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gregsmith · 04-13-2006, 08:29 PM

Our winter in Pa. was fairly mild, a low of 0 degrees for a day or three. It was very cold in November and December with a rather warm Jan. and March! I packed all of my banana plants in straw in a galvanized steel fence and covered the frame with shipping bubble wrap! My Brazilian and ElEl I left outside in full west wind (very breezy but with full afternoon sun) I used a
thermostat controlled heating cable on these plants. My musa Basjoo (12) and Orinoco (4) are in there third year with no losses and no heating cable!
The mats on these are ever expanding with diameters of up to six feet!
The ElEl, I don't know about yet! I cut the stems back to four feet on each plant, by May 15th. the plants should reach six feet in height! I would like to hear from cold weather banana growers about their successes (and failures)!
Thanks, Greg Smith

04-13-2006, 08:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
gregsmith Junior Member Location: South Central Pa. Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 7 BananaBucks : 14,495 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Brazilian made it thru zone 6 winter! Our winter in Pa. was fairly mild, a low of 0 degrees for a day or three. It was very cold in November and December with a rather warm Jan. and March! I packed all of my banana plants in straw in a galvanized steel fence and covered the frame with shipping bubble wrap! My Brazilian and ElEl I left outside in full west wind (very breezy but with full afternoon sun) I used a thermostat controlled heating cable on these plants. My musa Basjoo (12) and Orinoco (4) are in there third year with no losses and no heating cable! The mats on these are ever expanding with diameters of up to six feet! The ElEl, I don't know about yet! I cut the stems back to four feet on each plant, by May 15th. the plants should reach six feet in height! I would like to hear from cold weather banana growers about their successes (and failures)! Thanks, Greg Smith