Home-grown food can fill midwinter yen

Most of us know what it’s like to bite into a home-grown tomato or a green bean after months of eating those from unknown places. We know how bland some grocery store produce tastes on our tongues, how dull it can be in comparison to what we cultivate ourselves or purchase from local farmers.

But what about biting into the tender flesh of home-grown fruit? Oh, sure there are sweet strawberries, juicy raspberries and wild blueberries. Fresh apples, peaches and pears from the orchard certainly are mouthwatering. But what about bananas, oranges and grapefruits? Could we really enjoy these tropical fruit from our home garden?

Well, perhaps, not from our outdoor garden, but certainly from an indoor sun space.

For Montville gardeners Geri and Larry Buffington, growing fruit in their home is one way to cure the midwinter hankering for fresh, home-grown produce. This couple harvested their first crop of oranges on the first day of the ice storm of 1998, and they are patiently waiting for this year’s harvest to ripen.

Two immature banana trees thrive in the Buffingtons’ second-floor sun room next to orange and grapefruit trees now bearing fruit. The bananas promise to develop fruit of their own within the next two seasons. These maturing plants are grown in large containers and are moved about (even outside on the porch in summer) on coaster trays made of thick clear plastic and equipped with wheels.

Citrus trees and banana plants make functional houseplants, true, but they are also showy. Orange and grapefruit trees have thick, dark green, glossy foliage, giving each plant a well-groomed, healthy look.

Citrus trees are fairly well adapted to a range of conditions and will perform well, the Buffingtons contend, inside any large sunny window or sliding glass door. The trees prefer well-drained soil; a growing mix of 25 percent peat, 25 percent composted cow manure and 50 percent perlite, is ideal.

The Buffingtons grow their trees in huge pots, but a healthy tree can be grown in a 5-gallon pot, with no ill effects of stress. Root-bound citrus are adaptable and even survive replanting when one-third or so of their root mass is cut back. It’s not uncommon for home growers to repot an overgrown plant in the same container after relieving the plant of some of its roots. Repot the plant before active spring growth, replacing the area formerly consumed by roots with new medium. This practice yields a bushy dwarf citrus plant that’s the perfect size for growing indoors.

Citrus trees self-pollinate, so only one plant is needed to produce fruit. Flowers and fruit may be found on the same plant at any one time. Fruits take several months to fully form and ripen, but the plants prove vigorous and are strong enough to endure some fairly harsh treatment without losing their ripening fruit.

The Buffingtons’ citrus plants are about 6 feet tall, container and all. They may get a little taller, but the dwarf varieties are suited perfectly to indoor growing, especially in a sun room that is open to the inside of the roof. The bananas growing alongside the citrus are about the same height, but promise to have a much better chance of actually grazing the heights of the room.

Each stalk of the banana plant will bear fruit just once. Afterward, the stalk dies, and the base of the plant gives rise to more stalks that will produce and follow the same life cycle. Under natural conditions, a stalk will produce bananas in 10 to 15 months. In a greenhouse that is warmed year round, plants can produce fruit in two or three years. Under less than ideal conditions, it may take longer.

Bananas are a bit sensitive to light requirements and unless adequate heat and light are provided throughout winter, plants can become a bit worn. With increasing light and temperatures of spring, however, bananas grown indoors in northern areas will regain their vigor. The stress of extended low light and low heat, however, does cause the plant to delay in maturing and producing according to nature’s intended design, hence the longer period required for fruit production.

Bananas, unlike citrus, are herbaceous plants. The immensely thick stems of the plant are actually the compressed bases of leaves. At maturity the blade of the leaf can be anywhere from 3 to 8 feet, depending on variety.

If you have had success growing bananas or citrus plants in your home or want more information on how to grow these unusual houseplants yourself, the Buffingtons would like to hear from you. Contact them at RR 1 Box 2262, Montville 04941, or call them at 342-5372.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, c/o Maine Weekend, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.