View Full Version : Did I do it right?
wheelman1976
05-02-2013, 09:08 PM
Ok, So tonight was the night that I started pulling my dwarf brazilian and red dwarfs out from dry root storage in my basement. As was suggested in another post, I started by removing all of the dead leaves and rot that was there . I got down to the stems that were not rotted or in the case of some, absolutely nothing, I was just left with the corms. The corms were still hard and didn't have any rot on them which I take to be a good sign? I planted a number of them tonight and hoping for the best. My question is am I doing this right? IS this the norm for what a banana should look like going in the ground in the spring?
Any suggestions would be great, I still have about 20 of them to go yet, quite the process.
One note: the green ones in the back are my basjoos, I'm trying to start them in a hole and once they start growning I will back fill to bring them up to ground level, my goal is to get the corms as deep as possible for overwintering.
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb418/wheelman1976/null_zps1a699c05.jpg (http://s1204.photobucket.com/user/wheelman1976/media/null_zps1a699c05.jpg.html)
Zacarias
05-02-2013, 10:12 PM
One thing about the corms, wait until you see some growth or signs or growth before you give them tons of water.
The problem with burying the basjoo stems is that they have a high risk of rotting in the winter because they have all this cold, wet soil against the lower part of the pseudostem (the buried part).
Also, if they put on good growth this year which they should, your mat of bananas will be VERY crowded. That can be a good thing or will make more work for you later one.
Z
wheelman1976
05-02-2013, 10:18 PM
I'm prepared to pull some of the basjoos if they become too much. I was running out of places to put them. I'm in the negotiating stage with the wife on taking some of her gardens over, but I have to wait until she acknowledges that she doesn't have time to maintain what she claims to want.... :-)
sunfish
05-02-2013, 10:34 PM
http://www.bananas.org/f15/my-atl-basjoo-experiment-worked-17809.html#post218071
Yuri Barros
05-03-2013, 07:00 AM
Nice..........
I´m very curious about the corm storage..............do you have pics.........???
I would like to learn about it..............
wheelman1976
05-03-2013, 07:36 AM
Nice..........
I´m very curious about the corm storage..............do you have pics.........???
I would like to learn about it..............
This was my first year digging up what was given to me last year by a school green house program. I initially had them in my basement garage thinking the temps would be fine, but they started to rot once it hit the 40's. So I transfered all of them into my back basement furnace room and simply just laid them around on a sheet of cardboard and let them sit in the dark. I'm now just pulling them out and seeing if I can get them to grow.
The corms seem hard and there's some stalks left, I just hope they grow.
Yuri Barros
05-03-2013, 09:24 AM
Thank You..........
Olafhenny
05-03-2013, 09:13 PM
Hi Doug,
like you I live in HZ 6. But I never take the trouble to dig out my basjoos. Instead I go to the
trouble of mulching them each fall and removing all that mess in spring. :)
Well, it seems to work better, since my 4 basjoos (all in one pad) are already between 18 inches
and 4 feet high. See my post in: http://www.bananas.org/f15/basjoo-mekong-giant-winter-17872.html#post218271
However starting next winter the need for mulching will be greatly reduced, since I devised and
assembled a permanent shelter, which will only require some mulching around the base, can be
reused year after year with minimum effort and has the potential to preserve The PSs in the pad
up to 30 inches high, hopefully in good shape.
See: http://www.bananas.org/f2/permanent-banana-shelter-winter-spring-17855.html#post218404
Good luck with your bananas,
Olaf
wheelman1976
05-03-2013, 09:24 PM
Well, I got into the rest of my bananas tonight and feel disappointed. It appears all of my red dwarfs are rotted down into the tops of the corms. Is it even worth trying to plant these things? I scooped out the rot as best I can and now many look like bird nests. Any knowledge on this would be great. If I stick them in the ground, will pups come out of the bottom/sides and grow up? I can't imagine anything coming out the middle.
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb418/wheelman1976/null_zps61b3c0f2.jpg (http://s1204.photobucket.com/user/wheelman1976/media/null_zps61b3c0f2.jpg.html)
wheelman1976
05-03-2013, 09:26 PM
I should note that the brazilians seem a bit more hardy, there's at least some stalk left, not much, but some. I'll take some pics. If anyone thinks I'm wasting my time trying to get these things going again, please enlighten me.
Olafhenny
05-03-2013, 10:45 PM
Is it even worth trying to plant these things? I scooped out the rot as best I can and now many look like bird nests. Any knowledge on this would be great. If I stick them in the ground, will pups come out of the bottom/sides and grow up? I can't imagine anything coming out the middle.
