June 28, 2023 • 24 mins
Listen in to the last update show on our Musa Bajoos Banana Trees: Frank, Frank II, Lola and JD @ BD, as they faced unpredictable weather conditions and learn to thrive. All the Winter 2022/23 results, their current growth from an April start with temperatures close to 80 degrees, to a sudden drop to 32 degrees and what we think finally killed Frank. Plus, find out how JD at BD persevered and flourished without any additional watering or nutrients, all this from in the heartland. Don't miss this fascinating tale of perseverance and plant growth!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would like to say something in this eulogy.
I didn't know Frank very long,but for the short time that I
did get to know him, I think Ibecame bonded.
It's time to go.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, We are mourning the death of Frank the banana
plant.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I know that things have to expire.
Did it have to go in the waythat it did?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Ladies and gentlemen, it's the last banana tree
follow up show, session numberfour.
I'm calling it the banana tree365, because it's a full year of
.
Well, it is, it is.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But, I would like to say that you know what?
You got a season out of it, outof Frank.
yes, for everything there's aseason.
turn, turn, turn.
And Frank the banana should beanother one.
that's on that song, and whatis?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
it?
Do you ask these?
Does that mean, frank, isCalifornia dreaming too?
Well, that's a different band.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's a totally different band, all right Before
we get to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We had a listener.
This is Mike's segment that hedoesn't like, called
housekeeping.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It's housekeeping I do like it.
I mean it's necessary.
We've got to clean ourselves upand make sure that we're
following everything that we saywe are.
We're not saying that we knoweverything.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That's right.
We had a listener email us inas his name's Brad.
Brad has emailed us a couple oftimes, So he was asking about
watering from above.
We always advise against it Anda number of shows we've talked
about it And he's like but I seethe garden center set up, I see
big box stores set up And theywater from above.
(01:58):
And yeah, our garden center hascertain areas that are overhead
watering too, Because I mean,come on, there's a ton,
thousands of plants.
You just got to do what you gotto do.
So he's like well, what gives?
Why do people not follow thisOr why do people water from
(02:19):
above?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Why do birds sing?
No, scott, i'm going to tellyou something.
He's pretty good.
He's listened to us verbatim.
I'm glad he brought this ourdirection.
But I want him to go to the boxstore, i want him to go to the
nurseries, I want him to go tothe garden centers.
I want to see if it's a fanspray that's on the annuals or
on the vegetables, like thetomatoes, or even on the rose
bushes, or if it is a directspray itself or a pouring from
(02:46):
the hose itself or from a faucetgoing directly to, let's say,
the base of the roses, forinstance.
Garden centers your wife'sgarden center they water
everything out in the lot earlyevening hour and they do it in
the middle of the day, anytimeit's like with a lawn, anytime
you can.
Water is better than no waterat all.
If you're going to keep thingsalive, you've got to do it when
you need to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But Well, we can't be watering when guests are
walking around.
Thank you.
So we have like a 6 AM wateringand we have like a 7 PM
watering.
OK.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And that's why.
Why do you do it?
Because the guests number one.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Number one.
We're closed during those hours, but then again.
But me, you're better offwatering in the morning And
because you know fungus at night, even like we talk grass, but
the biggest thing here is thesun.
Yes, now he was saying people Idon't know if this is Brad said
(03:42):
this.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm trying to remember the Coming from the sky
, the rain and all that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But the you know.
So the difference is is, whenit's mother nature is doing it
and it's raining, there's no sun, true, okay, so the sun is the
biggest factor of why you don'twant to water from overhead.
Please explain You're watering,it's a sunny day, you go out
there Nice day to go watering mygarden, and you know, let's say
(04:09):
, it's one o'clock in theafternoon and the sun it doesn't
have to be a beat down sun, itcould just be a nice spring warm
sun and you're watering awayand boom, you're leaving little
droplets And those droplets arelike a magnifying glass laying
on the leaf and then It radiatesthat sun.
(04:29):
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle and boom.
now you got a hole in your leaf.
It's like a magnifying glass.
You got damage to that plant,Not saying that plant's going to
die.
It's just not going to lookpretty.
It's not going to look pretty.
That leaf is not going tobecome a solar cell, as I call
them.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So yeah, that you know when it rains.
Mother Nature has cloud cover,so that sun is not out.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Can I elaborate on that?
I used to work at your WeissGarden Center and I used to
water out in the patio and that,seeing that things needed it,
well, when I would go out thereand water, we'd have these very
fine spray nozzles on these longstems, and I'm spraying and
watering at the base, thesehanging baskets or even the
containers that have the plantsgrowing in them.
(05:16):
The gentleman that was in chargeof growing, putting the
greenhouses all together andgrowing everything from the
vegetables to the to the annuals, he came and snuck up behind me
and scared the schmutz out ofme and he yelled and I mean,
he's a German dude, his name wasWilhelm, his name was Leo
Wilhelm, and he came out, stop.
And so I stopped.
I mean, we had to turn thewater off.
