# Plant ID



## Galapoheros (Jun 29, 2019)

Anybody know what this is?  Some kind of common weed I suspect but I'm curious to what it is, popped up in a container I have over here.  I looked around on the internet but couldn't find a good match, from Texas.


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## schmiggle (Jun 30, 2019)

I'm betting it's Passiflora, and the leaves don't look quite like pictures online because it's still young.


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## Gnarled Gnome (Jun 30, 2019)

Looks like an ivy maybe?


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## The Snark (Jun 30, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> I'm betting it's Passiflora,


If it is it will be shooting out tendrils very soon.


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## Galapoheros (Jun 30, 2019)

The leaves do look like passiflora but I've germinated passiflora before and it never looked like a germinated passiflora.  The stem is softer than passiflora and growing faster than a passiflora seedling.  I may just have to wait and see, it shouldn't take very long, I'm thinking it's a fast growing annual of some kind.


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## The Snark (Jun 30, 2019)

There are several different species of passiflora with markedly different traits and appearance. With any plant that can grow as fast as this one, expect some pretty radical deviations from the norm. Again, look for tendrils. They may be rudimentary, may even never develop, but all of them at least try to develop them.


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## Galapoheros (Jun 30, 2019)

The Snark said:


> There are several different species of passiflora with markedly different traits and appearance. With any plant that can grow as fast as this one, expect some pretty radical deviations from the norm. Again, look for tendrils. They may be rudimentary, may even never develop, but all of them at least try to develop them.


I hope is passiflora but I've grown the local sps., it's just not matching up to it.  It's probably going to end up showing itself to a pretty common plant, what some consider a "weed" around here.  I'm just going to let it keep growing out of curiosity, post pics later.

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## Galapoheros (Jul 12, 2019)

Went out of town and pretty sure this is it along the side of the road.  I think it's called Giant Ragweed.

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## pannaking22 (Jul 12, 2019)

Looks like ragweed to me (the second pic anyway, can't help you on the first).


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## Galapoheros (Jul 12, 2019)

pannaking22 said:


> Looks like ragweed to me (the second pic anyway, can't help you on the first).


I meant to say the plant in the first pic is probably the same sps. in the second pic.  The one in the first pic has grown and now has more lobes in the leaves.


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## The Snark (Jul 12, 2019)

pannaking22 said:


> Looks like ragweed to me (the second pic anyway, can't help you on the first).


Looks likely. When it flowers that will become obvious. Palmate five lobes is pretty definitive.
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/giant_ragweed.htm


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## schmiggle (Jul 13, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Went out of town and pretty sure this is it along the side of the road.  I think it's called Giant Ragweed.


Huh. I can sorta see it. This seems like just what a weed would do with its leaves as it ages lol. Could you post pics of it now? Not doubting your judgment, just wondering how much it's changed.


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## Galapoheros (Jul 13, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Huh. I can sorta see it. This seems like just what a weed would do with its leaves as it ages lol. Could you post pics of it now? Not doubting your judgment, just wondering how much it's changed.


Sure, I know what you mean, I like to see with my own eyes also.  Other recent things I have going, more Kiwi plants grown from seed, looks like I need to water.  I ordered a couple of ice cream banana plants, man I need a greenhouse pretty bad.  My two seed grown Pawpaw trees took off in the spring.  A few orange tees germinated.

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## schmiggle (Jul 13, 2019)

Well, that definitely looks like the plant to me lol. Funny how they can just decide to sprout extra lobes when they get older. Sorta like teenagers growing their hair out, except that plants never stop.


Galapoheros said:


> more Kiwi plants grown from seed, looks like I need to water. I ordered a couple of ice cream banana plants





Galapoheros said:


> My two seed grown Pawpaw trees took off in the spring. A few orange tees germinated.


Very nice. Send me some pawpaw when you get some 


Galapoheros said:


> man I need a greenhouse pretty bad


Sure looks like it.


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## The Snark (Jul 14, 2019)

What's an 'ice cream' banana? Why are they called that?
It's kind of funny. To me bananas were bananas. Chiquita, Dole, duhh. Then I got dropped into the markets of S.E. Asia and I'm totally bewildered. There's got to be about as many different versions of bananas as there are pine trees. "Oh, you don't want those bananas, they make you fart. Those tastes like tissue paper. Those go bad too fast. And there's blue bananas, red ones, orange ones. finger sized, one they make glue from, ones grown as hog feed supplement and on and on.


