Growing a musa indoors

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by chemistry, Oct 21, 2009.

  1. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    I just purchased a banana tree and since I live in Calgary, Canada, Im growing it indoors. I was just wondering about basic information on how to care for it. Will it be okay inside? Also, as you can see from the pics, there is a slit between the pot and the tray but the tray is not removable. Is this okay or should I put it in a new pot? It also looks like its about to come out. Any special things I should know about? Thank you!
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 30, 2009
  2. MrsGreenthumbs

    MrsGreenthumbs Active Member

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    Wow that is a lovley banana tree! Try Googling it and good luck! :)
     
  3. Blake09

    Blake09 Active Member

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    First of all for the proper growing there should be a name after Musa, like M. Basjoo. I think your banana could be one of these:

    *Musa Super Dwarf Cavendish http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_'Super_Dwarf_Cavendish'
    *Musa Dwarf Cavendish http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_Dwarf_Cavendish
    *Musa Truly Tiny http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_'Truly_Tiny'

    There is a few more types that look like yours, but I think yours is a Cavendish varitie. Here are some of the musa varities, look at the link below. Tje site is not just showing some of the musa varities is is showing others like enstate, Tissue Culture of bananas, etc.
    http://www.bananas.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Allpages

    Also you might want to cheack out bananas.org, the site is all on bananas and is just like this fourm.

    :)
     
  4. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    Hi Blake09, I think you are right that it is a Super Dwarf Cavendish. Mine look precisely like it.

    Chemistry, this should be a perfect variety to grow in a pot in your area, it's one of the few that doesn't need a super large pot and can possibly produce some edible fruit if kept warm enough / proper lighting and fertized properly. Good luck with it.
     
  5. K Baron

    K Baron Well-Known Member

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    Great plant, loves humidity and wet feet and temperatures above 20c, it could thrive.

    Indoors, they are a magnet to spider mites for one, and need sufficient day light, and a heavy feeder, but not so much in the winter months... A grow-light may be a benefit for it during the shortest days of the year...

    I would love to see it bear fruit indoors. My Musa basjoo have flowered and formed immature bananas, out of doors while permanently planted in the ground.
     
  6. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    Thank you for all the responses. I am misting it daily and its beside 4 other plants so hopefully that helps with the humidity. The sun is not quite as present so maybe I will get a grow-light, any special kinds? So it the pot it's in okay? I've been draining it after I water it. I've been letting it get dry between waterings, is that okay? A new leaf is coming out, but it's split in half, does that often happen? One last question, the edges of all the leafs seem to be drying out and curling up, what does this mean? Thank again!!!!
     
  7. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    Hi Chem, I have to disagree with some dear gardening friends on this forum and state that for misting to be truly effective it would have to be your full time occupation! An inexpensive humidifier in the room works well to raise humidity as does a "humidity tray" Basicly meaning to raise your pots above the tray underneath (use marbles , stones etc.) and keep the tray filled with water. This will raise the humidity around the plant without too much effort on your part. The increased humidity also discourages spider mites which I believe we all share at this time of year.

    Your watering practices are right on the money. I let the top two inches dry on my bananas during winter before waterings and it works well.

    As far as lighting there are so many choices! Flourescents work ok if they are kept close to the plant. Even the incandescent grow bulbs help. I use a metal Halide on a light mover but this is expensive initially as well as the increased energy costs although the results are worth it to me at least.
    I think improving these two conditions will settle all your other issues(which are minor ones for this time of year).
     
  8. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    And to answer your other question, I wouldn't repot that plant, which looks extremely happy, until it starts to produce pups (offshoots) - then it will need a bit more space.

    And a hearty thrid to the ID of Super Dwarf Cav. That's an excellent started banana you have there, and a very hardy one to boot.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2009
  9. K Baron

    K Baron Well-Known Member

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    I you see scale or spider mites... do not panic... spray with a safers soap solution....or if scale, use an alcohol swab over them.

    The browning is due to either dry soil, or low humidity...
     
  10. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    Thanks again :) I actually have a humidity tray underneath a gardenia which is right beside the banana plant, so hopefully that helps. It's just the banana plant is quite big so I'd need to get a much bigger tray and I don't have a lot of space. I'll keep it in mind though. And I'll defs pick up a light. Are they marketed as "grow-lights"? Im guessing Home Depot would have them. So the bottom leafs always fall off as I get new growth? It's so cool seeing the palnt uncurl itself and inside, I can see a new shoot coming out. How fast do these types of plants grow? I have a palm tree and it's only grown maybe 5 inches in 2 years. Thank you.
     
  11. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    Yes depending on what type of lighting you choose home depot should have something available. If not there are plenty of sources available on the web as well. Bananas and palms don't compare at all as far as growth rates. Especially if you're talking about a small starter palm. The D. Nam Wah in the picture was only 4" tall ( banana heights are usually always refered to the actual height of the psuedo stem)less than a year ago.
     
