I know I will have 8 tomorrow

Most of the sellers of the t.c. bananas never post a picture of the plant you are bidding on.

I would be careful with the t.c. plants and make sure you question the seller about getting one that is indeed red. The small plants don't initially show the red, but do start showing faint colors by about maybe 8"-10" tall. Many of the t.c.s are green and will remain green.

I'd rather spend the $30 for a pup showing red than to keep tossing $9 at green t.c. plants. Just a word of caution.

Hi minibim,I got one from Brian's botanicals for $50.00 that stayed green. He replaced the banana. I asked the ebay seller if he would replace any all green and he said they already were showing color.I'm sure they will be small but most of the sellers on ebay get there plants from agri-starts and maybe the same size. I ordered 2 so when they come in I'll post a picture. Thanks John

Hi John,
Seeing that you are zone 7, I'd tell you that you're going to have to be careful with the Siam Rubies.

I have a dozen banana varieties and they all took 39 degrees for a few hours here in S. Florida a few weeks ago. All came through unscathed except the AeAes and the Siam Ruby. The AeAes had moderate leaf burn, the Siam Rubies looked like someone took a blowtorch to them. Both the green and red leafed looked equally bad. The cold didn't kill them and they're already leafing out again, but they definitely seem to be more cold sensitive.

Hi minibim,90% of my tropicals stay out all winter the other 10% are moved to a temporary geenhouse.Pictures below.Thanks John

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v417/johndeltav/NorthTexas/?action=view&current=PB110140.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

Jon, you're yard looks awesome in the summer. Tell me how you created your temp. greenhouse. Looks sort of like a half hoop house. How do you heat it?

Hi Dave,Thanks for the kind words. I use 3/4" pvc pipe and double layer of 6mil. plastic.It is the length of my house about 50' long and the width of my patio 12'.It is half a hoop from the roof to the ground about 8' high.I use the pvc over every year and new sheeting each year.The brick and concrete absorbs heat and release it during the night. I also use a small electric heater or a propane heater depending on the temperature.If you have any questions let me know. John

I just picked up 10 TC Siam's from Tree Frogs this past weekend. He must have had about 50 and all were definitely showing serious red coloration. He said they were all pale yellow a couple weeks ago. He repotted them and now they're all happy and red. Not bad odds so far, but if you do get the one mutant that doesn't color up that wouldn't be good. These TC came from Agri-Starts. I've had other TC nanas from Agri-Starts and all have been vigorous and healthy, too.

Treefrog posted some pictures of the TC siam's under the Florida forum if anyone is interested in seeing them. I think the thread is Ruby Red Banana's.

Hi

Can anyone tell me where to buy some larger ones? I am not young and I have a new tropical garden coming and I could use some a little larger

Thanks much

Val

Hi Val, Ebay has them by Stokes.Picture below. John

Here is a link that might be useful: siam for sale

I ordered a tray of 72 ruby siams from AgriStarts and they all were green to start. After a couple of months two thirds of them turned red and green or mostly red. I have one that is green with a red and green striped trunk. I also have one that has much wider leaves than the rest. The tissue culture thing seems to produce a lot of variables whereby the plantlets from each parent seem identical. I will therefore reproduce just the ones that are the most valuable visibly.

I bought one last year nice deep red color. They do not seem very robust they are slow growers and cold sensitive. The larger plant froze last year and the small pups survived ( covered in mulch ) I have 3 - 6 ft tall plants and 3 or 4 pups I am going to dig them this year put them in buckets so I can bring them inside when it gets into the 30's at night. Does anybody know how long it takes for them to fruit under Ideal conditions?