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View Full Version : What to do when winter comes around?


Aranon
07-09-2013, 12:34 PM
Hello, I have a few Musa Basjoo's that are planted around the yard along with Musa Blue Java and Musa Dwarf Cavendish which are in pots. I am curious as to what I should do when winter hits. I currently live in Nebraska and I am wondering if I can simply bring the ones that are planted in pots inside for the winter and grow them as house plants, How well would they do?

Also the Musa Basjoo that are in the yard will be getting pups (one of which already is) and I am not sure what to do with them as the freezing temps will kill them when they are still relatively small. The mother plant I know to cut down and cover with proper mulch but again what about the pups that would still be growing? would it be okay to cut them off the mother plant and maybe grow them in pots during the winter with my others?

Abnshrek
07-09-2013, 01:12 PM
You can bring the pots in and they will grow if conditions are right.. They get light, its warm enough, and keep it light on the water.. :^)

Duckfood
07-09-2013, 01:47 PM
I bring my Cavendish and others inside as houseplants every winter... Growth slows down dramatically, but they have always survived... I have a large, West facing window, so they get enough sunlight to keep them alive, and even sprouted a few pups before I was able to get them back out...

As mentioned above, be very careful not to over water...

Lancelot
07-09-2013, 04:40 PM
I have over 30 different bananas in pot, including basjoo that I bring in during the winter. I congregate most of them in my basement with some overhead lighting and water them enough to keep them from drying out and going totally dormant. Most do little growth, and some of the leaves will yellow, or even turn brown, but they recover quickly once they are able to come back outside for the summer.

As far as pups, I leave them grow for awhile, if they get big enough, I will pop them out in the spring so if they will survive, they will be ready to go out with the rest of them. In ground pups outside? I guess take a chance and pot them up and see what happens, if they stay out, they probably won't survive anyway.

john_ny
07-09-2013, 08:06 PM
As far as Basjoos are concerned, when they are in pots, I used to unpot them, place them in a black garbage bag, with another bag over the top of them, and bring them into a room, where the themperature sometimes got to 50ºF. I gave them NO water, from Nov. to April, and they did fine. A couple of years ago, I got lazy, and just dragged the pots in the room. Again, NO water. They also did fine.

For Basjoos in the ground, I mulch them pretty good, and put a wire mesh over them,fill the mesh with leaves, and a small trellis with old fashioned mini Christmas lights (not LED) and they did fine (no rot to cut off).

For other varieties, I keep them growing (slowly, in pots, on the windowsills, or in the c ellar, under lights). They all do fine. I'm in zone 7.

Aranon
07-11-2013, 01:32 PM
Yeah one of my Basjoos out in the yard has sprouted a pup, I expect it will get a reasonable size before the cold strikes, so I suppose I'll try my luck and separate it and pot it up with the others indoors. Like you said, it wont survive if left outside anyway.