(05:37):
Why?
Because he said you're going toruin them.
Why He goes, you can't get itfrom the top down.
You got to do it at the base.
And I could kind of understandbecause, okay, the pressure that
we were putting on from thehose was actually knocking over
the flowers too.
It was beating them up.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, you say knocking them over.
When we talked about thehostess Oh Remember, he said I
believe it was the hostess thatthey were splitting them.
The heaviness was splitting thehostess open, leaving the
center, and then that lookedweird.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But it doesn't look good, yes.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So that's another reason for a not water from the
top.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
You wanted to make sure, if you water from the top,
you're adding unnecessaryenvironmental hazards to the
plants If you can water it atthe base.
now, generally, when I saidthat fan spray that was on the
end of that long extension thatwe were doing the hanging
baskets with he told me to takeoff the nozzle and then just
pour it right at the base of thecontainer or the pot and count
(06:35):
three seconds for the smalllittle four and a half inch pots
, the longer to 1001, 1002, 1003, go to the next one with the
hanging basket, count to 10 andthat's it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And if you come to our shop, your shop Yes, he's
pointing at me folks Our shop,your former shop, my former shop
And you go to the TremainsvilleRoadside, out in the annual
section there is a hose hangingAnd underneath that is a little
shelf.
You will see three or four ofthe screw on fan sprayers that
(07:08):
we remove And it's we just waterwith the wand, with just, it's
just a straight stream withoutcausing any splashing.
Yes, also, if there's other, andthe difference also here is
it's a controlled environment.
We have it's in the annualsection.
All of our annuals are coveredwith a.
(07:29):
You've got a shade covering.
Yeah, it's a shade.
Well, it's some of this clothlike a plexiglass, some of this
plexiglass, Right?
So which is I mean?
basically what it is.
it looks like old World War twoairplane hangers.
But you know that allows thelight in it allows the light in,
but not a direct.
It's a diffused light, thankyou.
So therefore you're not gettingthe leaf burn from a direct.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So that is basically why in most of the garden
centers, you're going to seethat they're not basically doing
any of the watering When thesun's out.
When the sun's out is right,but you know what, brad's
actually right If you can do itin the early evening hour, if
you're going to do it from thetop or do it in the early
morning hour, if you're going todo it from the top, you're
going to do it at the middle ofthe day when the plant needs it
(08:14):
like a tomato.
Are you noticing their leavesare curling right now.
It's irregular watering.
Go out there and put the waterat the base of the plant.
Leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Do it in the middle of the day.
I don't know if you remember ustalking about the kids in the
neighborhood that all aim thatAmy's in charge of in her
neighborhood.
Carson actually sent us anemail and asked us a question
and he was talking about thecurl on the tomato plants and
what can you do?
The terracotta watering.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Oh, are these down?
when you're talking terracotta,you're talking real clay or
you're talking just theterracotta color?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
No, the real clay, the real pots, yep.
And there's a thing that I sawthat you can do, especially in
tomatoes, and I mean anythingYou take one of the big pots and
you put it in the ground, inthe dirt, and you put another
one on top, upside down, and youput a little glue with some
silicone or something around theedges and kind of marry them
(09:13):
together upside down.
The second one on top is justat the on top of the air.
It's in the air, it's in theair.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
It's like it looks like an upside down clay pot.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, you're in your soil.
So then you just take your hoseand you fill both those up
until a water grub goes out thetop.
Now what this does is thisterracotta and as near as it
just slowly, continuallyreleases water.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
They breathe too.
I mean, if you've got plantsthat are in terracotta clay pots
, i would highly recommend thatover over plastic ones,
especially in the middle of theheat.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Exactly, and that's the whole deal.
It's all about the heat andthis, this drought we had
basically in May, and people arestarting to see effects from it
.
So that's something you can doin your garden and it's you know
, their terracotta pots are notexpensive, so you just need some
silicone so you can fill bothof them up.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And they last.
And that's why Gramps had theseugly, moldy ones on the outer
perimeter.
But he's, he hung on to themWhy?
Because they're dirty.
It's gardening, for God's sake,let me button this up for Brad.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So, brad, basically people that do water from
overhead the world ofgreenhouses and growing.
Yeah, we have to because of thenumber of plants, but we do
consider the environment.
So we do it in a controlled wayto do as least amount of damage
as possible.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And remember anytime you can water is better than no
time.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, this is a lead in.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yes, So back to our show, the banana plants.
the 365 final update Need aKleenex mic.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
No, I just did it on your carpet.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We have to report.
We did have a death in thefamily of the three banana
plants.
Actually so you remember Inamed my banana plants Frank and
Lola, and then we had JD, a BD,which is a banana plant I just
stuck in the ground at thegarden center, just as like a
control.
You know what would it do if?
(11:26):
if I baby mine to at home anddidn't do anything to it, what
would happen?
Can I, can I elaborate?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Can I can.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I bring you know how Well, i don't know how, really,
you know how, go ahead and I'mgoing to.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I'm a little distraught because Scott spent a
thousand percent of hisattention on both of those
banana plants.
No, frank did not make it.
We have to admit we're, we'recoping with this right now.
Um, the two Scott's actuallygot about 500%, you know a
batting average right now, overat his house.
All right, oh, at the house, atthe house.
(12:01):
But he said, no, i got bad and750 because he kept, you know,
over the now.
Mind you, he gave Frank all theTLC that he wanted.
He did everything and anythingthat he could.
His mate, who happened to be agood what was it?
25 feet away, or 30 feet away?
Oh, 30, 50 feet away.
Lola.
Well, what's she doing?
(12:21):
She's just surviving.
She's got what now coming out?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
She's got her main Well, so it's not the same
pseudo stem as last year.
See, he's talking technical.
Try not to Okay.
She came back and I noticed hercoming back about like May 20th
.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh, like May 20th, You were keeping.
you were out there watchingevery single day to see if you
got that pseudo stem coming back.
I took a couple of pictures.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So, and then she had a baby pseudo stem next to her
too, so I've got technically twobanana trees coming out where
Lola lives.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Why do you think Frank's demise came?
Was he a partier?
Was it too much He did?
you know, no matter what we did, he wasn't basically listening
to us.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was it old?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
age, or was it environmental?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It was environmental.
I think I held off on callingtime of death as the nurses and
doctors do We're?
gonna do an autopsy.
We did, we did, we did do anautopsy And I kind of held off,
for, you know, another 10 daysor so after I saw Lola popping
through the ground And yeah, imean, both of them were mushy.
(13:33):
I did everything the same toboth of them.
As far as winterization, theonly difference and this is the
only thing I can think of in thespring we had two big rains
Well, not just that, and theywere like two days long That
area of my backyard flooded Andthen it receded.
(13:56):
A couple of days later we hadanother big rain and it flooded
again And then it receded.
Now, that is where Frank islocated, though he's in a, he's
a little higher up in alandscape, but you know, and his
root system really didn't gothat low.
So I'm I'm on the fence aboutcalling the cause of death as
drowning.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, it could be, But see, here's the thing.
My question to you now was itdo you remember it was this and
you said it was May, that we hadthe rains?
It was in April.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, if you remember April yes, april, we is when
they when Lola started.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Thank you, April we had temperatures that were close
to 80 for almost two weeks, AndI'm wondering also if Frank
might have got a head start onthis and says, yeah, let's go
baby.
And then all of a sudden itwent down to.
You know it was, it was zero, Imean, it was 32 degrees winds,
high winds.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Anything that could have been started, Well, when it
got that warm, i took the conesoff, okay, and when I got cold,
i put the cones back on, Yeahsee, that goes my theory.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
All right, so you're probably right.
It probably did drop.
Because, remember we reached inand we want to the crown of the
plant and it snapped off like asponge.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, the old stem is supposed to get mushy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
And then it did kind of Lola just kind of unraveled
all the way down, frankunraveled, and then we got to a
point where it kind of snapped.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And then I said he's gone, let's just move on and,
starting on top, see and seewhat happened.
And then I mean we pulled himout of the ground Yeah he was it
was too far gone.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I mean there wasn't anything that could have come
from that.
I mean it may have earlier, but, like you said, if it was
starting it, that rain andprobably the 80 degree
temperatures didn't help it any.
So I mean it just it wasprobably an agonizing departure.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Well, I don't know.
Could you hear it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
screaming out there.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
No, no, Otherwise I would have run out and help Yeah
.
But Lola's fine Lola's crankingthrough, And so I had a.
I had to bite the bullet.
I had to go to one of the othernurseries in town because we
had no more Musa Bajou bananaplants, Musa Bajou, And so they
(16:16):
have a ton of them that they'repropagating basically in these
huge, huge containers And, umyeah, so I bought one.
I had to, I had to buy one.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Okay, but tell us what you did or did not do over
at BD with JD.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Okay, so the one I bought is now Frank II.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean renamed him.
It's not Frank Junior, becauseJunior kind of it has to be kind
of hints that it's a it's, it'sit's his kid or something.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Frank II is more like Henry the eighth.
He is, he is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Well see, but they were named after previous living
things, So Frank senior is nolonger with us.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We got Frank Junior right now.
No, no, no, junior, they're notrelated.
It's Frank II.
I see I'm being corrected.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Geez, i just explained it to you, frank II.
Okay, yeah, well, i have that.
I have a very, very poor, youknow, retention and attention.
Look, i was a candidate forRitalin back in the sixties.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I just a candidate.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, never mind, we won't go into what happened in
the seventies, all right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
All right, so we have Frank II and Lola.
Frank is a good three and ahalf feet He's, since he's been
in the ground in May 30th, june1st He has doing this thing.
He's growing three new leavessince he's been in the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Lola's looking good.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Last year and this year I did put potash in the
ground, because they say theylike that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
It helps with the root.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that's all I did.
