Gordon's Crater

Gunagulla

Red Dacca bananas and flowers now in view!

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I'll probably bag it all once the sheath is fully open, for protection against birds and insects, since the greenhouse is not currently fully enclosed.

Gunagulla

I'm getting 3-6 tomatoes per day at the moment, so it will soon be time to make some sauce

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The bananas in GB#8 continue to grow well

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and more bananas in GB#4

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I can't see any signs of flower spikes on the other big trees so far. These banana trees really use up the water fast, I often see water dripping from the leaves in the mornings.

elizabeth38

awesome gardening. and Is this hybrid banana? I think generally banana is in yellow color, if it is ripe.

earthbound

Did you end up getting some bananas?

Gunagulla

Sure did! This is the 2nd bunch of Red Daccas, they were of similar weight to reasonably large shop bought Cavendish - a bit shorter but fatter, and tasted better.

Two more bunches have formed, but the cooler weather has stopped them getting to full size, so I'm planning on cutting them down in the next few days and we'll have to eat them as smaller fruit.

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earthbound

Wow, big..... Always nice to see different species growing rather than same old ones... :thumbright:

Gunagulla

Fun and games at 10:30 last night- I stepped out onto the veranda and heard some noises from my small system, after grabbing a torch I went to investigate. In the FT I found an Eastern Grey Kangaroo, obviously very tired from trying to get out, and close to drowning, as it kept going under the surface. I was able to support it for a while until I had its confidence, and then after a few attempts was able to pull it out by the front legs. I reckon it weighed about 30kg or more, so it was quite an effort, getting heavier as I came out of the water!
It had made a mess of the pipes though, after trying to climb out on them, knocked the 50mm pipe to the ST out of a socket, so the FT SLO went onto the ground, right next next to the ST, which emptied sometime later. Now empty, the water coming from the broken SLO floated the ST up out of the ground, and washed some clay under it, so the secondary failsafe overflow pipe to the ST was now pulling out of its thread too. Result was an empty ST, and no pumping, as the pump turns off with no water flow.
For now I've just plonked the pump into the FT, which only has 1 Murray Cod in it (not that I have seen it for about a year), and will figure out how to deal with the now raised ST, probably using flexible hoses to connect to the SLO outlets in the FT.

dbird

If you don't want all your bananas ripe at once you can spread them out by tying a plastic bag with a couple of apples or bananas over a section of the bunch and they will ripen within about three days and then you tie them on another one.You can spread a bunch out over a long time or have them all together. You can see in this picture.

Gunagulla

Sounds good, thanks. Fortunately the last bunch ripened from the top down and I never had a glut of them, but can easily use a stack of them to make "ice cream" if needed.

A2Z

How many plants yielded 3-6 tomatoes per day?

Gunagulla

It was only 2 plants in that GB I think

dstjohn99

Wow, looks great! Interesting issue with the Kangaroo. I hope you get it sorted without too much trouble, but it sounds like a major issue. Thankfully none of that here, just ongoing battle with rats. What do you grow your bananas in and how large / deep is the container; media, wicking, flood and drain?

Gunagulla

The bananas are in the F&D GBs, about 25cm deep with expanded clay and gravel.

I picked the last bunch of bananas a few days ago, after I noticed rats had started eating a couple of them. They should be ready to eat over the next week.
When have excess of them, my wife has been selling them for @2 each at the Growers Markets each week.

dstjohn99

Gunagulla wrote:

The bananas are in the F&D GBs, about 25cm deep with expanded clay and gravel.

Thanks. I've wanted to try bananas for a few years, but sometimes it gets too cold here in the winter. Not so much the last two years, but usually I get a dozen nights that freeze.

Gunagulla

We get frosts quite often here, and the bananas had snow on them in 2015 where the leaves hung out from under the cover. The cold certainly knocks them back, but as long as they have enough protection to stop the trunk freezing, they are ok. The Red Dacca variety I have are better adapted to cold than most other varieties, and taste better too!

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Gordon's Crater

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Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Gordon's Crater

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Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics