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View Full Version : Musa basjoo not coming back


Aranon
07-22-2014, 01:24 PM
So I planted a few Musa Basjoo plants in the yard last year and they grew fairly well over the summer. When winter hit it killed the leaves so I cut the plants back and covered them with a planter pot, and a trash bag full of leaves, then built a metal cage around them and put even more leaves in. Should have been the perfect protection but to this day they have not come back, the pstem I left above ground rotted as I expected but nothing came up from the corm. I am fairly disappointed. I keep going outside hoping to see some new growth even if it is too late in the summer but still nothing..

Any idea as to what happened? Granted last summer they weren't 10 feet tall plants but they had plenty of pups. I'm in Nebraska so we get cold winters but they had good protection from the cold.

Hammocked Banana
07-22-2014, 04:44 PM
Just way too cold last winter. Your protection seemes great. Did you keep it all dry? Many members here are feeling the pain after this winter, myself included. I lost 3 mats.

billlearjet
07-23-2014, 08:17 AM
Hello! I live in southeastern Michigan and as many places had gotten record cold temps. I grow the Musa Basjoo and have for ten years. They are planted in the ground and when it comes late fall I cut them down and cover them with about three feet of wood chips! This seems to be the winter coat they need to survive the winters here!

designshark
07-29-2014, 02:48 PM
Here in east central Indiana I lost all my Basjoos planted in the ground. One was over three years old. I used leaves too (for the first time / for the last time). I'll either dig the new ones up or use tons of mulch. Good luck.

Terri
07-29-2014, 02:52 PM
So I planted a few Musa Basjoo plants in the yard last year and they grew fairly well over the summer. When winter hit it killed the leaves so I cut the plants back and covered them with a planter pot, and a trash bag full of leaves, then built a metal cage around them and put even more leaves in. Should have been the perfect protection but to this day they have not come back, the pstem I left above ground rotted as I expected but nothing came up from the corm. I am fairly disappointed. I keep going outside hoping to see some new growth even if it is too late in the summer but still nothing..

Any idea as to what happened? Granted last summer they weren't 10 feet tall plants but they had plenty of pups. I'm in Nebraska so we get cold winters but they had good protection from the cold.

Last winter was the coldest I have seen in Kansas in years. I suspect that even with protection it was too cold.

I wouldn't know as the power company killed mine a couple of years ago: I am thinking of getting more. We changed the right of way and my basjoo was where they parked their trucks that summer.