As we approach the end of the growing season, the star performer in terms of size achieved from a seed sown this Spring is a banana plant.

The rate of growth has been amazing, it quickly outgrew a small propagation Air-Pot and the 3 litre size. I noticed the very vigorous fleshy roots tended to thrust out through holes in the base more than is usual with other species, they were determinedly seeking expansion room. When these roots were air-pruned by the Air-Pot container  the overall root development benefitted. Foolishly I left the banana on moist earth for a couple of weeks in July, allowing the roots to bridge the air space at the bottom  and delve down into the greenhouse border.

Luckily I was able to lift it with roots intact and coil them into a bigger pot. This was a good demonstration of how roots can grow in air if the humidity is high enough.
Other very vigorous rooted plants that I will be interested to try in Air-Pot containers are Agapanthus, Canna and Hosta, these plants seem to crowd resentfully against the side of a normal plant pot forming layers of root instead of being dispersed through the entire volume of compost. When I bought a Blue Storm Agapanthus recently the roots had actually split the pot open!

Finally, a random experiment which I look forward to unearthing is Turmeric grown from a shop bought root. I don’t know if it is particularly vigorous rooted but looks strikingly similar to a banana and is doing well, so here is a picture.

As the end of Summer approaches the tomato harvest is at its peak. All the plants have grown fantastically well in a mixture of medium and large Air-Pot containers. The super early types which do not grow very tall were in medium sized pots and produced ripe fruit from June. Behind the earlies are the taller, later ripening varieties which are now producing well in large pots.

The only difficulty has been the plants are too big, the vine / cordon types are all trained up to the ridge of the roof suggesting a super root system has developed. I am not complaining but perhaps next year will train and prune to keep the plants lower so I don’t have to duck under them. Growing in alternative containers such as grow bags or conventional pots would have constrained the growth somewhat I’m sure.

When I grew in the greenhouse border by this is the time of year my tomato plants would sicken and yellow. I am not sure what caused this; deficiency, fungus, bug or disease. But growing in pots rather than in tired old soil has cured the problem, and using Air-Pot containers together with automatic drip irrigation has worked well. Healthier plants which grow bigger and keep cropping for longer is a good result and it will be interesting to see just how long they will keep ripening into the Autumn.