldn't even have known.

Nice work you two have done on your property.

Love the boardwalk.

Barb

Jim,
There's a tag stapled right on the pot that says fiber banana "Basjoo"..... should I not believe that? I got those from the one of the well known local retail plant sellers here in Grand Rapids. They have no idea what they're selling when it comes to bananas, they just get a few in to put in their tropical section for the summer and then move what's left to the greenhouse if they don't sell by winter.

Are you telling me I better dig up the one I just stinkin' put in the ground as a test to see if it overwinters????

I'm not doubting what you think... ok I am maybe a little but it's based off of the evidence I have in hand.... I hate to throw $25 away by leaving that thing in for the winter in hopes that it really is a basjoo only to find that it's not.... if it's a cavendish, I should legitimately have a shot at having real bananas as some point, no?

I killed two dwarf cavs last winter by over watering them....

hardyjim wrote:You have such a beautiful yard!


100% those are dwarf Cavendish-what kind are all the other Banana plants in the big group.


Compare the structure and leaf shape to this one.

Cavendish
<a href="http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... ics017.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... ics017.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Basjoo

nice video Doug. You got a 'ton' of nanas! Too bad your one Trachy is sickly......I hope it 'kicks' in soon.

Try to over winter some for sure-it might work.


Maybe you could try googleing Basjoo and Cavendish "images" and compare.

Note the very compact structure of the dwarf( ) and how(in contrast)Basjoo stretches.





Yea,I think those little guys should make bananas some day.

I found that they grow well indoors,in a south window/winter house temps above 70F


I have some of both that are the same size(roughly)I will post pics sometime in the near future
and you can see what you think

I don't think a cavendish will make it through a michigan winter with the protection I would give it. I was thinking if that actually was a basjoo that I'd get a rose cone and get a light bulb in there for some heat and see what happens. But considering you really think cavendish makes me think otherwise and that I should dig it. This was one of three bananas I paid actual money on so being the dutchman I am I am inclined to not kill it on purpose. I'm thinking next year that I get some basjoos that I know are really actually basjoos and start them in the ground early.

One thing that stinks for me is I have one south window that gets good sun, but it's my step son's bedroom.... and I think that's asking a bit much of a six year old to accommodate the plants of the house. Or if he was ok with it I am thinking there may be some fooling around with them as well.

Do you leave your cavendish in the ground over the winter?

Very nice! Looks great! How do you overwinter your tropicals??

No I don't.

I had my palms in a 7 year old's room,cool kid,only charged me a nickle a month


I have some Basjoo I can send you next year I'm sure.

Although,I don't really cover them...

sidpook wrote:Very nice! Looks great! How do you overwinter your tropicals??

Everything pretty much gets dug up except the palms which I box up and heat with lights. All the bananas are first year so I have no idea how they'll do in dry root storage, I'm still not sure if they'll go in garage or in my interior basement back room. Some have said to pot them up but I just don't have the room for them. I may at best keep a couple of the large dwarf red/brazilian in pots but I don't have that many larger sized pots.

The cannas honestly get dug, tops cut off and thrown in a cardboard box and left in the garage against the interior wall. This has worked for me the last couple years so I won't be changing it.

hardyjim wrote:No I don't.

I had my palms in a 7 year old's room,cool kid,only charged me a nickle a month


I have some Basjoo I can send you next year I'm sure.

Although,I don't really cover them...

I'm up for getting a legit basjoo next year. I am looking for something that I really can leave in the ground each year. I already have my hands full with the cannas and their multiplying. If you want some of those for trade I would happily send some rhizomes your way. I also have a lot of seeds which are easy to propagate and can be started in the fall and will grow through the winter.

Great yard Doug! Love the two Trachys by the water! By the way. Have you even seen the videos of the two tall Trachys that guy has in Clarkston?

Good luck with everything; it looks great!!

ScottyON wrote:Great yard Doug! Love the two Trachys by the water! By the way. Have you even seen the videos of the two tall Trachys that guy has in Clarkston?

Scotty, that was Aaron, I don't know if he's on this board but I had talked with him a few times. He emailed me about taking those trees this spring as he has moved down to florida I think. Someone took them at the price he was asking and I wasn't in a position to get out there or spend the cash on them. I'm still gaming to get at least one larger specimen trachy in the next year or two if my wife will let me. This summer has turned into the summer of bananas ever since I got all those dwarfs from my local tech center greenhouse for free. I'm excited to take them out of the ground and see how they overwinter bareroot in my garage. Fingers crossed.

Here's my third update on the yard for the summer. I'm thinking I may have a few more weeks left before temps start heading down and I'll be forced to dig the bananas up for storage for the winter. It stinks b/c they're just now starting to put out some huge leaves!

http://youtu.be/OWoLFenGJ4U

Looks great-

you can just pay for shipping for the Basjoo if you want one,
assuming that they come back next year.

hardyjim wrote:Looks great-

you can just pay for shipping for the Basjoo if you want one,
assuming that they come back next year.

We can wait until next spring on that. If you're interested some cannas I will certainly have some rhizomes available of those.

Here's my last rambling update before I think things will get dug up.

http://youtu.be/Tzuid0FHF0U

Doug, nice update.
Great work on the shed...with all those bananas needing storage you'll wish you'd added a greenhouse to the shed.

Older banana leaves always yellow, with the cigar leaf still looking pristine.
Cooler temps and end of fertilizer/lower humidity late summer.

Cannas are lovely around your gazebo.

Barb

Thanks Barb, I just noticed that the not so old leaves were the ones yellowing also. I still think some of the cooler low temps we've had are the culprit along with my not fertilizing.