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OH NO, DARN I bought a banana plant that doesnt produce fruit

14 years ago

I am so disappointed. I just read on a recent post that one of the bananas plants that I just bought won't produce fruit.

At least not for a novice.

Please, BANANA FRIENDS, look at the rest of these and tell me about them.

DWARF CAVENDISH BANANA , BASJOO BANANA, ICE CREAM BANANA, DWARF RED BANANA and the last one is called WILLIAMS

Will these, other then Basjoo, produce fruit for me in my lifetime?

I thought I had read up on them suffeciently to make intellegent choices. Well, I thought wrong.

My space is minimal, so I cannot have an unlimited number of varieties. I do want varieties that will produce fruit.

I chose these 5 for my training trees LOL.

I figure once I gain some knowledge and experince then I can chose the next five, giving me 10, which is my goal.

On the other side of my property I will grow my figs..I am working on them at the same time. (5 varieties.)

The Bananas are so beautiful. They were about 8" when they arrived, now they are pushing 12" It has been about about 2 or maybe 3 weeks. Two of them have one little shoot off to one side that are about 1" tall. ahh babies...lol

T.H.A.N.K...Y.O.U.

Comments (8)

john_ny
14 years ago
Other than the basjoo, all of the others you mention are capable of producing edible fruit. Whether you get that fruit depends on local conditions and the care the plants get.
smittee
Original Author
14 years ago
THANK YOU right now have them planted in 1 gal containers of miracle grow potting soil. They are indoors in the coolest room in our house where it stays about 60 to 70 with one window for light. I plan on leaving them there till spring.
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None of the edible varieties have a chance to survive your climate. With the right protection, they may survive the winter (almost anything can with the right protection!) but they need a nice, long growing season to make fruit. If you bring them inside every winter and plant them in the ground every spring, you will eventually get a banana plant to bloom and if it blooms early enough in the year, you can get some edible fruit too (most banana plants take about 6 months for their fruit to ripen, but it definitely varies on variety and weather). I'm growing ice cream, and saba as far as edible bananas go. Next year I'm going to try a few more to increase my chances of getting fruit one day. My Velutina banana is the only one that has ever fruited for me, but the fruits were more like seedpods because the bananas were so small (Velutina is an edible banana with viable seeds inside of it, but the seeds make it hard to actually enjoy what you're eating). -Alex
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jamesmaloy
14 years ago
Not only is it possible but also probable that you can have fruit in two years from your bananas. Your growing season is a little longer than mine and I have banana fruit every year. Typically a banana takes 18 months to bear fruit. Now some people who want fruit make the mistake of cutting there banana stalks to the ground I know in colder climates that is the way it is done but in Florida that is not how it works. So come spring plant the one gallon plants in rich well worked soil add compost of any thing you can get your hands on. leaves, grass clippings, pine bark mulch,pine needles etc. keep the plants well watered and well fertilized. They grow amazingly fast. Good luck
James
smittee
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you James and John for your input. I was wondering what time of year do bananas usually fruit. Are they a spring, summer or fall producer? I am sure I have nematodes. Am I going to be able to grow productive Banana Trees in pots I will purchase WHATEVER size it takes. I am sure it will take awhile to aquire them but that is ok. But I need some idea what size to buy. 15,30 or 50gal??
tropicallvr
14 years ago
You might want to give one of the FHIA bananas that have been bread for disease(and some are nemotode resisant)resistance a try, since there is problems in florida. Maybe a few searches on bananas org would give some ideas, and there are a few central florida growers on that board that grow FHIA's and other types.
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
14 years ago
Will these, other then Basjoo, produce fruit for me in my lifetime?

Depends on how old you are! LOL! But unless you are like 90+, you will probably see fruit.
PRO
OMG Fertilizer Co.
6 years ago
We've had great success with the OMG FERTILIZER, see photo.
charles kraft (SoCal 9B)
6 years ago
Too many bananas. I have four fruit clusters coming right now, I can't eat that many. Ice Cream. The clump is about 3 ft by 9 ft, and has been growing for four or five years. I have to chop out new shoots regularly. It seems to take about 18 months for a stalk to produce fruit in my yard. I also have a clump of Raja Puri plants, they don't do too well, they are totally shaded by a neighbor's tree. Still have some small fruit time to time.

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