However, the report now atBlack Diamond, in the middle of
the old pond area, where I stuckanother a third banana plant.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
His name is Frank.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Is that Frank?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
No, it's JD at BD.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Well, okay, let's.
BD stands for black diamond JD.
Now what?
that's a short, what is it?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Jack and Diane, because we're on the very first
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's right Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Okay, go ahead And the very first episode, if you
listen to it, when I kept sayingFrank and Lola, Jimmy Buffett
names characters he keptthinking.
Jack and Diane from Mellon Campsong.
So we just shortened it to JD.
So, jd, at BD nobody didanything.
(18:45):
I mean we watered it here andthere.
It caught some water fromwatering some burlap trees And
come winter, come fall, yourstruly was on the road doing my
audio thing for football, so Iwas gone from the garden center.
I don't know what they did,honestly, and they didn't.
They didn't cover it for thewinter.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I don't think they unless you told them what to do.
They didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
No, they didn't do anything.
And I one time when I went backin the middle of winter I did
see her just kind of draped overand nothing, nothing, and I was
just like I, okay, well, youknow she's not coming back.
And long and behold, she looksfantastic You have done squat
(19:30):
tour, did you?
I haven't.
I'm a feather.
I haven't done her own leavesas a nutrient nothing, and she
was.
You know, when I noticed Lolaback up, jd at BD was a good six
, eight inches bigger than her.
Of course she gets a lot of sunthere at the greenhouse, so
(19:53):
that's her advantage.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Three o'clock, yeah Little ditty about checking die,
and so anyway, back and bananatrees in the heartland.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Anyway, that is kind of what happened.
To wrap up, chewing on a chilidog.
Okay, before we get copyrightinfringement and pulled off the
air.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay, we will, anyway .
Speaker 2 (20:16):
So that is what happened, yeah, and she's
cruising now.
I'm now that I'm back at thegarden center in the late spring
and summer I've been wateringher require.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Are you going to do nothing to her?
I mean, are you going to notbring her into, let's say, this
tropical paradise you've got inyour, for your backyard?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
No, no, no, leave her right there, Let her do her
thing.
I'd like to see if thateverybody talks about her.
I really?
there's Scott's experiment.
Yeah, i'm no, i'll keep themgoing because they do look
beautiful when they're up AndI'd like to get it across to
everybody else, no matter whatyou do to them.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
There's always that opportunity for Mother Nature
not to work for you.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And Lola, i mean, she's grown pretty fast, she's
pretty, so you know, more powerto her, And I'll do the same
thing I did this year As far aswinterization, yeah, i won't do.
I don't think I'm going to doanything different, because this
is where it's going to confirmafter next year's.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
You did not do anything wrong.
Yeah, because Lola's alive.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, so that theory works.
Yes, and maybe you know I'lljust continue that if she gets
another year under her belt, youknow, maybe it'll be easier for
her If I start changingsomething this year versus last
year.
Maybe that may.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I don't think I would want to change anything.
I want to be able to do thesame thing, to say okay, look,
there's nothing really wronghere.
Okay yeah we can refer to thisnext year if by any chance
something does fall up.
That you know.
Okay, Scott, what did you do,right?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So, if you're interested as far as going back
and listening to all of theepisodes back to back, the very
first banana tree experimentshow was released on June 15 of
2022.
And then we have a July 20follow up session two, and then
(22:09):
in October, on the 12th, we havethe follow up, session three,
and right now you're gettingthem ready for the winter.
Yeah, so that wraps it up.
You can create a tropicalparadise in your backyard, even
in zone five, five or six, well,actually, I think we're going
to be four five and six.
Yeah, But yeah, I mean you hadto baby him a little bit in the
(22:33):
winter, but we'll see how itgoes And hopefully they get no
more floods.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, well, this is Midwest.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I am digging back in that area where Frank was,
because I'm putting in a brickretaining wall And I'm not
seeing anything abnormal in thesoil compared to the other side.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
This is more of an autopsy, so yeah, back to the.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I keep going back, poor Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Well, now that you're putting an end to this and
we're going to be working onhopefully not until next year My
question here is is what are wegoing to talk about now, sir?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
We're taking a little time off here in July.
Just a little one.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, i mean, it's getting hot and we want to
basically enjoy, let's say,scott's pool and tropical
paradise.
See, that's why I'm his bestfriend.
He doesn't know that yet.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Anyway, everybody, that is the banana tree
experiment 365.
Complete.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yep.
If something brought an end toit, say good night to.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Frank Frank.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, everybody Say a little prayer for Frank Dun dun
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun dun.
I'm eating a chili dog outsidethe taste of freeze.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Anyway, everybody green thumbs up, Take care and
water any way you can.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Frank Kevin is heads right between her knees.
You don't want that in there.
I probably don't want that.
Okay, thanks for listening toyour Midwest Garden.
If you like today'sconversation, please share this
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(24:14):
Plus, if you have any showtopics you'd like us to discuss,
head on over to our sponsorsFacebook page, which is Black
Diamond Garden Center, andmessage them your topic idea For
all of us at your MidwestGarden podcast.
