Bananas.org - View Single Post - Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter

tastyratz · 08-11-2011, 10:29 AM

time to dig? its august! I'm in zone 5 too and things are just getting going!

Personally I like to wait to see a little bit of leaf damage before digging. I think the set back stunts growth and makes the plant resist growing indoors with minimal light.
I overwintered all of my plants in my fairly warm basement last year in front of a too small window and with 2 small 18w florescent lights. I can tell you from last year's terrible experience (most died) how I was thinking I would change things this year:

-I had a nasty gnat and root aphid problem bringing outside plants inside. I tried bayer tree and shrup insecticide diluted and sprayed on the leaves this year and it nuked all the baddies magically. Yes it is bad for the soil food web but aphids really are a bother to me and japanese beetles WERE tearing my ensete apart. This year I will strong dose all of my plants prior to them coming in and over the winter. This does not take care of spider mites but as long as you give your plants a visual check you can easily nip them before they get bad with soap/oil.

-Lighting. You are more likely to kill off from too much heat ratio to light than too much light. This year I will install 2 4 foot fixtures over the plant areas and run on long timers. Hope that is enough my basement is around 65f. It is too warm to stay dormant but hopefully the light keeps them only weak active.

-cut down on fert earlier. I might even shake off the rich organic dirt for the most part before bringing everything in and bag the roots.

-spray leaves down with some sort of anti desiccant. The roots will rot from the moisture they don't absorb but the leaves will still dry themselves out, ESPECIALLY palms.

-My smaller plants will be living in a bay window this year.

What was mentioned before was for individuals who store their dormant plants underneath their house someplace or in some other protected area that will be slightly warmer than away from the house. Some people definitely just bin up their plants in the basement. I have seen some good photos of someone who cut their ensete down to trunk and bare rooted it in the basement. Nothing wrong with bare root storage if you are staying dormant.

08-11-2011, 10:29 AM	#314 (permalink)
tastyratz Location: NH, USA Zone: 5b denial Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 65 BananaBucks : 38,849 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 18 Times Was Thanked 81 Times in 38 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter time to dig? its august! I'm in zone 5 too and things are just getting going! Personally I like to wait to see a little bit of leaf damage before digging. I think the set back stunts growth and makes the plant resist growing indoors with minimal light. I overwintered all of my plants in my fairly warm basement last year in front of a too small window and with 2 small 18w florescent lights. I can tell you from last year's terrible experience (most died) how I was thinking I would change things this year: -I had a nasty gnat and root aphid problem bringing outside plants inside. I tried bayer tree and shrup insecticide diluted and sprayed on the leaves this year and it nuked all the baddies magically. Yes it is bad for the soil food web but aphids really are a bother to me and japanese beetles WERE tearing my ensete apart. This year I will strong dose all of my plants prior to them coming in and over the winter. This does not take care of spider mites but as long as you give your plants a visual check you can easily nip them before they get bad with soap/oil. -Lighting. You are more likely to kill off from too much heat ratio to light than too much light. This year I will install 2 4 foot fixtures over the plant areas and run on long timers. Hope that is enough my basement is around 65f. It is too warm to stay dormant but hopefully the light keeps them only weak active. -cut down on fert earlier. I might even shake off the rich organic dirt for the most part before bringing everything in and bag the roots. -spray leaves down with some sort of anti desiccant. The roots will rot from the moisture they don't absorb but the leaves will still dry themselves out, ESPECIALLY palms. -My smaller plants will be living in a bay window this year. What was mentioned before was for individuals who store their dormant plants underneath their house someplace or in some other protected area that will be slightly warmer than away from the house. Some people definitely just bin up their plants in the basement. I have seen some good photos of someone who cut their ensete down to trunk and bare rooted it in the basement. Nothing wrong with bare root storage if you are staying dormant.