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## Galapoheros (Jul 14, 2019)

The Snark said:


> What's an 'ice cream' banana? Why are they called that?
> It's kind of funny. To me bananas were bananas. Chiquita, Dole, duhh. Then I got dropped into the markets of S.E. Asia and I'm totally bewildered. There's got to be about as many different versions of bananas as there are pine trees. "Oh, you don't want those bananas, they make you fart. Those tastes like tissue paper. Those go bad too fast. And there's blue bananas, red ones, orange ones. finger sized, one they make glue from, ones grown as hog feed supplement and on and on.


Don't really know, people say they taste like ice cream(?)  I bet a lot of people don't but I'd like to find out.  Around here, I'd be lucky to get one through the winter so that I could find out.  Sometimes the winters here aren't so bad and they make it to Spring.  Either that or I get a greenhouse.  I only like plants that are weird to me in some kind of way or else they produce something to eat.  I want something like a food forest some day.


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## The Snark (Jul 14, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Don't really know, people say they taste like ice cream(?)


Light bulb. One type of banana has a little vanilla-ish flavor. I'll bet that's it. I can't tell them apart at all. I guess you have to be born and raised in a banana belt to tell them apart. And yes, it's a banana belt. They will grow in just about any soil, down to mingy gravel, but there is a demarcation line more or less set in stone altitude wise they won't grow at. Only about 1500 feet elevation from very fast, healthy growth and lots of baby shoots to un-thrifty and the flowers wither before the bananas form. So cool weather is out.


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## schmiggle (Jul 15, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Don't really know, people say they taste like ice cream(?)  I bet a lot of people don't but I'd like to find out.  Around here, I'd be lucky to get one through the winter so that I could find out.  Sometimes the winters here aren't so bad and they make it to Spring.  Either that or I get a greenhouse.  I only like plants that are weird to me in some kind of way or else they produce something to eat.  I want something like a food forest some day.





The Snark said:


> Light bulb. One type of banana has a little vanilla-ish flavor. I'll bet that's it. I can't tell them apart at all. I guess you have to be born and raised in a banana belt to tell them apart. And yes, it's a banana belt. They will grow in just about any soil, down to mingy gravel, but there is a demarcation line more or less set in stone altitude wise they won't grow at. Only about 1500 feet elevation from very fast, healthy growth and lots of baby shoots to un-thrifty and the flowers wither before the bananas form. So cool weather is out.


I was reading about the variety and apparently it's fairly cold tolerant, so I assume that plays into it as well. Of course, I'm not sure what qualifies as cold tolerant in the banana world.

Edit: For them as is interested, found a thread about cold tolerant bananas.

http://www.bananas.org/f15/cold-hardy-list-2788.html

Apparently, some can survive in zone 8 in the United States, though I'm sure there's more to it than winter minimum.


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## Galapoheros (Jul 15, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> I was reading about the variety and apparently it's fairly cold tolerant, so I assume that plays into it as well. Of course, I'm not sure what qualifies as cold tolerant in the banana world.
> 
> Edit: For them as is interested, found a thread about cold tolerant bananas.
> 
> ...


I bought these for the cold-hardy claims and they actually produce bananas instead of being ornamentals that I could care less for.  From what I've read, they survive down to the 20's, maybe lower but only the tuber, they come back in the Spring, above ground they can't take a freeze but there are insulation techniques to use during cold spells to get the base of the stem through to Spring, berm the base up with straw, house insulation, anything like that.

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## schmiggle (Jul 15, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I bought these for the cold-hardy claims and they actually produce bananas instead of being ornamentals that I could care less for.  From what I've read, they survive down to the 20's, maybe lower but only the tuber, they come back in the Spring, above ground they can't take a freeze but there are insulation techniques to use during cold spells to get the base of the stem through to Spring, berm the base up with straw, house insulation, anything like that.


How cold does it get where you are, and for how long? Are you in central Texas (blackland prairies kinda area)?


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## Galapoheros (Jul 15, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> How cold does it get where you are, and for how long? Are you in central Texas (blackland prairies kinda area)?