I'm Michael Rork, the GardenGuy.
Hope you enjoyed today'sconversation.
I would like to say something in this eulogy.
I didn't know Frank very long,but for the short time that I
did get to know him, I think Ibecame bonded.
It's time to go.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, We are mourning the death of Frank the banana
plant.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I know that things have to expire.
Did it have to go in the waythat it did?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Ladies and gentlemen, it's the last banana tree
follow up show, session numberfour.
I'm calling it the banana tree365, because it's a full year of
.
Well, it is, it is.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
But, I would like to say that you know what?
You got a season out of it, outof Frank.
yes, for everything there's aseason.
turn, turn, turn.
And Frank the banana should beanother one.
that's on that song, and whatis?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
it?
Do you ask these?
Does that mean, frank, isCalifornia dreaming too?
Well, that's a different band.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's a totally different band, all right Before
we get to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We had a listener.
This is Mike's segment that hedoesn't like, called
housekeeping.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It's housekeeping I do like it.
I mean it's necessary.
We've got to clean ourselves upand make sure that we're
following everything that we saywe are.
We're not saying that we knoweverything.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
That's right.
We had a listener email us inas his name's Brad.
Brad has emailed us a couple oftimes, So he was asking about
watering from above.
We always advise against it Anda number of shows we've talked
about it And he's like but I seethe garden center set up, I see
big box stores set up And theywater from above.
(01:58):
And yeah, our garden center hascertain areas that are overhead
watering too, Because I mean,come on, there's a ton,
thousands of plants.
You just got to do what you gotto do.
So he's like well, what gives?
Why do people not follow thisOr why do people water from
(02:19):
above?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Why do birds sing?
No, scott, i'm going to tellyou something.
He's pretty good.
He's listened to us verbatim.
I'm glad he brought this ourdirection.
But I want him to go to the boxstore, i want him to go to the
nurseries, I want him to go tothe garden centers.
I want to see if it's a fanspray that's on the annuals or
on the vegetables, like thetomatoes, or even on the rose
bushes, or if it is a directspray itself or a pouring from
(02:46):
the hose itself or from a faucetgoing directly to, let's say,
the base of the roses, forinstance.
Garden centers your wife'sgarden center they water
everything out in the lot earlyevening hour and they do it in
the middle of the day, anytimeit's like with a lawn, anytime
you can.
Water is better than no waterat all.
If you're going to keep thingsalive, you've got to do it when
you need to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
But Well, we can't be watering when guests are
walking around.
Thank you.
So we have like a 6 AM wateringand we have like a 7 PM
watering.
OK.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And that's why.
Why do you do it?
Because the guests number one.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Number one.
We're closed during those hours, but then again.
But me, you're better offwatering in the morning And
because you know fungus at night, even like we talk grass, but
the biggest thing here is thesun.
Yes, now he was saying people Idon't know if this is Brad said
(03:42):
this.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I'm trying to remember the Coming from the sky
, the rain and all that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But the you know.
So the difference is is, whenit's mother nature is doing it
and it's raining, there's no sun, true, okay, so the sun is the
biggest factor of why you don'twant to water from overhead.
Please explain You're watering,it's a sunny day, you go out
there Nice day to go watering mygarden, and you know, let's say
(04:09):
, it's one o'clock in theafternoon and the sun it doesn't
have to be a beat down sun, itcould just be a nice spring warm
sun and you're watering awayand boom, you're leaving little
droplets And those droplets arelike a magnifying glass laying
on the leaf and then It radiatesthat sun.
(04:29):
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle and boom.
now you got a hole in your leaf.
It's like a magnifying glass.
You got damage to that plant,Not saying that plant's going to
die.
It's just not going to lookpretty.
It's not going to look pretty.
That leaf is not going tobecome a solar cell, as I call
them.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So yeah, that you know when it rains.
Mother Nature has cloud cover,so that sun is not out.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Can I elaborate on that?
I used to work at your WeissGarden Center and I used to
water out in the patio and that,seeing that things needed it,
well, when I would go out thereand water, we'd have these very
fine spray nozzles on these longstems, and I'm spraying and
watering at the base, thesehanging baskets or even the
containers that have the plantsgrowing in them.
(05:16):
The gentleman that was in chargeof growing, putting the
greenhouses all together andgrowing everything from the
vegetables to the to the annuals, he came and snuck up behind me
and scared the schmutz out ofme and he yelled and I mean,
he's a German dude, his name wasWilhelm, his name was Leo
Wilhelm, and he came out, stop.
And so I stopped.
I mean, we had to turn thewater off.
(05:37):
Why?
Because he said you're going toruin them.
Why He goes, you can't get itfrom the top down.
You got to do it at the base.
And I could kind of understandbecause, okay, the pressure that
we were putting on from thehose was actually knocking over
the flowers too.
It was beating them up.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, you say knocking them over.
