My Garden

Bananas in the Garden

Last post 05-08-2009 9:16 PM by M&MBM. 20 replies.

• 30/07/2006 06:12 PM
  Bill Z Location: Joined on: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 1	Reply | Contact Global warming!!. Well somthing strange is happening, I have banana plants fruiting in My garden, I am thinking of applying for a Fair Trade subsidy topromote the Sussex Banana trade

• 31/07/2006 01:23 PM	In reply to
  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743	Reply | Contact Hi Bill Z, I am led to believe that bannana trees die off once they have fruited and produce a new plantlet near the base i am not sure how true this is but it may be true and you will need to evaluate the situation is it worth letting your tree fruit but then having to start growing another tree after? digger

• 22/11/2006 09:48 AM	In reply to
  Paul Narramore Location: Joined on: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 91	Reply | Contact Digger I don't think that's the case. Didn't you see on tv that chap in Wales with three-year old fruiting banana trees? I lost my own one last year as I was a bit lazy wrapping it up. I used bubble wrap rather than fleece or hessian, however I did get a 'baby' off it which I over wintered in the green house.

• 22/11/2006 10:50 AM

  In reply to

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976

  Reply | Contact I'm sure they do carry on after fruiting as well. When we were working in Taiwan, there were banana trees growing along the railway line just down the road from where we lived and they carried on fruiting for the three years that we were there. There was another banana plot in the city centre. It was strange to see, being the only unbuilt on plot and surrounded by tower blocks. Whoever owned it must have been pretty determined, because they'd have made a fortune if they sold it.

• 22/11/2006 02:12 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact Well i am always doing things like this i must have been reading more than one article at once and confused what i was talking about (again) Once when i was younger and dafter i was in Saudi arabia and i confused Bactrian camels with dromedary camels you know two humpers versus one humpers, My knowledge of the arabic language is a little shaky and i looked at the wrong picture in the book! anyway at least my senile ramblings have stimulated some messages. digger

• 22/11/2006 04:51 PM	In reply to
  stevew Location: Joined on: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 408	Reply | Contact I'm with digger on this one They need to get to around 3 yrs to fruit, by that time they have many offsets growing around them which take over the job of fruiting next time, but each stem as it were, fruits once Steve

• 22/11/2006 05:55 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact Nice one stevew, Thank you for pointing this out obviously tthe new shoots produced fruit on consecutive years givving the impression that the same stem was providing fruit, to a casual passer by this would appear the same plant fruiting each year, so i must have read it correctly thanks for support stevew through this difficult debate that did appear as though i was out numbered for a while and the debate would have reached a wrong conclusion just by sheer numbers of people,however in the UK bananas are not a regular crop so people could perhaps be forgiven for not having all the information immediately to hand. So there we have it a succesful conclusion is the outcome. digger

• 15/06/2007 04:53 PM

  In reply to

  M&MBM Location: Joined on: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 16

  Reply | Contact Digger and Stevew are correct. Once the stem has fruited, it dies off, but the offsets will take over. I understand I should have removed all but one or two of my banana's offsets, but I like the forest effect. I'm growing Musa basjoo in my garden. I tried Musa sikkimensis and M. yunnan. Yunnan is supposed to produce fruit which is edible, if not particularly palatable. The dwarf M. cavendish is the one for edible bananas, but this is much more cold sensitive. I tried keeping one in my greenhouse but it died. I also lost the sikkimensis the first year, despite wrapping, and the yunnan the second, even though that was planted and protected in the same way as the basjoo. Afte some rather Heath Robinson constructions over the banana patch, I now erect one of those tent style greehouses over them to overwinter them. I have to cut them down to about 6 ft of course, which is heartbreaking at the end of the Summer. This year was so mild, they started growing quite early and lifted the greenhouse up with them. I have a musella lasiocarpa, which is supposed to be even hardier. That flowered for me last year, though no fruit was set. The wasps loved the flower. That stem dies, though I have a ring of offsets to take over. I have detached some of the offsets from both the lasiocarpa and the basjoo, though not all of them took. The lasiocarpa is more reliable in that respect (for me, at least). I'm very pleased with my bananas, and will maybe post some piccies when they look a little less winter weary.

• 30/05/2008 06:59 PM	In reply to
  M&MBM Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Apr 2008 Posts: 42	Reply | Contact I am so excited. I have a flower spike on one of the stems.

• 03/06/2008 01:00 PM	In reply to
  Figwort Location: Peterborough Joined on: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 258	Reply | Contact Blimey that's early! I've got a Musa basjoo, which flowered in 2006, but had no flowers last year (not surprising, considering the weather). But it didn't start flowering until mid-July, but you are further south than me and in a warmer part of the country. There are never any problems in gardening - just opportunities! Geoff Hodge www.gardenforum.demon.co.uk

• 03/06/2008 04:08 PM	In reply to
  M&MBM Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Apr 2008 Posts: 42	Reply | Contact

• 03/06/2008 04:08 PM	In reply to
  M&MBM Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Apr 2008 Posts: 42	Reply | Contact

• 03/06/2008 04:14 PM

  In reply to

  M&MBM Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Apr 2008 Posts: 42

  Reply | Contact Sorry about the empty posts, folks. Don't know what happened there.   The reason my banana is early is probably because I erect a plasic greenhouse over it for the winter, so the dormancy is quite short. (I know it's time to take it down when the cover starts being lifted off. Unfortunately this means the spike has come out before the leaves have grown and looks aesthetically displeasing. I don't lnow if I will get some leaves on this shoot. Still exciting though.

• 04/06/2008 09:53 AM	In reply to
  Figwort Location: Peterborough Joined on: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 258	Reply | Contact Wow, that's keen. I'm afraid I just have to let mine get on with it and battle whatever weather is thrown at it. But it has come through the last four winters with no protection whatsoever.  There are never any problems in gardening - just opportunities! Geoff Hodge www.gardenforum.demon.co.uk

• 27/06/2009 01:08 PM	In reply to
  pelletizer Location: Joined on: 27 Jun 2009 Posts: 2	Reply | Contact  Banana is a tropical herbaceous plant consisting of an underground corm and a trunk (pseudostem) comprised of concentric layers of leaf sheaths. At 10 to 15 months after the emergence of a new plant, its true stem rapidly grows up through the center and emerges as a terminal inflorescence which bears fruit. wood pellets production