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SixtySix
07-10-2015, 08:44 AM
Late last summer I planted musa basjoo and babied it through the fall. As you see it came back, not the original pstem, but abundant pups. I confess to ignoring it during a dry month of May, but we got plenty of rain in June, and I've been pumping copious amounts of water daily, yet the leaves still wilt and burn at the edges.

Help!

http://i.imgur.com/pijKc1W.jpg?1

Kevin2685
07-10-2015, 10:55 AM
My original pstem didn't come back but all the pups came back also. I don't water mine everyday only if it's been really hot and hasn't rained lately. When they are in ground with mulch I don't believe they need daily watering. I try and let the corm and the roots breathe some.
i would back off the watering some unless it's been hot and dry lately then still I don't water mine daily. I don't know what the problem is though.

Nate74
07-10-2015, 11:23 AM
Are the leaves coming out brown ? or are they burning afterward? Mine push quite a few damaged leaves early this season and now I only get brown leaves if they miss a watering. Btw I water 2-3 times a day depending on the heat.

SixtySix
07-10-2015, 01:27 PM
Thanks.

Two to three times a day? What do you do when you leave town?

Maybe musa basjoo isn't for me :(

I did water a second time today, will increase watering.

siege2050
07-10-2015, 01:34 PM
Mine did the same thing, after cutting off and digging a few of them, the new 2 foot pups did not have hardly any root system at all, and the corm was damaged where the cold destroyed the old pstem below the pup level. They were connected only by small amount of live tissue. I think mine could not get enough water into the new pups to keep up with the heat. I thinned them down to the three tallest stems, and piled more soil around them, and they are just now starting to improve, I am guessing they have grown a better bunch of roots. I have figured out that if you leave the pstem, and it freezes, it conducts the freezing down into the corm,and you lose the whole thing. This year I am just cutting them down to ground level, and covering. With the old pstem completely dying it really slows them down. My sister did not leave her pstem, she cut it back and covered, and now her Basjoo is much taller than mine, growing from the old pstem.

Nate74
07-10-2015, 01:45 PM
Thanks.

Two to three times a day? What do you do when you leave town?

Maybe musa basjoo isn't for me :(

I did water a second time today, will increase watering.

I have only been doing 3 waterings a day when the temps got to 35-36 this last week. The kids are out of school and need something to do right?
other wise I water in the morning before work and again when I get home. As for when I have to leave town kids again if its a work trip and if it vacation a good house sitter goes a long way. I didn't water nearly this much last year but we have been stuck in what feels like a never ending heat wave this year with no rain so the watering feels more drastic than past years.
BTW how often are you feeding them?

Kevin2685
07-10-2015, 01:47 PM
Yeah I cut mine down to the ground and they are already the same height as last year and this summer has been crappy weather.

cincinnana
07-10-2015, 09:45 PM
Late last summer I planted musa basjoo and babied it through the fall. As you see it came back, not the original pstem, but abundant pups. I confess to ignoring it during a dry month of May, but we got plenty of rain in June, and I've been pumping copious amounts of water daily, yet the leaves still wilt and burn at the edges.

Help!

http://i.imgur.com/pijKc1W.jpg?1

All the previous post have information which you can use and gain expierience from.:)


Your plant look good to me...

You are doing nothing wrong, but the soil might need to be beefed up with organics.

Just thinking, when many gardners plant the plant the first time they do not allow for the plant to expand and grow into the surrounding soil; this plant(basjoo) is a spreader/beast and if the soil is not of the plants liking it will show you by poor performance in subsequent seasons.

Amend the soil as much as you can afford.....work in as much stuff in the soil as you can.



. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14529175079_1dfc0bfccb.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/o8TPyB)
Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/o8TPyB) by
Hostafarian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/110357684@N02/),
on Flickr
.Good soil and roots
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5482/14428962184_3c0d1e45f4.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nZ3cL5)
Spring Basjoo growth (https://flic.kr/p/nZ3cL5) by
Hostafarian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/110357684@N02/),
on Flickr

SixtySix
07-11-2015, 06:36 AM
I'm throwing a fistful of 10/10/10 about once every other week.

Thanks again for all of your advice.

a.hulva@coxinet.net
07-11-2015, 11:30 AM
Thanks.