I have never tried to grow half a corm, but that is basically, what you do, if you slice off a pup
from the mother plant. Only then each still has some PS left. I would stick them in the ground.
What do you have to lose? But give them at least a couple of months, before you decide to
compost the remainder.
Good luck,
Olaf
GreenFin
05-04-2013, 12:31 AM
Is it even worth trying to plant these things?
Yes. If there's still some healthy tissue in those corms (which there probably is), then they'll probably send up pups.
I recently took a piece of rotting corm that was about the size of a golf ball, cut away the black/slimy part (about 2/3 of it), then planted the tiny bit that was left. After a week or two, the top of it started to form a green nub, which then started pushing out little leaves. Then I accidentally flooded it and killed the little developing pstem. But a couple weeks later another tiny pup began to emerge from the side of the tiny corm, and this new pstem is presently doing well.
Don't give up till there's nothing left!
:bananas_b
Olafhenny
05-04-2013, 09:58 AM
Yes. If there's still some healthy tissue in those corms (which there probably is), then they'll probably send up pups.
I recently took a piece of rotting corm that was about the size of a golf ball, cut away the black/slimy part (about 2/3 of it), then planted the tiny bit that was left. After a week or two, the top of it started to form a green nub, which then started pushing out little leaves. Then I accidentally flooded it and killed the little developing pstem. But a couple weeks later another tiny pup began to emerge from the side of the tiny corm, and this new pstem is presently doing well.
Don't give up till there's nothing left!
:bananas_b
Thank you, that is good to know.
Olaf
wheelman1976
05-04-2013, 09:20 PM
So on my brazilians, it it even worth leaving the stems that are left on there? Or will I just end up with pups coming out the sides?
Olafhenny
05-04-2013, 09:40 PM
Unless they are totally dried or rotted off, I'd leave them there as long as there is some
green left
Olaf
wheelman1976
05-05-2013, 12:18 PM
It's not so much green as it it white....
Olafhenny
05-05-2013, 03:40 PM
That is probably just a result from not having been exposed to light. A couple of days in sunshine
will soon fix that problem. :)
Olaf
wheelman1976
05-06-2013, 08:08 PM
Well I planted the remainder of my red dwarfs tonight, we'll see if they sprout. It looked like quite a few had some shoots ready to come out the sides. Fingers crossed!
Zacarias
05-08-2013, 12:40 AM
let us know Wheelman when they do sprout. Just don't overwater until then...
wheelman1976
05-08-2013, 08:54 PM
So I am seeing in my weekend forecast a low coming up of 36.... would I be wise to put some coverings over my 5 inch tall basjoos that I have in the ground? Would setting up a couple saw horses with plastic draped over them be sufficient enough? I'm thinking my corms that I just stuck in the ground would be fine since there's nothing worthwhile sticking above the ground at this point? Any advice?
LilRaverBoi
05-08-2013, 09:36 PM
Looks good so far! Seems that things have been at least fairly successful. Overwintering is not easy, and it seems as though things are more or less solid for you. Leave on as much p-stem as long as it is solid and not rotted (white is fine....like stated, it's just a lack of sunlight that causes this color (or rather, lack of color)). Remove as much rot as you can from the reds and see what happens....bananas are surprisingly hardcore plants and may pull through once in the ground. Also, concerning your comments on D. Brazilian....I have one I got last summer and must say I'm surprised at how resilient it has been during winter. Mine was kept potted in a window and though it didn't really grow much all winter, the leaves held on it VERY well and there has been nearly no loss of p-stem diameter, old leaves, etc. This cannot be said for any of my other plants....definitely keeping this one!
Olafhenny
05-09-2013, 12:04 AM
Looks good so far! Seems that things have been at least fairly successful. Overwintering is not easy, and it seems as though things are more or less solid for you.
Hi Ryan,
Speaking of which, I have just finished posting detailed assembly instructions for effective,
permanently reusable winter shelters for bananas. 3 shelters like I have assembled,
two for my single stem bananas and the third for a whole pad of four stems cost me less
than $55.- total. Though there may be a few more dollars for the fibre glass stuffing, which I
will add in fall.
The shelters are easily taken off and put on again during erratic spring
temperatures.
Check it out here: http://www.bananas.org/f2/permanent-banana-shelter-winter-spring-17855.html#post218827
wheelman1976
05-09-2013, 09:11 PM
So does anyone think I should be covering things this weekend? Lows in the mid 30's sound like they're coming.
