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View Full Version : Coming back from the dead :)


pmurphy
05-24-2014, 10:17 PM
Well, we here in Lotus Land had an especially hard winter with a lot of rain and then a week of -10C (14F) not once but twice! - once in December and again in January. And I don't have to tell you that subzero temperatures when the ground is saturated is not a good thing.
My "exotics" were hit pretty hard and a lot of the bananas (not to mention other plants) that I had planted in ground did not survive their first winter. However I was able to pull pups from some of them and wintered them inside, just in case........and now I'm glad I did.

My lovely mat of basjoo (that started at 4ft last spring) has been reduced to nothing but today I saw a couple starting to poke above the ground. I also thought I had lost my beautiful yellow banana - Musella lasiocarpa - but again today I see it rising from the ashes like the phoenix.

And being spring, I decide to clean out the greenhouse and bring all my babies (both newly purchased and winter survivors) out into the sunlight.....

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56105&size=1
Musa velutina with m. 'cali-gold' in the background

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56104&size=1
M. 'apple'

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56106&size=1
m. pitogo (a recent purchase)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56101&size=1
a trio of siam ruby ?

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56103&size=1
m. 'mekong giant'

and rising from the ashes......
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=56100&size=1
Musella lasiocarpa ..... and, FYI, that plant is 6" across at the base, or what's left of it :woohoonaner:

mushtaq86
05-25-2014, 09:51 AM
Your apple manzano looks great, If your plants are staying in pots I would add more perlite to give the roots more air, very important,to people who grow bananas, in non sub or tropical climates especially in winter months when there is little growth or no growth.

pmurphy
05-25-2014, 10:40 AM
Your apple manzano looks great, If your plants are staying in pots I would add more perlite to give the roots more air, very important,to people who grow bananas, in non sub or tropical climates especially in winter months when there is little growth or no growth.

Thanks for the info.
They were potted for storage but will either be going in-ground soon or into larger pots. I have also prepared a plant room in the basement with heat, lights and fans so there will be no repeat of this past winter's "slaughter".

Las Palmas Norte
05-29-2014, 12:34 AM
Wow ... not quite so bad over my way this past winter but a couple of nights dropping to -7°C / 19°F. All the large pseudostems on my basjoo froze down of course without protection. They must have been at a flowering stage because none re-emerged, only small pups showing now.

Cheers, Barrie.