Two to three times a day? What do you do when you leave town?

Maybe musa basjoo isn't for me :(

I did water a second time today, will increase watering..

No need to water every day let alone three times a day. Especially in your climate. Is this condition something new?

SixtySix
07-11-2015, 03:38 PM
Al,

It's new to me. This plant hasn't even been in the ground a full season.

Three times a day seems excessive. The soil was amended, there's plenty of mulch.

Kevin2685
07-12-2015, 08:36 AM
I would use a different fertilizer something with higher nitrogen. Richard on here has a good one for ornamental bananas. I have been using that once a month.

Grow More Indoor & Outdoor Fertilizer 20-6-16 (25 Lbs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S7M4F54/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_SXMOvbA4GDRKV

SixtySix
07-12-2015, 09:30 AM
How about 10-10-10 every couple of weeks and recycled beer every couple of days?

Snarkie
07-15-2015, 07:12 AM
Depends on how strong your recycled beer is. If it's clear, you won't need as much dilution. If it's the same color as it was when you drank it, like first thing in the morning, you'll want to cut it significantly, unless you're using it to oxidize a bronze sculpture or something. Try it once a week and see what the results look like. You can always increase the frequency if need be.

Hammocked Banana
07-20-2015, 11:09 AM
Some good info in this thread!

Kevin2685
07-20-2015, 12:26 PM
has it improved any or what's the situation like ?

SixtySix
07-30-2015, 06:43 AM
Not much change.

I'm wondering if I should remove some of the clump and just leave one pstem.

Kevin2685
07-30-2015, 07:06 AM
Don't think would make a difference. I have a huge clump of like 19 or more growing together. So are the leaves still coming out brown.

Hammocked Banana
07-30-2015, 07:53 AM
I would prolly seperate a few off. Water every other day, but water very well. They love a good 4"+ of mulch.

Kevin2685
07-30-2015, 08:22 AM
If you do separate some the ones you separate look at the corm and inspect for any insect damage or anything wrong.

siege2050
07-30-2015, 01:33 PM
This has not been a good year for my basjoo, I think the 4 feet of water we got earlier this year killed the roots, and they are having a real hard time coming out of it. Its difficult to get the watering right here, if you dont water they burn in the 100F degrees, but if you water too much they dont do well either. I think here they would probably do better in part shade to reduce water needs.

sman87
08-11-2015, 09:37 PM
I had the same exact problem my second year of growing basjoos. On 2 particular TC clones I bought that year they did a really sub-par job growing during the summer. Narrow leaves, burned edges, and frequently burned crisped leaf tips by the end. They were planted alongside other basjoos I kept indoors over the winter and, with other TC's I bought at a later date. EVERY plant was treated identically watering and fertilizing, but those two plants just did not want to grow right. They barely grew 3 feet tall While the others beside them almost tripled in growth! Im guessing sometimes the basjoos we buy might not be the most robust or may have some genetic deficiencies, due to the fact even their specific pups would display the same flaws. I wouldn't give up on them totally but I wouldn't save their pups to use next year. If it ends up being a case of just a "bad plant" look to buy another completely new basjoo to grow. Sometimes it just is a crappy basjoo. When you do find a specimen that truly grows excellent make sure you save those pups for next year by all possible means unlike I did my first year lol

siege2050
08-12-2015, 12:04 AM
Mine are just now starting to finally pick up growth a bit, I might............get 4 or 5 feet by fall If I fertilize every 3 days, but I dunnoooo. I am mulching the heck out of them this year, and not trying to protect the pstem at all, just going to cut them down to about a foot above the soil line. Not taking any chances of them freezing and only leaving small pups again. Photos I have seen of them cut down to soil level have way outgrown mine, the freeze traveled down the pstem I tried to protect, and killed the main rhizome. A new one I planted this spring is about 5 feet now from a very small plant.

jeffaroo
08-12-2015, 09:41 AM
I had a java that took off as soon as it hit the ground. That winter was a hard one and totally screwed up the growth the 2nd growing season (grew maybe 6" taller) By the 3rd growing season I disturbed it because I moved but she grew to a nice 3 1/2 foot tall. By the 4th growing season I discovered a technique that worked. Stay on top of your pups. If your not going to grow the pups, chop them early.

