Musa yunnanensis is sprouting already
I was surprised to see a couple of M. yunnanensis (formerly confused with M. itinerans) pups emerging today, since it is still mid-March! A nice, cold-hardy banana for zone 7. Our low this year in Knoxville was 13F, but my yard unofficially (and with an unreliable thermometer) hit 8F one morning. I provided only a few extra inches of mulch for protection. What I found interesting is that it looks as if growth is emerging from last years' late-season pups that were buried under the mulch in the Fall. The center pseudostem, after cutting it back to the corm, looks as if it could start growing again also. M. basjoo and M. sikkimensis have been growing for about a week now, but no new pups yet.
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