YAY!!!!
Ron I hope they all do Great!
Wanna see pictures!
Will do!
Gawd, they grow fast!
YAY!!!!
Ron I hope they all do Great!
Wanna see pictures!
Sorry to hear about your banana, Dor. There are some tricks you can use that help, though. If you cover the banana tree with mulch, wrap it in plastic, and string Christmas lights around that, it should be able to survive a Texas winter easilly. The only time you'd need to turn on the Christmas lights would be when the temps fell into the single digits. A friend of mine in Ontario Canada used that method and it worked really good for him.
Treva: Thanks for the offer! But I've already ordered 12 more Jack's giants so I won't have enough room this year. Btw, to explain Colocasia/Alocasia (aroid) plants a little better: They are similar to banana plants. The crown of the plant (that sends up the stems and leaves) sends out new pups (baby EE's) right from the crown itself. If/when you cut pups free (to send to Dor), be sure and dig up under the plant first to make sure that you separate-off enough of the underground plant to provide some good roots for the pup. I always do separations that way and the pups always do great!
Just one more thing you might like to know (just disregard anything you already know):
Banana plants are actually herbs. The base of the plant (below ground) is called the corm. You can actually cut the whole top of a banana plant off at ground level, dig up the corm, and store it between 50-60 degrees for the winter then plant it again in the spring. When you plant it, it will send up either a whole new plant or several pups. It acts very much like a bulb.
Crabbergirl,
Thanks for the idea about roasting pork with banana leaves! I needa try that sometime! Btw, when banana plants flower, they make the hands of bananas and the big head of the flower is still there. You can actually pick the bananas and slice and fry the head of the flower too!
Dor,
Thanks for sharing the photos! It looks like it's maybe 12 feet tall, has slender leaves, and I don't see any red or blue colorations on the plant. I will need to check some photos and will try to narrow it down. Btw, both of them look very healthy! I don't see a flag leaf yet but, as big as it is, it looks like it could happen this year! I hope you'll show some more photos if it does!
Crabbergirl,
Thanks for the idea about roasting pork with banana leaves! I needa try that sometime! Btw, when banana plants flower, they make the hands of bananas and the big head of the flower is still there. You can actually pick the bananas and slice and fry the head of the flower too!
My DIL wants to pick the brand new bloom before it opens. She sut it at the base of the bud But I actually gave her a pup tree to plant so she can have her own
Make a fire in the ground make sure the hole will accomodate a large pan and still have room around the sides,wrap your seasoned pork in the leaves( I use sazon). Place it in a duch oven with a lid, cover pork about 1/2 way with water,place the pan on the fire, add coals around the sides. Cover the hole with a sheet of metal, Cook for about 4 hours depending on the size of the pork side.
Awesome Dor!
Congrats on the new pups! My dwarf Cavendish pup is finally putting up a second leaf and my Zebrina banana plants are finally growing! I was getting worries about that since it took so long for them to get started.
Btw, you should definitely keep those pups inside this winter. I had an Ice Cream banana pup that I found this spring, only about 1 inch tall. Now it's about 8 feet tall and growing very fast! Since I mostly just want banana plants cause they look great, I'll prolly just overwinter pups. I'll still keep the big plants but as dormant corms. This will be the second winter I've ever overwintered plants so I still have some important decisions to make.