I also changed the way I feed. The first of every month the plants get a good dose of 10-10-10
Then every 7-10 days I mix up in a 3 gallon bucket 1/4 cup urea & 1/2 cup potash. Mature plants get the whole bucket while younger plants get less

That poor java that been drug to hell and back has more than doubled in size this growing season and proudly stands over 9 feet with a trunk that's about 7" in diameter

jeffaroo
08-12-2015, 09:56 AM
A old man once told me to look at a seasons growth as a dollar bill. Now , you want to get the most bang for your buck right ? Now each pup is going to charge you $.20 cents , that's $.20 cents taken from the mother plants dollar.
So if you have 4-5 pups on a young plant, you spent your dollar and that's why the mother plant isn't growing.
Remove those pups and give moma her buck back

SixtySix
09-03-2015, 05:10 PM
I need to go out and get a new photo. Apparently I was OVERwatering. The clump is head high with another solid month of growth left.

SixtySix
09-12-2015, 11:59 AM
http://i.imgur.com/19VzKyA.jpg?1

Quite the comeback. More fertilizer and less water.

Do I have time to cut those pups off and save them for next year?

siege2050
09-12-2015, 01:15 PM
My Original one is still struggling at about 3 1/2 feet, but a new one I planted went from about 1 foot to about 7 feet including the leaves, in just this summer, and has a huge pstem lol.

Hammocked Banana
09-12-2015, 04:13 PM
Your mat is looking much better now. There's always time to pot up a pup or 2 for winter!

Kevin2685
09-13-2015, 08:57 AM
Glad you decided to cut back on the watering.things are looking better now.

SixtySix
10-24-2015, 06:58 AM
Here's a photo from last week. Human for scale.

http://i.imgur.com/e7q6qb0.jpg?1

The next morning low temps were in the upper 30's, but yesterday afternoon (a week later) it hit 80f again. The top leaf has now opened and growth is continuing in late October!

Can't wait until next year when I plan to dig up pups and expand my banana "plantation"!

Snarkie
10-25-2015, 03:06 PM
We've had similar weather here in Charlotte. I still have new leaves and pups. Maybe we can hold out 'til Thanksgiving?

SixtySix
10-26-2015, 05:32 AM
Snarkie, I'm not holding out for Thanksgiving! My son and I share mid-November birthdays and they always mark the arrival of the first real cold snap.

Springtime is right around the corner!

Snarkie
10-26-2015, 07:11 AM
I was trying to be optimistic, LOL. :ha:

Leaves have stayed on the willow oaks until T Day several times now in recent years; almost made Christmas one year! Maybe this is the year the leaves stay on for Christmas and the basjoos stay up until Thanksgiving. :drum:

SixtySix
11-11-2015, 04:12 PM
Well Snarkie, looks like the next couple days are going to be touch and go for the basjoo!

I'll be back in the springtime with more questions. Going to keep some of the more tropical bananas as potted plants next summer.

Happy Diwali, everyone!

Snarkie
11-14-2015, 07:41 AM
Yep, Supposed to drop down to 28 tonight, so I'll see what kind of shape they're in on Monday morning. If they survive this one, they should still be okay to feed some turkey on Thanksgiving.

I dug up 8 or 9 sword suckers to winter over in my back hall. I can't believe the difference between them and the early water suckers I was digging up and replanting. I may switch them out next year or just plant in among them.

Snarkie
11-25-2015, 02:09 PM
I made Thanksgiving! :woohoonaner:

Severe frost damage but all are still alive with greenery. All of my bigger plants still have living cigars. :woohoonaner:

Let's shoot for Christmas! :woohoonaner:

P.S.- I'm excited! :woohoonaner:

SixtySix
11-29-2015, 07:34 AM
Sadly, mine have met their demise.

We had low temps below 30f twice this week.

I said my goodbyes and mulched heavily.

Snarkie
11-29-2015, 08:23 AM
I had some frost damage so I cut them back. I knew they weren't dead, but I didn't know they were still in high gear. Now I'm getting one inch of p-stem growth a day. :2722:

SixtySix
11-30-2015, 03:05 PM
I'm looking at your photos now.

Yeah, we've had some warm weather lately. Low 70's yesterday. No freezing temps for the next 10 days.