re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

i've got a pretty big pile of composted cow manure, its got my garden supercharged. i'll plan on a big top dressing with that. i'm hoping the slope to drain will help with the watering

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When you say thin guava to one per branch..you mean one to each branch off of a lateral scaffold branch?
I’m assuming bc I only have about 5-6 major scaffolds.

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Yes, that's what I'm trying this year.

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what should i amend it with other than compost? do you think fall will be ok to plant? i would get one of those popup greenhouses to cover this winter

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Why not plant now? I would not plant bananas in the fall. They completely stop growing at 60-65F and may not sufficiently establish before winter freezes. If you have to wait until fall, start them in pots and overwinter.

Just put compost at the base of each tree and chuck a handful of fertilizer at it every few weeks. They're not picky. Insanely aggressive growers.

Upcoming Gary lectures on YouTube
Starts 11am CT on Saturdays:

May 9 GROWING PERSIMMONS & JUJUBES

May 16 GROWING APPLES & PEARS

May 23 THEIR SOIL IS KILLING YOUR PLANTS

May 30 EFFICIENT WATERING & FERTILIZING

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PSA: Bob Wells Nursery has grafted pawpaws back in stock. Allegheny, Potomac, KSU Atwood, and KSU Benson. These are perfect sized trees for planting. Big enough to be strong but not big enough that the taproot has curled in the pot. They are even grown in the proper tall pots for pawpaws. I grabbed a Benson and Atwood.

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Rain knocked off the first couple of dwarf guavas that were ripening. Didn't have time to get sweet. It did however have a good bit of tartness which indicates they could be very good when mature. It's the insipid ones with no taste that are a bad sign. Still has the amazing tropical guava aroma, though.





Usually these are white or pink but I was lucky and got an orange one.

So lucky man. That's awesome. My advice is to push that thing with a weekly liquid fertilizer high in potassium and keep it always well watered. That will speed up the ripening. You probabaly have enough time for it to mature before it stops growing in the winter. My rajapuri hasn't flowered yet and I'm running out of time.

Have you ever tasted namwah bananas?

Dude you are in for a treat. You may know all of this already but let me give you some tips for how to harvest them.

The tree is done making leaves. The leaves it has are all that's available to make sugar for the fruit, so don't remove any leaves. Water, sun, fertilizer.

It's gonna take probably 4-5 months to reach ripeness. You will know it's time to cut the rack down when the bananas are filled out and don't have those ridges anymore AND you see the first one break color to yellow. If you leave them on the tree too long they will all split. It's better to harvest early than too late, so if it looks like they are filled out and starting to split, cut it down even if it hasn't broken color yet and hang it in the shade outdoors. A porch or garage is perfect. You can also remove individual hands of bananas from the rack if they are very far apart from end stage ripeness. In other words, if the bottom hands are ready and the top aren't you can cut off just the bottom. If it's a race against the clock and winter is imminent, tie a black trash bag over the rack and check them once per day.

Namwah is a thick sweet banana with fruity tones. You will immediately realize the difference. Let the individual fruits get as ripe as possible before eating. It's not like store grand nain bananas that turn to mush when they get brown. Let those suckers get brown with a little dark yellow before peeling them. The peel will look ugly and the fruit will be perfect.

Man I wish I was getting some namwahs this year. Only place I know to buy them is the tropical fruit market under the interstate at 812 N. Claiborne.

Good luck and godspeed!

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This part worries me. It only has two shitty looking leaves on it. The pups around it look great, though.

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In this case the fertilizer and water is even more important. The pups will feed the corm which will in turn feed the fruiting tree. But it's not as strong as the main psuedostem feeding itself. Do not remove or damage any pups. You need them soaking up as much sun as possible.

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So cut them as soon as they look like they're even thinking about ripening, got it. I would have let them ripe on the tree if you hadn't said anything.

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Yes. The absolute perfect scenario would be to cut a full rack of plump filled out light green fruit with the bottommost fruit just breaking to yellow. All the rest happens off the tree.

interested in a tea report. We make a lot of tea out of the yard and garden, the freeze dryer is especially useful for this. Mostly herbs, flowers, leaves and stems