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sandy0225 · 05-26-2009, 07:11 PM

I had three out of three come back this year. One has six pups, one has five and one has the actual old stem from last year growing, and one pup about a foot away from it.
All I did is exactly what I tell people to do, cut the stem back to the height of a large bag of leaves, put about 5-6 bags of leaves around the stem in a circle, leaving a hole in the center about a foot across. Lightly place dry leaves in the center around the stub you cut off, and pile another bag over the top of the stump. Then I put a tarp over the whole thing to help it shed water and keep the wind here from blowing away.
Our lowest temp last winter was -25.
Now some people wouldn't be able to do that if you wanted to put a lot of basjoo out. So I go sparingly with them, and also landscape with plenty of annuals and perennials that look tropical in addition to the basjoo, and plug in a few tropical bananas too.
BTW, brown tarps look much better than the cheap blue ones!

05-26-2009, 07:11 PM	#17 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 435,270 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: The correct hardiness of Musa basjoo I had three out of three come back this year. One has six pups, one has five and one has the actual old stem from last year growing, and one pup about a foot away from it. All I did is exactly what I tell people to do, cut the stem back to the height of a large bag of leaves, put about 5-6 bags of leaves around the stem in a circle, leaving a hole in the center about a foot across. Lightly place dry leaves in the center around the stub you cut off, and pile another bag over the top of the stump. Then I put a tarp over the whole thing to help it shed water and keep the wind here from blowing away. Our lowest temp last winter was -25. Now some people wouldn't be able to do that if you wanted to put a lot of basjoo out. So I go sparingly with them, and also landscape with plenty of annuals and perennials that look tropical in addition to the basjoo, and plug in a few tropical bananas too. BTW, brown tarps look much better than the cheap blue ones! __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!