LilRaverBoi
05-09-2013, 09:35 PM
I vote 'yes' for covering. I've heard reds are particularly cold sensitive.
Zacarias
05-10-2013, 07:20 PM
Reds will not do well in the 30s at all. If you have anything in containers, bring those in. With the planted nanners definitely cover them well!
wheelman1976
05-10-2013, 09:30 PM
I've got plastic down, had to overlap 4 sheets of it, outside of my 6 inch basjoos, the other corms are in ground and not sprouting anything, so I doubt those will be affected much. It's just Sunday's lows I have to worry about, next week it warms back up again. Tonight is a low of 42, low of 38 tomorrow, 34 Sunday and 45 Monday. Then back up to low of 55 Tuesday. Now I just have to keep them from blowing away from the wind. Sunday is showing wind in the forecast....
Zacarias
05-12-2013, 07:03 PM
hopefully that will be the last of your temps in the 30s for this season!
wheelman1976
05-12-2013, 07:14 PM
One more night and ill breath easy. I have plastic pots over as much as I can cover at this point. The wind has been brutal to my little 5-6 inch basjoo bananas. I just need some nice hot weather to kick start them and get them established.
wheelman1976
05-15-2013, 10:22 PM
Well, I'm through the frosts I think. Nothing lower than 50 anymore. I have to say this, I am seeing nothing from my reds or brazilians. The brazilians have all lost most of whatever stems they had, I suspect I'll be lucky if I get pups to push out and start growing. Fingers crossed on these as my source for all of these bananas from last year didn't bring any in for his mother's day sale, so it doesn't look like i'll be getting leftovers once his school program lets out for the summer.
wheelman1976
05-26-2013, 10:58 AM
So how long before I'll see any growth after putting these corms in the ground? So far I'm seeing zero movement. I've got canna roots I put in three weeks ago that are pushing sprouts up yet I'm seeing nothing from either type of banana. I'm wondering if banana corms are more sensitive to soil temperature maybe? I know our winter lasted longer than normal and I'm thinking the soil temps were behind. Anyone have thoughts on this?
Olafhenny
05-26-2013, 02:18 PM
Hi Doug,
first question: How warm is you soil??? I have played with the thought to accelerate spring
revival, by pouring water around the corm, although I have not yet done so. 100^F should
be save, even if it hits the plant directly, since it is exposed to that kind of temp. on sunny days
anyway and the soil will cool it down on contact. 120^ should be okay if no parts of your
banana are contacted directly.
Here is a repeat post of mine, which I placed into the "Help" thread:
QUOTE
Hi Tiffany,
bananas do not take well to transplanting. Sometimes they take it without even blinking and
other time they might take up to two months, before showing any real progress.
If you have a sound corm (firm like a potato), you have a banana plant. The frost might have
singed your leaves, but it is highly unlikely, that it got to your corm. So just leave it as it is and
have a bit of patience. UNQUOTE
Good Luck!
Olaf
wheelman1976
05-26-2013, 07:13 PM
Hi Doug,
first question: How warm is you soil??? I have played with the thought to accelerate spring
revival, by pouring water around the corm, although I have not yet done so. 100^F should
be save, even if it hits the plant directly, since it is exposed to that kind of temp. on sunny days
anyway and the soil will cool it down on contact. 120^ should be okay if no parts of your
banana are contacted directly.
Here is a repeat post of mine, which I placed into the "Help" thread:
QUOTE
Hi Tiffany,
bananas do not take well to transplanting. Sometimes they take it without even blinking and
other time they might take up to two months, before showing any real progress.
If you have a sound corm (firm like a potato), you have a banana plant. The frost might have
singed your leaves, but it is highly unlikely, that it got to your corm. So just leave it as it is and
have a bit of patience. UNQUOTE
Good Luck!
Olaf
I'm not sure what temp my soil is unfortunately. As for the bananas, there's no stalk left on any of them (reds or brazilians). When I planted them I made not that there was at least one "eye" that looked like it would put something out the side, but I wasn't expecting anything to come from what stalks were left.
Interesting note, even the brazilian I kept in a pot indoors lost it's main stalk and now I'm working off of a small pump that sprouted last winter.
Because I'm in michigan and the bananas I had last year were reds and brazilian, I had no choice but to dig them up. I went with the bare root method and wondering if I made the right choice. If they do grow this year I may try digging up a hunk of dirt and doing a pot for the winter.... time will tell what I get. In the meantime I've invested in basjoos to get my permanate tropical look.
Olafhenny
05-26-2013, 11:18 PM
I'm not sure what temp my soil is unfortunately. As for the bananas, there's no stalk left on any of them (reds or brazilians). When I planted them I made not that there was at least one "eye" that looked like it would put something out the side, but I wasn't expecting anything to come from what stalks were left.
Don't worry about eyes, if the corm is sound, feels like a potato, it will grow.
Interesting note, even the brazilian I kept in a pot indoors lost it's main stalk and now I'm working off of a small pump that sprouted last winter.
"Dem's de breaks" I have no idea, what caused your main stem to deteriorate, but the plant will live on!
Because I'm in michigan and the bananas I had last year were reds and brazilian, I had no choice but to dig them up. I went with the bare root method and wondering if I made the right choice. If they do grow this year I may try digging up a hunk of dirt and doing a pot for the winter.... time will tell what I get. In the meantime I've invested in basjoos to get my permanate tropical look.
Of course you had the choice to leave them outdoors, with the proper protection. I live in
Canada same HZ as you and would never do the bare root thing. First year pups I take inside
in a pot. after that they are protected outdoors.
Olafhenny
05-26-2013, 11:38 PM
If you want to do that water thing, you do not need to know the present temps. of the soil. It is
bound to be cool. I hade one of mine frozen to the ground due to shifting protection (that is what
inspired me to come up with my permanent shelter). That one has already sent up a pup, which is
now 7 inches high (just went out to measure it :))
wheelman1976
05-27-2013, 09:05 AM
I don't think a dwarf red and brazilian would go through my winter even with protection, nothing I've read about them suggests that. I'm hanging my hat on musa basjoo at this point for keeping them in the ground.
wheelman1976
06-02-2013, 07:40 PM
Well I couldn't resist, after staring at my corms in the ground for about a month now and seeing nothing going on with them I had to dig a few and see if anything happening. Long story short, a couple have some roots growing out of them and a few have nothing but are still hard. Time will tell, I think it's just a matter of the soil being cooler than normal this spring.
wheelman1976
06-08-2013, 08:41 PM
Well my brazilians, all of which had 2.5" of stalk left have decided to wake up. I'm seeing movement from most of the stalks now at this point. The Reds have been frustrating, still seeing nothing. I went to dig up a few because I had forgotten where I actually buried them and couldn't spot them and found a few, one looked like I might have some growth coming from an eye out the side, another was deader than dean and totally soft, and another I think had two short little roots coming out of it. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll see the majority of these things pull through.
I think this winter I will be getting 5 gal buckets and digging up as much of the bananas as possible and taking them indoor and not dry root storing them.
I'll update as things progress for those that are still monitoring this thread.
cincinnana
06-09-2013, 06:00 AM
Doug
This pic was taken March 2nd.
It was taken after 6 months in the basement...I keep mine in pots and pot up as they grow.
I brought them out to spray and let them get some sunlight.
All plants are stressed from winter storage.
All the leaves that you see are new leaves that were in the Pstem at time of storage,they just pop out during storage. I do not try to grow these plants.
Most of the leaves you see are frail and lifeless and have since been replaced with tough thick and more sturdy leaves as things heat up and summer gets going.
Keep up the good work .......And if you see black landscape pots in someones trash pick them up ....sounds like your going to need them:D
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=52594&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=52594)
wheelman1976
06-09-2013, 05:36 PM
Doug
This pic was taken March 2nd.
It was taken after 6 months in the basement...I keep mine in pots and pot up as they grow.
I brought them out to spray and let them get some sunlight.
All plants are stressed from winter storage.
All the leaves that you see are new leaves that were in the Pstem at time of storage,they just pop out during storage. I do not try to grow these plants.
Most of the leaves you see are frail and lifeless and have since been replaced with tough thick and more sturdy leaves as things heat up and summer gets going.
Keep up the good work .......And if you see black landscape pots in someones trash pick them up ....sounds like your going to need them:D
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=52594&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=52594)
I think I'm going to keep an eye out for some 5 gal pails, I sell chemicals for a living so I think I'm going to tell my customers to save them for me.
wheelman1976
06-12-2013, 08:25 PM
Have so say I'm very happy right now. The only thing I want to happen now is for a red dwarf to pop in some way shape or form.
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cincinnana
06-12-2013, 08:33 PM
:woohoonaner:
Olafhenny
06-12-2013, 08:47 PM
Don't worry about eyes, if the corm is sound, feels like a potato, it will grow.