  12. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    What is the pseudo stem?
     
  13. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    Psuedo stem is just what the "trunk" portion of the banana plant is called since there is no woody tissue in the plant and the trunk is made up of overlapping leave sheaths.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 1, 2009
  14. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    Hey, just wanted to update. The leaf that unfurling is about halfway there and I can see a new one inside it. I just have a question. 4 of the leaves have started to rip on one of their sides, what is the cause of this? Also, I can see two small shoots coming up from the soil, are these pups? Thx again.
     
  15. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    Yes it sounds like you have some pups coming up which is inevitable as the plant matures. Don't be in a hurry to cut them off as they will add some vigor to the plant and take a while to develop their own root systems. As far as the splitting , there could be several causes( are they the oldest lower leaves?) but the first guess would be the drier indoor air as cold weather comes on. It's probably nothing to worry about at this point other than cosmetic.
     
  16. kevind76

    kevind76 Active Member

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    Doesn't this happen naturally on some bananas? I've wondered the same thing about the splitting of leaves, and thought that either it was because of wind damage, or maybe it was natural.
     
  17. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Leaf splitting is indeed perfectly normal on all bananas. If you find it cosmetically unsettling, you should likely learn to live with it, since it's unlikely that you'll be able to keep the leaves whole and intact throughout their entire useful lives. This said, leaf splitting like you describe is perfectly normal and causes no harm to the plant whatsoever. It's worsened by wind, but the leaves are actually designed to split in order to allow the plant to resist high wind conditions without damaging photosynthetic capacity.
     
  18. keaganp

    keaganp Active Member

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    I just bought one of these bananas too, from Home Depot on Macleod Trail in Calgary. It was only ten bucks so I couldn't resist. They're so short, but they have big 'pseudo' stems.

    I also bought a banana plant a couple of months ago at a garden center in Surrey when I was out at the coast. It is the second and third photos. It has been growing really well. I put a container lid with a few rocks and some water below them so the air gets a bit moist. I don't know how this is helping, but hopefully it is.

    They are such beautiful plants and they grow pretty fast
     

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    Last edited: Nov 21, 2009
  19. Gros Michel

    Gros Michel Member

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    The first one sure looks to be a Super Dwarf Cavendish( great one to have in a container). No idea on the second but nice healthy looking plants both of them.
     
  20. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    Hey, it's been a while but I have some more questions :) I didn't water the banana tree for two weeks because I went home for two weeks and didn't bring it with me. I came back to find the majority of the leaves dead, which I was expecting. It still had some growth at the top however, the two pups that were coming out before are growing extremely fast. And as they grow, the mother plant seemed to have stopped growing at all. I was wondering if I could remove the pups and put them in a seperate pot? How do I do this? Will they continue to grow if removed away from the mother plant? Thank you!!
     
  21. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    You certainly can separate those pups, and you probably should, too. Since you're potted, the easiest way to do this is probably to take the banana out of its pot, and use a sharp, sterile knife to cut the pups off - use a downward slicing motion and make sure they end up with a piece of corm attached. Then repot the three separately.

    This sounds like a classic situation of threat-pupping. Some bananas do this - when there's a threat of death to the mother plant, the corm sets pups in a sort of last-ditch effort to ensure that something survives. If you separate them, all three plants have a good chance of making it, but as it is they're consuming the mother plant's resources, which is why she's not growing at the moment.
     
  22. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    What exactly is the corm? I really don't want to kill the pups so I would like to seperate them the right way. Also, what kind of soil should I be using when I repot them? Does the mother plant need a bigger pot or is the one its in right now fine?
     
  23. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    The corm (which will be really obvious when you unpot the mama plant) is the underground root-system and starch storage area. It's bulbous. Generally, if you cut at a slight downwards angle towards the mother plant, you'll get a bit of corm with the pup.

    I'd be using a soil with at least 25% peat or coir, 25% leaf mulch, and the remainder in black dirt or worm castings. The point is to have good drainage and a really high level of available nutrients.
     
  24. chemistry

    chemistry Member

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    Im pretty clueless to planting. Is the peat, leaf mulch and black dirt readily available in garden centers? Are they expensive? When you say black dirt, does potting mix work? Also, I will only use these things for these plant, are they available in small bags so I dont waste the rest? Thnak you!
     
  25. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    They are, although separately rather than mixed. Black dirt is more or less the same as potting mix - however, the mix may have perlite added (which is not a bad thing) and also (Miracle Grow soils) pearls of fertilizer, which is less of a good thing. You should be able to buy 1 or 2 lb bags of peat and leaf mulch for potting. Home Depot and Rona both carry these things in small bags in their garden centers, if I recall correctly (I haven't been back to Canada in a few years). Each 1 or 2 lb bag is about $1-3 (and again, my prices may be out of date) but it's not that expensive - those three things are basic to many potting mixtures and garden amendment systems. And certainly, the health of bananas is worth the little bit of extra outlay!
     

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