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It took me 3 years to get my first banana. Now I am getting them regularly. I found the key is to heavily mulch with grass clippings, chop n drop and mulch. Give some human urine now and then and kitchen scraps. I have 1 dwarf that is about to finally throw it's rack and it is standing at about 6 ft. tall. The tallest dwarf one for me. They are loving this hot, humid and rainy weather here in central Florida. Just keep loving on yours, you will get some. :)

Yes they are, I just love these girls... They each have their own little personalities. Just being around them instantly make me happy.

Yes, this one is an Arabian jasmine and it blooms throughout the whole year, not just twice like the normal jasmine. I also have night time jasmine that only blooms at night. They all smell amazing.

Oh no. I am no pro but can only offer advice from my own experience. I keep mine heavily mulched from yard waste, grass clippings, leaves, and chop n drop. Whatever is free. I have a few large bucket like containers buried within the bananas. The buckets have large holes on the bottom. I dump my kitchen scraps into these buckets on a regular basis to feed the bananas for free. I also occasionally dump human urine around the bananas. Once I started feeding them all the above, and protected them correctly during any winter freezes, I finally got bananas. It took me 3 years to learn it. Bananas are hungry and you don't have to spend money to feed them. Lots of water, lots of kitchen scraps, tons of mulch and occasional human urine, watered down. I hope that helps.

They are such great companions. :)

Thank you. Bougainvilleas. I love them but you have to watch their wicked thorns.

I purchased mine at Lowe's and have just prorogated it into more.

HI!! I am in Central Florida, 9B. So I actually had bananas over the winter. I wrap my bananas with Christmas lights, not the LED ones. I wrap the trunks really well and anytime the temps dropped below 50 degrees I keep the lights on all night. If the temps get below 40 then I cover the bananas by putting posts up all around them then covering with blankets and sheets, trying to to touch to many leaves, as well as keeping the lights on all night. Miraculously, we never hit freezing temps this past winter. I also do not think out any leaves starting in the fall. The leaves will also help insulate them. Plus, I heavily layer with mulch at the end of fall with as thick of mulch as I can get it. Mostly fallen leaves, other tree leaves, grass clippings from mowing, etc. This will help keep the ground warmer as well. I hope this helps. Good luck.

I am in 9B in Central Florida where we usually get a freeze or 2 during the winter. I wrap all my bananas, around the base, with christmas lights. Not LED lights. I wrap them when temps start getting cold. Anytime the temps got below 50 degrees I turn on the lights and leave them on all night until the sun comes up. If we get temps below 40 then I put stakes around the bananas and complete cover them making sure there is no place for air to get within, along with the lights staying on all night. Hope that helps.

Oh no. I did not know beetles would eat the leaves. Try bringing in more birds. They would love to take care of those beetles for you. Can you put up some bird feeders near the banana trees?

I think it was a freshly hatched Monarch. They can not fly for a bit when they come out of their cocoon. :)

Yes it was. :) Now if I can just get a bird to sit on my hand. HAHA

Hello and welcome !! Yes, the freeze is a pain when it comes to the world of bananas. I can only speak for my experience with the dwarf cavendish. Although I did just add a new type to my garden, the "Musa". So, it took me roughly 3 years to get them to fruit, and that was because of the freezes we got in the winter. So, the first winter I had no idea what I was doing and about lost them. I think I was up to maybe 3 by the first winter frost. Second winter I put up chicken wire around the bananas and stuff with leaves. About lost them again. By the third winter I tried something different. I wrapped the trunks of all the adult plants with your standard christmas lights. No LEDs. Anytime the temps got 49 or lower I turned the lights on all night until the sun came up. If we got into the 30's I would complete cover all of them with blankets, as well as keeping the christmas lights on. I finally got bananas!!! We have enjoyed 2 racks already and I have 3 racks growing right now and I predict I will get many more this year. All from 1 plant. That is the 1 benefit of having a dwarf, you can cover it. I save any sheet or blanket I can get my hands on throughout the year. People throwing them away, pick them up at thrift stores, ect. Save them for the bananas in the winter. Now I put in tall stakes all around the bananas for the blankets to lay on. You want to try and keep the blankets off the leaves. It is a pain but worth it if you want the bananas. I hope that helps. Feel free to ask my any questions. I am only a 5 year gardener so still have a lot to learn, but I love it.

Oh, I forgot to add, you also have to feed them. A LOT.. I give them tons of organic compost, heavily compost with leaves, chop and drop and my own mulch I make. And water. I have mine growing in the lowest section of our yard so they get the most water. And, occasionally my husbands pee. Yup, they love it.... Good luck..

Oh my gosh. I can't imagine what that must be like. We have had an unusual mild winter here this year but I have seen some of the crazy temps elsewhere. Brrrrr I have tried and failed at many things myself for whatever reasons. We just have to find the ways to make it work for us. You just may have to start creating some type of green houses. I have seen some make some pretty cool ones out of reclaimed material, like old windows and doors and such. Maybe some grow lights for indoor growing on smaller things like herbs, greens, tomatoes and peppers. Thank you for sharing. We never really realize what is going on elsewhere in the world.

I`ve been using the little indoor hydro growers since 2020 and building my own and learning it. But three new growers and one second use grower bought two months before all failed in October so I lost the expensive micro tomato seeds and other things because of it. China trash. The part to fix one very expensive one took two months to arrive. I didn`t even bother testing it. I got an older model I have and planted a few things but I lost all motivation because of it. From now on I`ll build my own. I can guarantee I won`t be buying another one from China. They aren`t safe much less dependable. Pumps quit, timers are defective, connections go bad, lights burn out, etc. I think they`re intentionally selling us defective products. @@UndoKarma

It's not to far away..

Yes, I already have a ton and I am about to get a ton more. Since I have soo many I am going to keep growing them just for the compost and to feed my chickens.. Why not..

@@UndoKarma if everyone had these skills (and want to do it) there would be so much more food around!

True that.@@ChickenNuggetsofGold

It was nice meeting you. Thank you for all the goodies. I am so excited to add them all to my gardens. :)

Yes, birds love little plants when they are starting. I also have squirrels that love to get in there to bury their nuts, digging up everything in the process. Tulle has become a life saver for me.. Keeps them all out.

Not at all. Just put a few little nubby pieces in the dirt about an inch or 2 down and water. That's it. One of the easiest things to grow, in my opinion anyways. :)

Thank you. Stay tuned to see what I am going to make from another Fast Food joint. :)

@@UndoKarma how long did it takes you to plan and make?

The nuggets probably took me about 4 hours to create, just not all at once. I work on it here and there when I get a few minutes. :) D Do you do plastic canvas?@@ChickenNuggetsofGold

@@UndoKarma no, and I don’t know what it is. I do more 3d printing.

It is just a type of craft using a sheet of plastic material. You can see what I am creating next on my Facebook page here: facebook.com/UndoBadKarma So have you printed any nuggets yet? :)@@ChickenNuggetsofGold

Fixing to load the complete video now. :)

I am happy to. There are 4 very important tasks I do for the bananas, constantly. 1) I make sure they have tons of organic matter & mulch around them at all times, 2.) I make sure they always have plenty of water, 3.) I bury a bucket or 2 in-between the banana plants to keep a constant supply of all my kitchen scraps in and the 4th is about once a week they get a dose of human urine. Yup, they love human pee. And that is it. I do no buy any fertilizers, all mulch I make myself from my own yard. I buy nothing except the water. I hope that helps you. :)

I have a newer video of my 3rd rack that I have now so you can see the size of the bananas. The plants do not get any taller. I love their size. They are so easy to manage not being so tall.

It took a little over 2 years. Only because it about died the first winter. I was still new and didn't really know what to do. So it took almost the whole year to come back and the second winter I did much better at protecting them so immediately near the end of winter it threw the first flower. Sadly, that one did not make it. The plant died not long after it threw the flower. I know have 2 racks going. I don't know for sure if it is normal or not but it seems like they are just stuck in the same size forever, lol. I will have to do another update on them soon. :)

@UndoKarma way cool I'm trying to get a flower on mine but I live in Washington state so I have to bring them in winter

I understand. Give it lots of plant matter and kitchen scraps. They are big big big time eaters. Make sure you have worms living in that pot too. Lots of plant matter, kitchen scraps. I will get an update video a.s.a.p on mine. I feel like mine are not doing anything now. :/@@adriangarciafishing7498

@UndoKarma will do ill have to upload a video

Yes, I would love to see a video of yours. Most of what I learned I learned from watching other peoples gardening videos. :) Please let me know when you do.@@adriangarciafishing7498

Lots of mulch, lots of kitchen scraps and piss... Human pee-pee. They love our urine. I have 2 racks of bananas now. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice compliment. :)

Thank you. My fingers are crossed we get to eat them. Our very first rack, which was early this year, didn't make it. The plant died just after it threw the beginning of the rack. So far this one is doing much better. :)

Thank you. I am working on finding a nursery where I can buy some native plants. Thank you for watching. :)

That is only 1 of several papayas and with the smallest ones. I will have to talk a video of all of them.

Thank you for sharing that. I never seen this guy before. I have plenty of dandelions and grass for them. :)

No problem :)

Thank you. :)

I LOVE that windchime. I love hearing it..

Thank you. I was surprised how busy it was this morning.. What did you think of that dog, did it seem like it was acting strange to you?

@@UndoKarma no looked like he was watching something intently