When we talked about thehostess Oh Remember, he said I
believe it was the hostess thatthey were splitting them.
The heaviness was splitting thehostess open, leaving the
center, and then that lookedweird.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But it doesn't look good, yes.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So that's another reason for a not water from the
top.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
You wanted to make sure, if you water from the top,
you're adding unnecessaryenvironmental hazards to the
plants If you can water it atthe base.
now, generally, when I saidthat fan spray that was on the
end of that long extension thatwe were doing the hanging
baskets with he told me to takeoff the nozzle and then just
pour it right at the base of thecontainer or the pot and count
(06:35):
three seconds for the smalllittle four and a half inch pots
, the longer to 1001, 1002, 1003, go to the next one with the
hanging basket, count to 10 andthat's it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And if you come to our shop, your shop Yes, he's
pointing at me folks Our shop,your former shop, my former shop
And you go to the TremainsvilleRoadside, out in the annual
section there is a hose hangingAnd underneath that is a little
shelf.
You will see three or four ofthe screw on fan sprayers that
(07:08):
we remove And it's we just waterwith the wand, with just, it's
just a straight stream withoutcausing any splashing.
Yes, also, if there's other, andthe difference also here is
it's a controlled environment.
We have it's in the annualsection.
All of our annuals are coveredwith a.
(07:29):
You've got a shade covering.
Yeah, it's a shade.
Well, it's some of this clothlike a plexiglass, some of this
plexiglass, Right?
So which is I mean?
basically what it is.
it looks like old World War twoairplane hangers.
But you know that allows thelight in it allows the light in,
but not a direct.
It's a diffused light, thankyou.
So therefore you're not gettingthe leaf burn from a direct.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So that is basically why in most of the garden
centers, you're going to seethat they're not basically doing
any of the watering When thesun's out.
When the sun's out is right,but you know what, brad's
actually right If you can do itin the early evening hour, if
you're going to do it from thetop or do it in the early
morning hour, if you're going todo it from the top, you're
going to do it at the middle ofthe day when the plant needs it
(08:14):
like a tomato.
Are you noticing their leavesare curling right now.
It's irregular watering.
Go out there and put the waterat the base of the plant.
Leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Do it in the middle of the day.
I don't know if you remember ustalking about the kids in the
neighborhood that all aim thatAmy's in charge of in her
neighborhood.
Carson actually sent us anemail and asked us a question
and he was talking about thecurl on the tomato plants and
what can you do?
The terracotta watering.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Oh, are these down?
when you're talking terracotta,you're talking real clay or
you're talking just theterracotta color?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
No, the real clay, the real pots, yep.
And there's a thing that I sawthat you can do, especially in
tomatoes, and I mean anythingYou take one of the big pots and
you put it in the ground, inthe dirt, and you put another
one on top, upside down, and youput a little glue with some
silicone or something around theedges and kind of marry them
(09:13):
together upside down.
The second one on top is justat the on top of the air.
It's in the air, it's in theair.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
It's like it looks like an upside down clay pot.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, you're in your soil.
So then you just take your hoseand you fill both those up
until a water grub goes out thetop.
Now what this does is thisterracotta and as near as it
just slowly, continuallyreleases water.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
They breathe too.
I mean, if you've got plantsthat are in terracotta clay pots
, i would highly recommend thatover over plastic ones,
especially in the middle of theheat.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Exactly, and that's the whole deal.
It's all about the heat andthis, this drought we had
basically in May, and people arestarting to see effects from it
.
So that's something you can doin your garden and it's you know
, their terracotta pots are notexpensive, so you just need some
silicone so you can fill bothof them up.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And they last.
And that's why Gramps had theseugly, moldy ones on the outer
perimeter.
But he's, he hung on to themWhy?
Because they're dirty.
It's gardening, for God's sake,let me button this up for Brad.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So, brad, basically people that do water from
overhead the world ofgreenhouses and growing.
Yeah, we have to because of thenumber of plants, but we do
consider the environment.
So we do it in a controlled wayto do as least amount of damage
as possible.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And remember anytime you can water is better than no
time.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, this is a lead in.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yes, So back to our show, the banana plants.
the 365 final update Need aKleenex mic.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
No, I just did it on your carpet.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We have to report.
We did have a death in thefamily of the three banana
plants.
Actually so you remember Inamed my banana plants Frank and
Lola, and then we had JD, a BD,which is a banana plant I just
stuck in the ground at thegarden center, just as like a
control.
You know what would it do if?
(11:26):
if I baby mine to at home anddidn't do anything to it, what
would happen?
Can I, can I elaborate?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Can I can.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I bring you know how Well, i don't know how, really,
you know how, go ahead and I'mgoing to.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I'm a little distraught because Scott spent a
thousand percent of hisattention on both of those
banana plants.
No, frank did not make it.
We have to admit we're, we'recoping with this right now.
Um, the two Scott's actuallygot about 500%, you know a
batting average right now, overat his house.
All right, oh, at the house, atthe house.
