Dwarf Namwah Growing 8a

[Dartolution]

Back in mid may last year I received a tissue cultured dwarf namwah from member on another forum for bananas. 

Here it is as of the 17th of May 2021:

 

I grew it out in a pot over last summer and overwintered it in the house - taking it out on nice days, and as of this March planted in where I had my established basjoo clump for the last several years. 

Note: Do not attempt to move an established basjoo clump by yourself.... if you know, you know. 

 

ANYWHO - After planting it out I chopped most of the leaves off or in half to let it establish before beginning growing again for the season. 

Its thrown out 3 new leaves in about a month. 

 

 

 

Pardon the junk around it - moving things about. 

Size 13 shoe for reference. 

 

[Dartolution]

A few months later and there is a little over 6ft of pseudostem and 7 pups around it. I am not removing the pups, and instead just letting those mature. 

You can see the standard 6ft fence behind it. 

 

[Dartolution]

After some nasty wind gusts (~50mph) the other night thankfully no major damage. 

[JLM]

If thats the dwarf then im scared to see how big the original is. Anyways, glad to hear not much happened with the wind! My bananas have managed to escape wind damage, afraid that could change at some point during hurricane season. Hopefully not but we will see.

[Dartolution]

Seems to be a pretty sturdy plant. Dwarf namwahs seem to have height ranges anywhere from 5-9 feet of pseudo stem from what I can tell. This one currently sits right at 7ft. 

Tall namwah I believe is anywhere from 10-20ft depending on where its grown? 

[Dartolution]

Here are some updates of the clump today. I was forced to size control how many pups were being created and have removed several. There are still 3 more below that need to be removed. Currently this is the parent plant and 5 surrounding plants. I've also had to remove several lower leaves since I got tired of them slapping me in the face. 

[Dartolution]

A few days ago I noticed a flat leaf on the mother plant, and tada... we have a flower. 

Not at the best time of year. I do not anticipate any bananas from it this late in the season, but it would have been nice. It appears to be quite large. 

[gurugu]

Neat Namwah you've got! If weather allows, you'll eat bananas very soon.

I planted Daijao, which is similar to Namwah, in the greenhouse about three months ago. No sign of flower yet. Dwarf orinoco did set a flower two months ago, and bananas are fattening. I hope they will be ripe in less than a month. 

I had it producing fruits outdoors 3/4 years ago, but it was planted on the north face of the house and fruits were not so tasty. 

I also have red dacca  in the greenhouse, but no flower yet either, though it is very healthy. 

Good luck. 

[Dartolution]

About a week and a half ago, we had a record setting frost take place (earliest I can remember) where temperatures were between 27-35 throughout the state. 

The local stations in my area, including mine registered between 28.8-32.5 for that Wednesday and Thursday. 

As a result of course anything above around 6ft off the ground got nipped/burned including the bananas. 

Below are some images. 

Still yet - the Namwah is continuing to push out the flower, and as of today appears to have begun opening. 

The next 10 days look are forecasted to be in the upper 70s to low 80s during the day and 50s-60s at night. 

I do not expect it to have time to mature this season, but the flower size is impressive none-the-less. 

Much larger than I expected and the pictures don't do it justice really. 

 

 

and the basjoos for reference:

[Merlyn]

My clump of Namwah also tends to fruit late in the year.  Right now I've got two that are only about 5-6' tall, but they were in the shade of a Dendrocalamus Hamiltonii bamboo until hurricane Ian toppled that over.  I've had them a couple of years, but they always bloomed at the wrong time and got hit by frost.

[Dartolution]

I fully expect that next summer the offshoots will flower well in advance of any cold weather. This was the parent plant from the original TC I received. 

Kind of sucks this year, but no worries for next year. 

[Dartolution]

 

Would have been nice! counted about 18 on that hand alone... 

Temps in the low 30s predicted next weekend. 

[JLM]

Oh man! You were so close! Hopefully when they bounce back in Spring it wont take them long to flower.

[Dartolution]

Would have been a nice rack of bananas this year. Not bad for a first from tissue culture.