Agreed. Those ingredients really shouldn't be used when potting up to a dramatically larger container. I used those *exact* same ingredients (except pine bark, not oak) in the first citrus I potted years ago. I went from nursery pot to half-barrell. I was following advice from lots of garden centers, friends, etc. I put gravel in the bottom two inches of the container, drilled many holes and was very careful with watering. It was a constant struggle keeping the soil drained (to not have wet-roots) but it worked during my 100+ summers. By 18 months, the soil was so compacted it became hydroponic and dried up completely 3 inches below the surface. I didn't realize this, because the top few inches was moist (looked normal) and when I watered it was draining along the side of the container, then into the gravel and out the bottom. This "fooled me" into thinking the entire soil was saturated and the roots were using it up quickly, since the top several inches dried out every few days. A few a months later the tree was visibly suffering. I had to take thin tree stakes and poke many, many holes completely through the compacted soil to get aeration and water back in the roots. I also poked up from the bottom through the drainage holes. Although this did damage many roots (I could "feel" them tearing), the citrus responded immediately to watering. Out of all the ingredients, I think the compost may have hurt it the most. I had mixed some in originally and was top dressing every few months. If you combine too much organic compost with bark and normal size sand -- and water it regularly -- you'll see it compacts quickly. I believe once it compacts & dries to a certain point, the bark and peat become hydroponic and repel water. I tested this in another 15# container soon after the mishap. I was told Perlite will make the soil have good drainage. The perlite and peat didn't help. You'd have to add a LOT of perlite to those components to have good drainage. These were all MY mistakes and you are probably much brighter and more experienced than I was when I first started and wouldn't use the same ratios of the components, like I did. Are you dead-set on ONLY using the ingredients you currently have on hand? The soil Brett listed will work and many swear the "best" draining soil for the long term is Gritty Mix 1:1:1 presented here by Tapla (Al) who replied to you. He is being humble, but he has answered these types of questions many times and knows his stuff. You might already be aware of this and intentionally put forth a limited-scope question, but there are great threads in this forum that opened my eyes and have educated many people. If you are still reading my long winded post and are so inclined to continue with more reading, here are some links (at least just read the first post in each thread): Container Soils - Water Movement & Retention VII Al's Gritty Mix Trees in Containers Fertilizer Program for Containerized Plants II Good luck!

Last year I grew a "truly tiny" dwarf musa in 5-1-1 and it thrived pretty well. Started as a tiny plant (maybe 3 inches tall, with a few spindly leaves, looked half dead) in May, was about 3 ft wide and high, putting out leaves over 18" long each week by the end of August. I grew it as an annual, for fun, due to my zone and lack of space to overwinter it. I gave it lots of fertilizer and water, had to repot three times between may and september, did not realize how fast it would grow. Daniel

I agree, it will grow MUCH better in the ground. I have one here in WI, I have to bring it in for winter, but it's planted in the ground during the growing season. I LOVE it! We don't have a long enough growing season for it to flower/fruit, but from what I have read, they die after they do so....so not sure you want it to!

Banana's grow very swiftly. What ever size you get it is almost more then likely (Under ideal conditions) to reach fruiting size fast. I planted a 1 foot tall Dwarf Brazillian banana Pup that came from my mother tree in June 2009, it's now over 9 feet tall. Also, I can provide insight into purchasing small banana pups, I purchased two from "Leestropicals.com" and recieved them today, they are maybe 3 inches long with no leafs. Both plants were $18 with shipping. They should grow pretty quickly. I myself, purchased Cavendish " double mahoi" and blue java "Ice cream Banana" I've provided a link. Also "threelittlebirds" I don't know what your climate is, but on another thread I read that "Musa basjoo" is hardy to -20 F. Perhaps you'd be able to grow that. Either way, Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Lee's tropicals