(12:01):
But he said, no, i got bad and750 because he kept, you know,
over the now.
Mind you, he gave Frank all theTLC that he wanted.
He did everything and anythingthat he could.
His mate, who happened to be agood what was it?
25 feet away, or 30 feet away?
Oh, 30, 50 feet away.
Lola.
Well, what's she doing?
(12:21):
She's just surviving.
She's got what now coming out?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
She's got her main Well, so it's not the same
pseudo stem as last year.
See, he's talking technical.
Try not to Okay.
She came back and I noticed hercoming back about like May 20th
.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh, like May 20th, You were keeping.
you were out there watchingevery single day to see if you
got that pseudo stem coming back.
I took a couple of pictures.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So, and then she had a baby pseudo stem next to her
too, so I've got technically twobanana trees coming out where
Lola lives.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Why do you think Frank's demise came?
Was he a partier?
Was it too much He did?
you know, no matter what we did, he wasn't basically listening
to us.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Was it old?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
age, or was it environmental?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It was environmental.
I think I held off on callingtime of death as the nurses and
doctors do We're?
gonna do an autopsy.
We did, we did, we did do anautopsy And I kind of held off,
for, you know, another 10 daysor so after I saw Lola popping
through the ground And yeah, imean, both of them were mushy.
(13:33):
I did everything the same toboth of them.
As far as winterization, theonly difference and this is the
only thing I can think of in thespring we had two big rains
Well, not just that, and theywere like two days long That
area of my backyard flooded Andthen it receded.
(13:56):
A couple of days later we hadanother big rain and it flooded
again And then it receded.
Now, that is where Frank islocated, though he's in a, he's
a little higher up in alandscape, but you know, and his
root system really didn't gothat low.
So I'm I'm on the fence aboutcalling the cause of death as
drowning.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, it could be, But see, here's the thing.
My question to you now was itdo you remember it was this and
you said it was May, that we hadthe rains?
It was in April.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, if you remember April yes, april, we is when
they when Lola started.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Thank you, April we had temperatures that were close
to 80 for almost two weeks, AndI'm wondering also if Frank
might have got a head start onthis and says, yeah, let's go
baby.
And then all of a sudden itwent down to.
You know it was, it was zero, Imean, it was 32 degrees winds,
high winds.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Anything that could have been started, Well, when it
got that warm, i took the conesoff, okay, and when I got cold,
i put the cones back on, Yeahsee, that goes my theory.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
All right, so you're probably right.
It probably did drop.
Because, remember we reached inand we want to the crown of the
plant and it snapped off like asponge.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, the old stem is supposed to get mushy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
And then it did kind of Lola just kind of unraveled
all the way down, frankunraveled, and then we got to a
point where it kind of snapped.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And then I said he's gone, let's just move on and,
starting on top, see and seewhat happened.
And then I mean we pulled himout of the ground Yeah he was it
was too far gone.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I mean there wasn't anything that could have come
from that.
I mean it may have earlier, but, like you said, if it was
starting it, that rain andprobably the 80 degree
temperatures didn't help it any.
So I mean it just it wasprobably an agonizing departure.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Well, I don't know.
Could you hear it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
screaming out there.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
No, no, Otherwise I would have run out and help Yeah
.
But Lola's fine Lola's crankingthrough, And so I had a.
I had to bite the bullet.
I had to go to one of the othernurseries in town because we
had no more Musa Bajou bananaplants, Musa Bajou, And so they
(16:16):
have a ton of them that they'repropagating basically in these
huge, huge containers And, umyeah, so I bought one.
I had to, I had to buy one.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Okay, but tell us what you did or did not do over
at BD with JD.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Okay, so the one I bought is now Frank II.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean renamed him.
It's not Frank Junior, becauseJunior kind of it has to be kind
of hints that it's a it's, it'sit's his kid or something.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Frank II is more like Henry the eighth.
He is, he is.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Well see, but they were named after previous living
things, So Frank senior is nolonger with us.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We got Frank Junior right now.
No, no, no, junior, they're notrelated.
It's Frank II.
I see I'm being corrected.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Geez, i just explained it to you, frank II.
Okay, yeah, well, i have that.
I have a very, very poor, youknow, retention and attention.
Look, i was a candidate forRitalin back in the sixties.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I just a candidate.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, never mind, we won't go into what happened in
the seventies, all right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
All right, so we have Frank II and Lola.
Frank is a good three and ahalf feet He's, since he's been
in the ground in May 30th, june1st He has doing this thing.
He's growing three new leavessince he's been in the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Lola's looking good.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Last year and this year I did put potash in the
ground, because they say theylike that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
It helps with the root.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that's all I did.
However, the report now atBlack Diamond, in the middle of
the old pond area, where I stuckanother a third banana plant.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
His name is Frank.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Is that Frank?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
No, it's JD at BD.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Well, okay, let's.
BD stands for black diamond JD.