My wife hates it, when I say: "I told you so", so I am not going to say it now :ha: - just kidding
Congratulations to your success! :)
Olaf
wheelman1976
06-13-2013, 08:18 PM
New question... what's going on with my basjoos? They are getting splotches all over the leaves and looking a bit crappy. We've had a really wet spring and temps are still not like summer yet here. Combination of wetness and being generally cooler?
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sunfish
06-13-2013, 08:37 PM
Sounds good
Olafhenny
06-13-2013, 09:15 PM
When I moved my healthy looking Ornata from the living room outside, it developed the same
brown blotches (I had left the Basjoos outside during the winter and with them the problem did
not occur)
The Ornatas have now spouted new healthy leaves and I attribute the rusty looking leaves to
transplanting shock.
Methinks you worry too much. Have some confidence in the survival and regeneration capabilities
of your bananas. :)
wheelman1976
06-13-2013, 10:25 PM
When I moved my healthy looking Ornata from the living room outside, it developed the same
brown blotches (I had left the Basjoos outside during the winter and with them the problem did
not occur)
The Ornatas have now spouted new healthy leaves and I attribute the rusty looking leaves to
transplanting shock.
Methinks you worry too much. Have some confidence in the survival and regeneration capabilities
of your bananas. :)
You don't know the number of bananas I've killed.... :-)
Olafhenny
06-13-2013, 10:42 PM
I hope, that you made sure, that they were really dead, before you composted them :ha:
wheelman1976
06-15-2013, 08:01 PM
Oh, they were dead, total mush and nothing hard on any of them.
cincinnana
06-15-2013, 08:05 PM
Darn!!!
sunfish
06-15-2013, 08:27 PM
:pics:Oh, they were dead, total mush and nothing hard on any of them.
LilRaverBoi
06-15-2013, 11:00 PM
I hope, that you made sure, that they were really dead, before you composted them :ha:
LOL, that sometimes doesn't matter at all for bananas. That's actually how I got into growing bananas and acquired my first ones. My boss was a biology professor at a college with a greenhouse. She took a banana that was 'dead' out to her farm, chopped it into pieces with a machete and threw it in the compost pile. Result: about 10 banana plants grew.
Sometimes when they're 'dead' they're very dead. But other times, they will surprise you with how resilient they are.
sunfish
06-15-2013, 11:40 PM
:pics::ha:LOL, that sometimes doesn't matter at all for bananas. That's actually how I got into growing bananas and acquired my first ones. My boss was a biology professor at a college with a greenhouse. She took a banana that was 'dead' out to her farm, chopped it into pieces with a machete and threw it in the compost pile. Result: about 10 banana plants grew.
Sometimes when they're 'dead' they're very dead. But other times, they will surprise you with how resilient they are.
Olafhenny
06-15-2013, 11:59 PM
That is a bit more survival, than I would have expected, but I always thought, that a good piece
of corm, as long as it is still firm like a potato would give you a viable plant, - no eye necessary.
After WWII we had hungry times in East Germany and we dared to eat our last seed potatoes, but
not before we peeled them kind of thick, set the peels out on a tray in our bathroom (for humidity)
and after they sprouted, we planted them really carefully. The gods were smiling on us. What
followed was the best potato harvest we ever had. :)
After just re-reading this, it struck me like one of these soapy stories you read in Reader's Digest.
:ha: Sorry!
wheelman1976
06-17-2013, 10:21 PM
Well I dug around a bit more tonight and found some red dwarf bananas that I couldn't pinpoint where I buried them. Everyone was rotted more than when I put them in. I cleaned off as much junk as I could and found a couple hard piece, not very big pieces and put them back in the ground just below the surface and marked them. I'm thinking the reds just aren't hardy enough to over winter where I am dry root. Maybe they would have made it I had them potted up but hindsight is 20-20 at this point. Side note, a few more shoots are popping up on the brazilians. Hopefully I'll be able to split some of those this year to get my banana count back up to where it was last year.
Additional side note.... my tiny basjoos that I got this spring can't seem to grow any bigger than when I got the darn things. They keep putting leaves out but sure don't seem like they're ready to go bigger... They'll be interesting to watch this year, that's for sure.
wheelman1976
07-08-2013, 08:37 PM
So I'm weeding the banana garden tonight and taking notice of a few plants and how many pups there are and I got a question. On the plants that don't have anything coming out of the initial mother stem (totally died back) and are all pups, could I split that mother stump down the middle and make two plants with a few pups each? See the attached pics. I'm noticing that those with many pups don't seem to be growing fast and I'm chalking that up to the pups all needing nutrient support. Take look at the third adn fourth photos to see what I'm talking about specifically. There's nothing coming out of the middle, so I'm thinking that splitting it may not kill it (either half that is).
