Ice Cream Banana What To Do

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

Hey folks,

Got this ice cream banana about 1.5 months ago. It was delivered during a terrible santa ana winds episode. Once it was planted it lost all the banana leaves. 

First planted

 

A week later

 

Now recovering 

 

My question is should I cut the other two stalks? Should I fertilize? 
 

The nights here are still in the low 50s here. It receives daily water through sprinklers and we’ve had a few drizzle days this week. I hear coffee grounds help push new growth. Should I try that?

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

Hey folks,

Got this ice cream banana about 1.5 months ago. It was delivered during a terrible santa ana winds episode. Once it was planted it lost all the banana leaves. 

First planted

 

A week later

 

Now recovering 

 

My question is should I cut the other two stalks? Should I fertilize? 
 

The nights here are still in the low 50s here. It receives daily water through sprinklers and we’ve had a few drizzle days this week. I hear coffee grounds help push new growth. Should I try that?

They like water and fertilizer wouldn't hurt if you dont go overboard.   I use the same fertilizer on mine as my palms receive which is a slow release.   I like deep watering with drip irrigation.   Santa Ana winds will definitely beat these up and may just be the reality you'll face.  As they form clumps they can sort of protect one another over time.

I would leave the other 2 stalks as they may produce offsets eventually. 

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

10 hours ago, Tracy said:

They like water and fertilizer wouldn't hurt if you dont go overboard.   I use the same fertilizer on mine as my palms receive which is a slow release.   I like deep watering with drip irrigation.   Santa Ana winds will definitely beat these up and may just be the reality you'll face.  As they form clumps they can sort of protect one another over time.

I would leave the other 2 stalks as they may produce offsets eventually. 

I have miracle Gro shake and feed. Would that work?

[Silas_Sancona]

6 hours ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

I have miracle Gro shake and feed. Would that work?

Great stuff   ....If you want any Bananas produced to take " chemical -y ",    ...and destroy your soil,  ..the foundation from which all healthy plants are built.

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

14 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Great stuff   ....If you want any Bananas produced to take " chemical -y ",    ...and destroy your soil,  ..the foundation from which all healthy plants are built.

What would you recommend? Coffee grounds?

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

What would you recommend? Coffee grounds?

Coffee Grounds for sure..  Worms / other decomposers  in your soil will love it. 

You can also mix up a " Tea " containing a table spoon of Molasses to a gal. of water and apply that..  

Both will enhance beneficial microbe activity in the soil as well. 

Bananas  ..and everything else related to them ( Gingers / Heliconia,  Strelitzia genus Bird of Paradise / Traveler's Palm < Ravenala > ) use a lot of K,  so,  ..on top of the easy to access options above,  Applications of Sul - Po - Mag,  or Langbeinite ( Pure, high - K source  mineral ) are probably a good idea too. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Wellspring Gardens Banana Fuel is insane stuff. I grew a wall of bananas indoors over the winter and one of my blue Java and Cuban red dacca hit the ceiling from pups in 4 or 5 months. Its not cheap but damn. It's bonkers. 

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

7 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Wellspring Gardens Banana Fuel is insane stuff. I grew a wall of bananas indoors over the winter and one of my blue Java and Cuban red dacca hit the ceiling from pups in 4 or 5 months. Its not cheap but damn. It's bonkers. 

Is it this? 

[Silas_Sancona]

36 minutes ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

Is it this? 

Last # in the NPK ratio is a trouble maker here..  Wayyy too much Phosphorus..  Too much of that = kills everything in your soil.

Plants only utilize so much Phos.  ..most of which is already present naturally in most areas.   What they don't use?,  ends up in the water table.

Nitrogen,  the 1st #,   is a bit high too   ..unless all you want is green growth,   at the expense of any flower / fruit production.

Middle #, ..the most important for flowers n' fruit,  ..Too low.    ...Want that to be between 12 and 18,  rather than 5. 

Don't fall for hoodwinking  

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Last # in the NPK ratio is a trouble maker here..  Wayyy too much Phosphorus..  Too much of that = kills everything in your soil.

Plants only utilize so much Phos.  ..most of which is already present naturally in most areas.   What they don't use?,  ends up in the water table.

Nitrogen,  the 1st #,   is a bit high too   ..unless all you want is green growth,   at the expense of any flower / fruit production.

Middle #, ..the most important for flowers n' fruit,  ..Too low.    ...Want that to be between 12 and 18,  rather than 5. 

Don't fall for hoodwinking  

🤦🏽‍♂️Oyy vey,  While the lesson stands,  Looks like i flipped the 2nd and 3rd #s w/out even noticing a pretty bad error..  and hoodwinked myself,  lol.   

Soluble, 30% K is a touch high, even for K -hogs though. 

[JohnAndSancho]

12 hours ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

Is it this? 

It's amazing, and I love buying from them directly. They do freebie plants every week. Shipping and customer service is amazing. 

 

8 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

🤦🏽‍♂️Oyy vey,  While the lesson stands,  Looks like i flipped the 2nd and 3rd #s w/out even noticing a pretty bad error..  and hoodwinked myself,  lol.   

Soluble, 30% K is a touch high, even for K -hogs though. 

They have a liquid version in the same ratio but lower dose. I give mine 1/2 strength and even only getting 450ppfd of light all winter they turned into monsters. I've also fed it to colocasia and papayas and I notice a huge difference in a week. I've got some 20/10/20 for those now but I swear by this stuff for my bananas. I've got.some stragglers but tbf when I got those from @5am they had no roots at all. I'm not arguing but feel free to peek at my YouTube and instagram - it's legit. @sanchosgreenpaws for both. 

 

It's also really funny how much smaller plants look without an 8 foot ceiling above them.