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View Full Version : Help!!!best way to save my20 ft bananas etc from freeze 2nite zone9


Plantnutspringhill
12-21-2012, 12:07 PM
I just moved to springhill in April. In Nebraska I moved everyone in in October. Here I have stuff in ground. Tons o alocasia and huge bananas. What is the best zone 9 way to save this stuff. Get totally different info everywhere I look. Moved small stuff to shelter and tipping potted bananas on side and covering what about the giants? Ok so I AM PANICKING. YOU ALL ARE GREAT. So request your wisdom. Can't find the exact info on threads

JCA433
12-21-2012, 01:25 PM
You could wrap the large banana P stem in bubble wrap but you may lose the leaves. That should be enough because although it will be cold even below freezing, this freeze event is not likely to be too extreme. They are forecasting a low of 40 F here so the cold air has deep reach! Good luck though!

Abnshrek
12-21-2012, 05:39 PM
I'm putting christmas lites on my tall Orinoco (12.5' p-stem) so hopefully the flower doesn't freeeze, then wrapping in plastic. I lost all leaves already. The lower stem is protected so I'm just lighting the top. :^)

LilRaverBoi
12-21-2012, 06:02 PM
No offense, but isn't this something you should have planned out/thought about before now?

Jose263
12-21-2012, 06:32 PM
No offense, but isn't this something you should have planned out/thought about before now?

Some of us are procrastinanas - I've been at this for 3 years now and just spent 4 hrs winterizing my nanas only after my wife told me it was dropping to 29 F tonight -
our weather is so mixed up, I spotted blooms on pear and apple trees just yesterday.
Good luck with the freeze :drum:

Abnshrek
12-21-2012, 07:18 PM
No offense, but isn't this something you should have planned out/thought about before now?

Weather changes quickly down here.. Have shift on the fly.. I just got done lighting the Orinoco.. Its suppose to be down to 31 here... :^)

dinker
12-21-2012, 09:36 PM
i don't know if you can save the top of the plant but if you put straw at the base of it and cover it with a old blanketthat might save the base of I am a new one at this npbut I do this with my tomatoes and i tell getting tomatoes off my plants so good luck with your plant

Illia
12-21-2012, 11:48 PM
I say, take whatever method seems best for you. You get different answers whoever you ask because there are several ways to do it. Personally if I lived in zone 9 I'd still get cold hardy specimens that same that I use here in zone 8 because of instances like this. If the banana cannot handle cold at all, well, I'd say do what you can. Wrap it, sacrifice the leaves, etc. If it is cold hardy, - You can choose to sacrifice the leaves or not, but really, the best to do is tightly wrap the P-Stem in multiple choices of insulation, including blankets, bubble-wrap, foam, tarp and straw, etc. If you want to keep the leaves, probably best to gently push some upward and wrap them as well, but loosely. Whatever freeze you get may just be light and not harm the leaves much.

George Webster
12-22-2012, 10:41 AM
Some of us are procrastinanas - I've been at this for 3 years now and just spent 4 hrs winterizing my nanas only after my wife told me it was dropping to 29 F tonight -
our weather is so mixed up, I spotted blooms on pear and apple trees just yesterday.
Good luck with the freeze :drum:

Blooms on fruit trees? Is this going to do serious wide spread damage to the upcoming crop?

George

Plantnutspringhill
12-22-2012, 10:48 AM
Thanks guys. Everyone okay last nite except e superbum, I covered it with comforter and took the cold awfully hard. Tmrw will be a bit colder and I appreciate your advice!!! I watered everything with our warm well water at midnite and everything else looks great! We'll see what tmrw night holds. I will move superbum into the shop n hope it perks up. The base and pot are huge so couldn't budge it. Neighbors will all help!!lol. Love learning from you guys!

2woodensticks
12-22-2012, 10:50 AM
im just south of you..wrap some x mas lights around p stem..the leaves realy dont matter..they can always be cut off,,they will regrow..but it wont really stay cold long enough to really worry about...put some candles in coffee cans place all around..just keep that p stem protected

Jose263
12-22-2012, 02:03 PM
Blooms on fruit trees? Is this going to do serious wide spread damage to the upcoming crop?
George

I doubt any major damage - I have low chill fruit trees as we rarely get more than 400 chill hours a year. Actually the cold weather is welcome. Gulf coast winters are like this-may have a freezing Christmas or might be in the 70s. The poor trees get really confused aroung here - pecans just put out new leaves last month.

Just another benefit of living on the gulf coast - that and hurricanes :ha::ha:

sandy0225
12-22-2012, 03:16 PM
just throw the comforter over the superbum again, if all the leaves freeze off it will be fine. it will take 6+ hours of really cold temps below 28 to freeze that one so it would die completely because of the mass of the trunk. That mass holds heat. Dont waste your time convincing the neighbors to get a hernia for you...lol...

George Webster
12-22-2012, 03:42 PM
I doubt any major damage - I have low chill fruit trees as we rarely get more than 400 chill hours a year. Actually the cold weather is welcome. Gulf coast winters are like this-may have a freezing Christmas or might be in the 70s. The poor trees get really confused aroung here - pecans just put out new leaves last month.

Just another benefit of living on the gulf coast - that and hurricanes :ha::ha:

The weather has been weird over most of the country. My hardy bananas (basjoo, etc.) have frozen the outer layers of the p-stems but are still standing tall.

My worry is my spring flowering bulbs. They are all up a couple of inches with freezing temps, that is all day, for days at a time, on the way.

I moved a hundred surprise lilies this summer I fear for their very lives.

George.

bananas101
12-22-2012, 09:21 PM
lol zone 9 is very easy to over winter tropicals in the ground. Freezing temperatures dont really stick around very long, so temps would have to be below freezing consistantly for a few days to do real damage. Worst case is that the plant would lose its foliage. Ive found, the easiest way to protect a large pseudostem is to wrap it in burlap. Its 10 bucks at Lowes. You could even wrap lights, and then wrap burlap around that.

Jose263
12-23-2012, 12:41 PM
The weather has been weird over most of the country. My hardy bananas (basjoo, etc.) have frozen the outer layers of the p-stems but are still standing tall.
My worry is my spring flowering bulbs. They are all up a couple of inches with freezing temps, that is all day, for days at a time, on the way.
I moved a hundred surprise lilies this summer I fear for their very lives.
George.

Good luck with your bulbs - my mom had many lillies in her yard in south ala. she experimented hand polinating and made her own hybrids -but it never gets cold enough to kill the planted bulbs.
Added to my list of off season events- the satsuma bush just put out a few flowers and blue birds were seen nesting in their houses last week-
Merry Christmas to all
Jose

oakshadows
12-23-2012, 06:26 PM
Good advise well given, stay warm, healthy and a verry merry " Christmas " to all and a very healthy and good growing new year.
Thanks to all for all of the fantastic advise, knowledge and help with growing bananas and other plants. May your God keep you safe, healthy and all of yours.
And a Happy New Year.

MSmith
12-27-2012, 09:55 PM
what about one of those propane patio heaters?