Arrktrees, just like all apples are Malus domestica, all bananas are the same Musa species. (Not including one edible species grown only in the South Pacific). Just like you can have Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Rome apples, you have small pink bananas, big white ones and plantains all from basically the same genome. In my parent's day, the variety was called Gros Michele, "Big Mike". The last load was imported into the U.S. in 1962, but the dying of bananas had been on-going and had inspired the song "Yes, we have no bananas". Since then, almost all dessert bananas are Cavendish. The reason is a disease that wiped out almost all Gros Michele. The reason for the quintessentially British name Cavendish is that when looking for a banana tree that was immune to the fungal disease, one was found in the greenhouses of Lord Cavendish. This single clone is that basis for the whole dessert banana trade. Now, there is a new threat, another fungus. The industry has already moved from countries like Honduras to Ecuador, the new #1 source of bananas to the US. The fungus has infected trees in South China, and recently was found in Queensland, Australia. When it comes to the New World, you will read it in the mainstream media. While you and I may think of bananas as an accessory to breakfast, places like Uganda and that region use bananas like we do potatoes, wheat and rice. This variety, a plantain type, is also killed by the new fungus. When it ravages East Africa, you can imagine what will happen when it hits there, imagine taking everything with rice, wheat or potato off your menu. Anyways, there is a process going on to try to find a resistant banana. Every banana is an ancient seedless (natural?) hybrid. However, have you ever noticed small brown specks at the blossom end of a banana? Those are vestigial seeds. For every about 100 thousand bananas, one will have seeds that can be made to grow. For every 1000 ones that grow, one will make it to maturity. For this reason, the Country of Honduras has a project where bananas are mashed through a sieve to recover those 'seeds'. They are sent to the U. of Louvain in Belgium where they do the growing. As they get plants, they multiply them and give them to people in India, Africa, South America etc. It is hoped on of these will show resistance to the new fungus. I'll stop this long post, there is so much more to say. For more info, look for info on Tropical Race Four.

>>>>> " I have heard people say that there are roses that must get fully established before they are at their most fragrant, but I don't think the roses go from non-fragrant to very fragrant -- more like mildly fragrant to very fragrant. "Roses either, IMHO and experience, either have an aroma, or they don't. Period. Some roses have a tremendous/terrfic/even sometimes overpowering aroma.... Some...here anyway,"Knockout", you couldn't tell it has any smell at all even if it was just you and 300 "Knockouts" in a very large mayonaise jar. And then there are the purebred rugosas, regardless of site climate, weather, neighborhood-cats,dogs,kids,cars,goats,deer... anything, they are absolutely incorrigible growers with the strongest of rose scents. Maybe soil and nutrition have a little to do with smell, but not a whole lot. Get some right away! Some times in some plants, genetic expressions of one type or another are wholely dependant on two separate chromosomes both being dominantly expressed. An example of this might be blight resistance in American Chestnut trees..... A worthy read and planting endeavor, and join the American Chestnut Foundation, get some seedlings, and plant them.

I am not sure if I should pull my plants or not with something that sounds almost identical except the rot is not at the stem/soil line. It looks like dark brown rot on the stem (some have 2 rot spots) and many leaves are affected as well and the growth is stunted. The plants have been part of the same mud party the rest of everyone else's plants have been attending in the Northeast. (I think I'm growing gills myself.) I thought I would try (if the weather should behave) to save the (entire) plant by using liquid copper fungicide spray in case it is fungus. I've included a photo (if it worked) of one that is about halfway from the ones that still look decent to the really bad ones. I wonder if I should just pull all the affected (25 of the 30 plants) and get a late start on some larger store bought plants. Could it be that it's simply rotting from the wet soil? Or most likely a fungus? They look pretty stressed... I don't know if plants can come back from this... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Here is a link that might be useful: Sad tomato plant

Thanks Jll..good job straddling that fence, but both sound look good advice! Dave, I love the idea of a greenhouse! I am impulsive enough to go out and build one tomorrow, but the question that immediately came to my mind was...do I really need a greenhouse in San Diego, with our cold season so short? If the answer is yes, and I can learn how to properly use one..well then sign me up! In the meantime, I'm probably going to have to do one of the two options that you both laid out. I'm going to cover them tonight, since we're dipping below 40. I don't know if there is a way to find out what the probability of a rainy vs dry season for this spring will be. Farmer's Almanac perhaps? I really have no clue there. Since I don't have other containers on hand, I think I may go the route of planting them and ensuring that they are covered in cold temps. One last question since we're on the tomato topic here: I just planted some heirloom tomato seeds and they are indoors at the moment. I think I may have planted them too deep. They were tiny seeds, and I probably planted them an inch deep, perhaps a bit more. Will those come up? I'm tempted to just add another seed very shallow to those peat pots, as I read that seeds should be planted at a depth approx half their circumference. That would make these just barely below the surface. Is that correct? I am already having so much fun and look forward to learning and sharing with everyone on the forum!