Now what?
that's a short, what is it?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Jack and Diane, because we're on the very first
episode.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's right Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Okay, go ahead And the very first episode, if you
listen to it, when I kept sayingFrank and Lola, Jimmy Buffett
names characters he keptthinking.
Jack and Diane from Mellon Campsong.
So we just shortened it to JD.
So, jd, at BD nobody didanything.
(18:45):
I mean we watered it here andthere.
It caught some water fromwatering some burlap trees And
come winter, come fall, yourstruly was on the road doing my
audio thing for football, so Iwas gone from the garden center.
I don't know what they did,honestly, and they didn't.
They didn't cover it for thewinter.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I don't think they unless you told them what to do.
They didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
No, they didn't do anything.
And I one time when I went backin the middle of winter I did
see her just kind of draped overand nothing, nothing, and I was
just like I, okay, well, youknow she's not coming back.
And long and behold, she looksfantastic You have done squat
(19:30):
tour, did you?
I haven't.
I'm a feather.
I haven't done her own leavesas a nutrient nothing, and she
was.
You know, when I noticed Lolaback up, jd at BD was a good six
, eight inches bigger than her.
Of course she gets a lot of sunthere at the greenhouse, so
(19:53):
that's her advantage.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Three o'clock, yeah Little ditty about checking die,
and so anyway, back and bananatrees in the heartland.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Anyway, that is kind of what happened.
To wrap up, chewing on a chilidog.
Okay, before we get copyrightinfringement and pulled off the
air.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay, we will, anyway .
Speaker 2 (20:16):
So that is what happened, yeah, and she's
cruising now.
I'm now that I'm back at thegarden center in the late spring
and summer I've been wateringher require.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Are you going to do nothing to her?
I mean, are you going to notbring her into, let's say, this
tropical paradise you've got inyour, for your backyard?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
No, no, no, leave her right there, Let her do her
thing.
I'd like to see if thateverybody talks about her.
I really?
there's Scott's experiment.
Yeah, i'm no, i'll keep themgoing because they do look
beautiful when they're up AndI'd like to get it across to
everybody else, no matter whatyou do to them.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
There's always that opportunity for Mother Nature
not to work for you.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And Lola, i mean, she's grown pretty fast, she's
pretty, so you know, more powerto her, And I'll do the same
thing I did this year As far aswinterization, yeah, i won't do.
I don't think I'm going to doanything different, because this
is where it's going to confirmafter next year's.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
You did not do anything wrong.
Yeah, because Lola's alive.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, so that theory works.
Yes, and maybe you know I'lljust continue that if she gets
another year under her belt, youknow, maybe it'll be easier for
her If I start changingsomething this year versus last
year.
Maybe that may.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I don't think I would want to change anything.
I want to be able to do thesame thing, to say okay, look,
there's nothing really wronghere.
Okay yeah we can refer to thisnext year if by any chance
something does fall up.
That you know.
Okay, Scott, what did you do,right?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So, if you're interested as far as going back
and listening to all of theepisodes back to back, the very
first banana tree experimentshow was released on June 15 of
2022.
And then we have a July 20follow up session two, and then
(22:09):
in October, on the 12th, we havethe follow up, session three,
and right now you're gettingthem ready for the winter.
Yeah, so that wraps it up.
You can create a tropicalparadise in your backyard, even
in zone five, five or six, well,actually, I think we're going
to be four five and six.
Yeah, But yeah, I mean you hadto baby him a little bit in the
(22:33):
winter, but we'll see how itgoes And hopefully they get no
more floods.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, well, this is Midwest.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I am digging back in that area where Frank was,
because I'm putting in a brickretaining wall And I'm not
seeing anything abnormal in thesoil compared to the other side.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
This is more of an autopsy, so yeah, back to the.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I keep going back, poor Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Well, now that you're putting an end to this and
we're going to be working onhopefully not until next year My
question here is is what are wegoing to talk about now, sir?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
We're taking a little time off here in July.
Just a little one.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, i mean, it's getting hot and we want to
basically enjoy, let's say,scott's pool and tropical
paradise.
See, that's why I'm his bestfriend.
He doesn't know that yet.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Anyway, everybody, that is the banana tree
experiment 365.
Complete.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yep.
If something brought an end toit, say good night to.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Frank Frank.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, everybody Say a little prayer for Frank Dun dun
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun,
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun dun.
I'm eating a chili dog outsidethe taste of freeze.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Anyway, everybody green thumbs up, Take care and
water any way you can.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Frank Kevin is heads right between her knees.
You don't want that in there.
I probably don't want that.
Okay, thanks for listening toyour Midwest Garden.
If you like today'sconversation, please share this
podcast with friends and familyAnd don't forget to click on the
subscribe button so you won'tmiss any future episodes.
(24:14):
Plus, if you have any showtopics you'd like us to discuss,
head on over to our sponsorsFacebook page, which is Black
Diamond Garden Center, andmessage them your topic idea For
all of us at your MidwestGarden podcast.
I'm Michael Rork, the GardenGuy.
Hope you enjoyed today'sconversation.
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