Nahh, no black-land prairie clay stuff.  I do spend most of my time right now in a house in central tx, black clay and bedrock, not the best for nanas like you prob read about.  But I have another tiny aframe project house just west of Houston I bought cheap.  I only bought that place in an area I'd rather be in so I could have a place to go when I sold this place in central tx(Austin area).  My old parents and all my family discouraged me from buying that place but I could probably score 50K on it right now.  People are so neg, sup with that?  I think they don't like seeing others doing something because it makes them feel like maybe they should be doing it also.  People just shouldn't consider too much what others say sometimes and do what they want, use your own judgment right?  Really frustrating if you let it get to you.  Then after I sell the central tx house, I'd use the $ to look for a better place in the Brenham area while living in the tiny aframe house.  The main reason I want to move to that area is because there is better soil, sandy loam type of soil, alluvial deposit kind of soil from the Brazos and Navasota rivers.  I can't grow much here in central tx on bedrock and black clay and the deer eat almost everything I'm interested in, they roam the city limits, no predators.  I'm sure you could read about it on the internet, "deer problem in Austin area"  I see deer every single day here.  One neighbor feeds the deer, the other hates the deer.  I hate the deer, other than for sausage haha.  They are yard rats here.  It reminds me of politics with the deer around here.  I'm going to move the nana plants to the aframe, plant them with plans of digging them up when I find a better place after that.  gonna, gonna, gonna, story of my life.  I might keep that little house for a while though, it's turned out to be pretty cool with a chill kind of scenery, a pond across the street and a code gate at the entrance of the hood.  Looks kind of "fancy pants" at first but the reason the gate was put up was because people were dumping trash out there.  So I think people now perceive it as decent neighborhood only because of the gate and are starting to build out there, and so it is turning into a better neighborhood right after I bought that little place.  Some years it freezes there, sometimes it doesn't, as long as it doesn't freeze the stem should be OK in that area.


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## The Snark (Jul 15, 2019)

Lots and lots of different banana varieties. I'm wondering about the cold tolerant ones producing a flower and how fast it will grow, will it be fertile and produce fruit and how long it will take.


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## Galapoheros (Jul 22, 2019)

Positive ID finally, it's a Papaya tree.  I know what happened, I bought a Papaya, didn't like it and gave it to my Hissers.  I dump out old trash from cricket and roach tubs into other containers and sometimes use it as fertilizer.  So, one of the seeds germinated.  I guess I'll pot it.

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## The Snark (Jul 22, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Positive ID finally, it's a Papaya tree.


*FACE PALM!* I see those every day and it never occurred to me.
I just showed that pic to my other. She took a moments glance and: "Malacaw. So what?" (Thai word for papaya)

Silly Papaya tricks. Move it into direct full sun. It will zoom up about a foot a month and start producing a huge mass of fruit in 3-4 months. Move it into deep shade it will grow a trunk 20 feet tall or more and only produce a half dozen fruits. The seeds have a fantastic germination rate, over 50% and you can produce an indefinite number of new trees from a single fruit. In deep shade you can sometimes force it into producing a branch or two. Normally it is just a single trunk.
They remain viable for only about 5 years then the main trunk starts to rot.
The leaves have numerous medicinal properties.

Oh yes. Best growth is plant them on raised rows and flood water, allowing a week between floodings.


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## schmiggle (Jul 22, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Positive ID finally, it's a Papaya tree.  I know what happened, I bought a Papaya, didn't like it and gave it to my Hissers.  I dump out old trash from cricket and roach tubs into other containers and sometimes use it as fertilizer.  So, one of the seeds germinated.  I guess I'll pot it.


Wow, who knew papaya looked just like ragweed lol?

That's much more exciting--I hope it does well for you!


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## Galapoheros (Jul 22, 2019)

I potted it, I'm going to put it on the porch and take it through the winter here where it can freeze sometimes.  Then when March comes around, I think a good place to plant it is in the bottom of shallow ditch in front of my house.  It hardly ever has running water in it but it's low where the moisture is.

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## schmiggle (Jul 22, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I potted it, I'm going to put it on the porch and take it through the winter here where it can freeze sometimes.  Then when March comes around, I think a good place to plant it is in the bottom of shallow ditch in front of my house.  It hardly ever has running water in it but it's low where the moisture is.


How cold does it get? Are you sure you want to plant it outside at all? I gather these aren't especially cold tolerant.


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## Galapoheros (Jul 22, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> How cold does it get? Are you sure you want to plant it outside at all? I gather these aren't especially cold tolerant.


It's that they don't live long and can get pretty big, don't have a greenhouse so I'm just going to put it in the ground next year and let it take it's course that way.  Sometimes it freezes here in winter and other times it doesn't, just going to take a gamble, not much more I can do.  I'll just grow more if I want to later.


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## The Snark (Jul 23, 2019)

It will only need a few months good growing weather to produce a fruit. Then you can start a couple hundred next year.


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