I have room in the garden to split some since none of my red dwarfs survived, it's all dwarf brazilians from here out out.
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Olafhenny
07-08-2013, 09:15 PM
Of course yo can do that. Just use a nice sharp knife to to that, not a hatched or such.
The cleaner the cut and the less of the corm's tissue you crush, the higher the probability
that no rotting will occur.
Good luck,
Olaf
LilRaverBoi
07-08-2013, 09:16 PM
Could you split it? Yes. Should you split it? Questionable. Personally, I don't feel like the stress of splitting them/replanting is going to make them grow any faster. Plus then they'd each have half the roots/corm to take nutrients from. I'm sure you could split them and keep both parts alive just fine, but I don't believe the ends justify the means. Especially if the concern is that they aren't growing as fast as other plants....separating will likely just set them back farther.
IMO, just let it go. Maybe it will grow a little slower than others or take a while to get started, but then I'm sure they will do just fine.
Olafhenny
07-08-2013, 10:04 PM
Could you split it? Yes. Should you split it? Questionable. Personally, I don't feel like the stress of splitting them/replanting is going to make them grow any faster.
Of course it would not make them "grow any faster". It all depends on what Doug wants to achieve.
If he wants singles or pairs for easy cultivation and fruiting, he will have to split them up. If he wants
them, like I do, for decorative purposes, pads might be more attractive., but if he wanted to keep them
as pads of three or more, he would not have asked about splitting them up.
When transplanting bananas there is always the danger of a period of stagnation, but if he maintains
as much of the status quo, i.e., keep them facing in the same direction, plant them in similar soil as
well as sun/shade exposure etc., chances are, that they might not even blink.
To Doug: Please read up on some of the earlier posts in this thread. :)
Olaf
Olafhenny
07-10-2013, 06:23 PM
TO Doug:
On splitting corms see also this recent post:
http://www.bananas.org/f2/four-arh-pups-little-piece-corm-18442.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BananasDotOrg+%28Bananas.org%29
wheelman1976
07-10-2013, 09:32 PM
Thanks for the replies. I'm on the fence with what to do at this point. I really have 2 solid months more of good growing time left. I'd like to split them but I'm not sure they'll be hardy enough to survive a winter in the basement with such a short amount of time to become their own. I feel like if I just leave them in I'll have some seriously strong corms overall.
Side note: a new one popped through that I didn't know I had planted, bonus!
wheelman1976
07-28-2013, 06:37 PM
Well just a quick update, the brazilians are growing well considering what a cool summer we've had. None are taller than 3 foot, not like last year when I started with established plants from the greenhouse. I'm still debating on trying to split them or just dig the whole plant and bring inside complete for the winter. I think it would be easier to justify splitting plants that I don't have growth coming from the original corm. This summer has been terrible for growing bananas and cannas, my cannas are hitting three feet and putting up blooms already, this is not normal for what I've seen at all, normally they get to 6-8 feet tall. I have a feeling my bananas are stunted as well because of this, which is somewhat depressing since I was looking forward to doing a huge banana garden.
One question I have in anticipation of fall... I have ten musa basjoo that at most are 1-2 foot total overall height, not alot of growth like everything else. What are the chances that they will make it through a Michigan winter if I simply cut them down and pull a bunch of mulch over them? Or should I look at digging them up and bringing inside? This is my first year of getting a basjoo in the ground for the summer so I'm not sure what to expect for overwintering. Thoughts?
Olafhenny
07-28-2013, 07:38 PM
I think, that they are still pretty small for a winter outside and by your accounts of the
weather you have this year, they will still be, when Father Frost arrives. If you have a spot
near a window, I would bring them in, even if you have to bunch them all up into one big pot.
I do not know, how attached you are to them, but you might consider leaving one or two
outside all mulched up for the winter, just to gain experience and let me in on the result,
since I also live in HZ6 and raise basjoos among a couple of others. :ha:
LilRaverBoi
07-28-2013, 10:18 PM
I'm gonna say overwintering is not likely to be a success with that small of corms. And my basjoo from last year had about 1.5' of pseudostem and rotted/died quickly indoors. Hopefully this won't be the fate of yours, but I don't feel they do well indoors. Once you have an established mat, they grow very well, but from my experience, not the most resilient plant overall.
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