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Novice
06-16-2008, 01:16 AM
Basjoo? Has to be cold hardy if it's in the ground. We get snow here in Oregon.

Banana Palm Tree (http://salem.craigslist.org/grd/720570722.html)

Also, if I end up picking this up.. Which is more than likely for $20. How big of a corm am I looking at? I don't want to be chopping off precious roots when I dig it up.

chong
06-16-2008, 11:29 AM
That's an awesome price for that size plant. To be sure what you're getting, have you called the Seller yet? Regardless of what it is, grab it. Just ask the Seller how he overwinters the plants. then do the same. From the looks of it, they look like they've been in the ground all year.

buzzwinder
06-16-2008, 12:12 PM
Thats a great deal on a plant that size no matter what type it is, I'ld jump on it if I were you, Congrats on your find.:bananas_b

Novice
06-16-2008, 03:47 PM
Well, I went down and dug at it for an hour... Haven't gotten very far. The deeper I go the more the dirt turns into clay and gravel and I wonder how the TREES survived in such a damp, dense medium.

Yes, there's not one tree here, but two! And each has 3 pups! That's 2 mothers, and 6 pups! I can't believe it.

I'm going back with a pickaxe to try to loosen up some of the thicker stuff.

Pictures soon to come.

chong
06-16-2008, 03:57 PM
Way to go!!!!!!

Novice
06-16-2008, 06:17 PM
After 2 1/2 hour of relentless digging and picking, finally was able to get the plants completely loose from the dirt. Loading in the truck was a whole different problem. The plants + rootball has to be a good 300 pounds I'd say. Loaded it with a trackho :( So 2 pups ended up breaking, 1 I think may grow, the other is gone I'm pretty sure.

I am looking for a few suggestions as to handling this.. should I seperate the pups or put the whole root mass into the ground? I don't know how I am to get it out of the back of my pickup without seriously injuring it. How long do I have until it has to go into the ground?

Does the smaller pup look like it can grow roots? I don't think the larger one can because it broke up in the stem, but the little one broke off at the bulb.

Here it is.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10376&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10376&ppuser=3522)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10377&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10377&ppuser=3522)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10378&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10378&ppuser=3522)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10379&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10379&ppuser=3522)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10380&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10380&ppuser=3522)

Lagniappe
06-16-2008, 06:40 PM
I doubt that the bottom one makes it ,there just doesn't seem to be any corm there . That means that the apical node or w/e is still on the original corm and the pup will grow back from the same spot . In other words ,you just cut the leaves of of it .

Drafiki says: "Can't cut it out, it grows right back!!"

Lagniappe
06-16-2008, 06:42 PM
There looks like a lot of room between the largest psudostems . I would just cut the whole thing in half at that point.

Novice
06-16-2008, 06:51 PM
How might one go about cutting it in half? I surely do not want to damage the plants, the dirt is pretty compact so there is no way to gently break them away.

Is entangled roots a big concern about separating the 2 pstems?

mskitty38583
06-16-2008, 06:57 PM
i have found that if you water the roots/ crom and try to wash away a little of the dirt there maybe a slight indentation between the two. take a really, really sharp knife, shovel or machette and cut it apart.maybe someone with more experience can add to this.

Lagniappe
06-16-2008, 07:04 PM
I would surely not wash the dirt off . I would just take a shovel and put it between the two p-stems and step on it .That's just me though.

Novice
06-16-2008, 07:15 PM
Well, I just went out to have another look. It is hard to tell which mother the pup in the middle belongs to. So if I did cut it would have to be on either side of that pup. If I cut on the wrong side I guess I have a seperated pup now too?

This root ball is pretty intricate, cutting through it will be no easy task, especially while it is laying down..

gadget
06-16-2008, 08:16 PM
If you want the plants separated, now is the time to do it. Maybe use a saw to cut up the huge root ball. Good find :04:

Novice
06-16-2008, 10:02 PM
Thank you all for your help!

I cut it in half with a saw. I ended up cutting through alot of corm?

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10395&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10395&ppuser=3522)


Also decided to take the smallest pup, and 2nd smallest off. (Didn't even notice the extremely small pup until after I had cut it off! It was pretty much covered in dirt)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10394&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10394&ppuser=3522)

D_&_T
06-16-2008, 10:44 PM
Looks like a lot of hands on learning!!

momoese
06-16-2008, 11:13 PM
Good job! I was going to say just take a hand saw and cut the two in half but you already did just that! Now to figure out just what you have there.

cactus6103
06-17-2008, 09:40 AM
Looking good. Lot's of work but in the end, you will have a beautiful plant at a great price with a story. Good luck and post some pics when it's planted. Red

natedogg1026
06-17-2008, 10:58 PM
Looks like you did a good pretty good job to me. They should heal up just fine but I would get em in some dirt. Don't worry if you loose any lil pups. If it's a Basjoo, in a year or two you'll have more pups than you know what to do with.

mskitty38583
06-18-2008, 08:45 AM
awesome job!!!:2788::2737::ukkibannana::2761::scroll::2691: now just get them planted and baby them for a while and wala new nana trees. and see it all worked out well.

Dean W.
06-18-2008, 10:34 PM
:woohoonaner:Good buy! Great job too.:woohoonaner:

Novice
06-24-2008, 04:37 PM
Well... I ended up planting them at my grandparents house. Since I wanted them to be somewhere they might be a bit more permanent than where I live now. Unfortunetly they took quite the beating on the 15 mile trip at 35 mph in the back of my pick up. Had no camera, so whipped out the handy dandy cell phone.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10664&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10664&ppuser=3522)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10663&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10663&ppuser=3522)

Chironex
06-24-2008, 04:41 PM
Ya know, i was going to say something to you when I saw the pic of them loaded on your truck with no wind protection. Now I wish that I would have, but figured by the time you got it, you had already moved them. The wind would severely dessicate and shred the leaves even on a short trip. But, they will recover eventually. You might have to trim them off, so that it signals the corm to produce new shoots. Best of luck!

Novice
06-24-2008, 04:53 PM
Not really much I could have done about it, I had to leave my tailgate down so they weren't learning and break the pstem going over bumps and stuff.. My bed is only 6ft.. and the nanas are 7 1/2. I would have needed an enclosed trailer.

stumpy4700
06-24-2008, 05:20 PM
They still look great especially for the deal you got them for. Theres not many places you can get 7 foot trees, so you got to do what you can to get them home alive, I brought some home the same way and within 2 weeks the new leafs were pushing through.

Dean W.
06-24-2008, 07:50 PM
They should recover nicely. :waving: