Impressive setup there Benny-- are all of your bananas in containers?

Skeet:
They all were until they outgrew the pots they were planted on. I started on a 3 gallon pot until 7 1/2 gallon to 25 gallon wine barrel.
If you will notice the date that I stated and those pictures were taken on 2004. That's when I started growing bananas. I got them from a customer while I was trouble shooting electrical problem in her house. They are unknown variety. But I have a few tha I bought and some were given to me.
I got them to grow tall so when they outgrew the pot last year, I transferred them to the ground. And they really took off. Still I had not seen any flowers. I concluded that they are not fruiting bananas. I noticed that none of the bananas in my customer's yard had no flowers also.
So to be sure, I bought some that will surely bear fruit of known variety.
And it is true that if you just can put cover the top and sides of your banana house like a covered patio, you won't loose any leaves. They will stay green during the winter.
3 15 07 California gold


Santa rosa plum

Something came up from the banana corm- a teeny weeny pup!

After I was gone for 4 days, here's how my calif gold looked like

Very impressive plants. I'm hoping my NamWah will fruit this year. I noticed that you covered your structure in plastic in the December pics. How'd that work out for you? I bet that was fun handling all that plastic!!

Anyway...I wanted to ask you guys about the leaves of my bananas bronzing/yellowing. I noticed in a couple of the pics, some of the leaves looked the same. I do have a spider mite issue I'm working on but they are not at infestation levels. I continuously spray down the plants with a soap/oil mix or just water straight from the hose. Are the mites causing this or could there be another problem I'm not aware of? I should probably cut off the lower leaves and dispose of them. That would get rid of some of the mites too! It would also provide more light for the pups coming up. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Ohiojay:
The plastic help them some but not totally because the sides were still open. I still had some canopy leaves wilted but mostly those new tener leaves. My plants were caught in the middle of budding flowers and new growth. The sides did fair well though. The reason being I did not put Christmas lights to those that were affected.
Regarding your namwah, I can not give you an answer since I am fairly new propagating this. But I am learning a lot.
And thanks for the compliment.
I am determine to have some fruit either this year or next.
If I may say something, if your namwah will fruit soon, it is better to leave as much leaves as possible if you want a bigger flower. The leaves mfr the food for the fruit to grow and expand. But as you said you have problems some bugs eating the leaves. Try to identify the bugs. Post a pic if you can.

New Banana Additions:



My California Gold pup is growing



And also Joe's Sweetheart



This is the fruit of the california gold but I don't think they are going to grow anymore because there are not enough leaves to sustain the fruit's growing needs.



But they are good to look at while it last.

Ahhhhh!
It's alive!
The first spear coming out of dwarf Brazilian Joe gave me. It's actually a matured banana about 5 1/2 feet in height.

How about it Joe, do you think I will see some flowers soon?

Within 45 days there should be a bloom. And the bloom of Dwarf Brazilian is edible.

Provided you cook them of course. There are several preparations, including making enchilada or salad.

Oh! Wow!
That's the best news yet.
Oh, BTW I was looking for my past banana pictures and here's my bananas in the middle of winter pic taken Dec 4 2004 and they were in my patio just enclosed with plastics.

I did not protect my plants whatsoever. I just let them grew au naturel.
So I know I can grow bananas here for sure.

The description that Skeeter gave for his banana tree is exactly the same as the trees that I have growing in my back yard. After looking through the multitude of bananas out there I suspect that I will never know the identity. I think that I just may have to try some of those dwarf Orinoco plants.
I wonder how platino bananas would do in Zone 9? When I lived in Venezuela we ate them all the time. They really are very good if prepared properly.
Karl

Karl, just try them. I am in zone 9 and have consistent harvests and we can sometimes get colder than you, and the same with your case, other years you can get colder than us.

Here's a listing that are proven to work from the most cold hardy to the least but should bear fruits if the timing is right:
California Gold
Thousand Fingers
Monkey Fingers
Orinoco
Brazilian
Golden Rhinohorn
Dwarf Orinoco
Dwarf Brazilian
Misi Luki
Mysore
Namwah
Rajah Puri
Manzano
Ice Cream
Gold Finger
Dwarf Namwah
Sweetheart (FHIA 3)
Namwah Pearl
Praying Hands
Saba
Cardaba
Williams
Belle
Valery

Where is the dwarf cavendish fall in what category?
How cold hardy are they?
Can they be compared to as cold hardy as Key lime?
Or Cerimoya? Or Papaya or mango?
If not, is there any chance that they may grow here in Salinas?
I am planning to put it on a half wine barrel and if I have to protect it from the winter cold inside my patio.

Expect it to die to the ground from time to time every winter but it will always grow back from the ground. If you plan to protect it like you said, there is a chance for Dwarf Cavendish to bear fruit, but don't expect big bunches like the ones you see in the pictures from the folks down in Southern California.