Unwrapping the Lady Finger. Here she is all wrapped up and hopefully ready to come out. You can see that I put bags of leaves around the base for extra protection. I don't know if it was needed but maybe other unveilings will teach me something. I did many of them different to try various ideas.
I tried something else different with this one and I didn't think it would last. I sealed the top with a stretch bag. I thought it would rip during the winter but it has held fast and could still be used. I occasionally dumped water that collected in the top. That may be the reason for the settling. The water weight may have pushed it down.
Here is a shot of the inside. You can see the settling as it was full when they went to bed.
The plastic wrap is being removed. I was able to get about two turns with this wrap. Overall it was fairly dry inside so I guess I didn't need to worry about rot, fungus and mildew. I actually think it is dryer than when I shut it up last fall. The banana may have used some of the moisture.
The wrap is off and you can see the tomato cage holding in the straw.
The cage is off and the Lady Finger is back to pre winter levels. Just in time to as I will be setting out tomatos this weekend and I'll put the cages over them soon after that. They will be used to protect from late frost and freezes. Sure looks rough but I believe that this one will have a headstart on the ones that were unwrapped. Opps here is the kicker. In my zeal I did not leave one unwarpped. LOL
A closer shot shows that the new leaf was broken probably during the cage removal. Looking rough but after I trim it up and wait a week I think it will look better.
Well only a little time will tell. The setup and undoing probably takes an hour per plant mostly the setup. I noticed that some of the bags of leaves were almost composted. In the article that I read that suggested this way it was recommended to put some fertilizer in the bags to actually feed the composting cycle and to build heat inside the bag. I did not do that this year. The bags contents will be spread around the bananas and dug in around other plants in the garden.
More unveilings to come.