Marinemom
12-09-2009, 05:29 PM
Can somebody give me some advice on my bananas, PLEASE????
They are the Musa Basjoo variety. Okay, here goes:
I bought them online two years ago, kept them inside in pots the first winter and set them out this past spring~they grew quite well and are on average 5-6ft tall. Okay, I decided that I wanted BIG plants next spring so I chose not to cut down the stem, only wrap with insulation, Christmas lights, bubble wrap and then plastic and to top all that off, a huge black trash bag on top to keep the rain off of them.. I thought that would be sufficient for my area, zone 7 I think or maybe even 6b.. Well anyway, my hubby stopped at a man's house today and his banana's are so big every year that I figured surely he would save what he could of his stem, wrap it up tight and be good to go come spring~WRONG!!!! He chops his down and then just puts mulch around them... So herein is where your expertise comes in at: Should I cut them off and then rewrap, for fear of the water in the stems freezing or just leave them as is and hope for the best??? I do have pups in the spare bathtub just in case my "idea" didn't go so well come springtime...And by the way this is the first time I have ever dealt with banana plants... So if by chance ya'll have some great advice for me on what to do, I would so greatly appreciate it...And our weather has been up to 50, down to 20, up again, rain, wind, rain and more wind~
Thanks a bunch, Marinemom
They are the Musa Basjoo variety. Okay, here goes:
I bought them online two years ago, kept them inside in pots the first winter and set them out this past spring~they grew quite well and are on average 5-6ft tall. Okay, I decided that I wanted BIG plants next spring so I chose not to cut down the stem, only wrap with insulation, Christmas lights, bubble wrap and then plastic and to top all that off, a huge black trash bag on top to keep the rain off of them.. I thought that would be sufficient for my area, zone 7 I think or maybe even 6b.. Well anyway, my hubby stopped at a man's house today and his banana's are so big every year that I figured surely he would save what he could of his stem, wrap it up tight and be good to go come spring~WRONG!!!! He chops his down and then just puts mulch around them... So herein is where your expertise comes in at: Should I cut them off and then rewrap, for fear of the water in the stems freezing or just leave them as is and hope for the best??? I do have pups in the spare bathtub just in case my "idea" didn't go so well come springtime...And by the way this is the first time I have ever dealt with banana plants... So if by chance ya'll have some great advice for me on what to do, I would so greatly appreciate it...And our weather has been up to 50, down to 20, up again, rain, wind, rain and more wind~
Thanks a bunch, Marinemom