View Full Version : should I dig it now?
v1rtu0s1ty
09-06-2009, 07:39 PM
Good evening folks. I would like to know if I should dig my ensete maurelii now. We've hit 40F twice last week. I'm very impressed that my ensete didn't complain about it. This week, I see nights with an average temp of 53F.
So when should I dig it and lay it flat naked in my unfinished basement?
Thanks!
damaclese
09-06-2009, 07:57 PM
Good evening folks. I would like to know if I should dig my ensete maurelii now. We've hit 40F twice last week. I'm very impressed that my ensete didn't complain about it. This week, I see nights with an average temp of 53F.
So when should I dig it and lay it flat naked in my unfinished basement?
Thanks!
id dig it now but id keep it in a pot for the winter they don't take that much light
LilRaverBoi
09-06-2009, 08:04 PM
Yeah, I'd be digging now or very soon just to bear on the safe side. And I'm with Paulo...I'd just pot it and keep it by a window. I'm not much for the cool basement 'dormant' overwintering. I've always just kept mine in a pot by a south window and kept them growing all winter. They do just fine indoors.
Velutina
09-06-2009, 08:20 PM
When I lived in a cooler climate, i'd overwinter my bananas in pots near a sunny window. Worked great! I would dig them up as soon as I saw 30's in the forecast.
BTW Paulo, have we even hit 75 as a nighttime low yet? ;p
v1rtu0s1ty
09-06-2009, 11:52 PM
Last year, it was in pot and I placed it in south but it gets few sun. I don't have enough windows. When I received it, it was 42 or 48 inches tall. By the end of winter, the final was around 30" tall. LOL. I was thinking that if I put it in the basement with few leaves removed, I'll be able to keep the height and I will have taller ensete by next season.
What do you think folks?
Check out what this guy in Germany does.
Bilder von Familie End aus Jöhlingen (http://www.bananenhobby.de/Maurellii%20doku.htm)
What ya did with the window & all sounds great. Don't get how it would lose height cause my Ice Creams never do. But I'd go with that link Bob has (hope they got that in english).
Btw, anyone know where that "record breaking chat" thread ended up?
v1rtu0s1ty
09-07-2009, 09:06 AM
Here is the English version of that link that Bob posted. I'm going to read it now. :D
Translation result for http://www.bananenhobby.de/Maurellii%20doku.htm (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bananenhobby.de%2FMaurellii%2520doku.htm&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate)
v1rtu0s1ty
09-07-2009, 09:19 AM
Ah, so horizontal position for a dormant banana is very bad! Glad he shared that experience. It actually makes sense. So when I do it, I have to make sure that it's in vertical position. :)
Great link!
Randy4ut
09-07-2009, 09:43 AM
Ensetes are better to overwinter in the dry and dark as possible, in my personal experience. As you can see in the above link, once they are too tall to stand upright, it will begin to grow "sideways". I have tried to overwinter dry and in pot, but the ones stored in the dry like in the link, out performed the ones that I tried to overwinter in a pot. Just my personal experience, for what it worth. BTW, I had a couple that I stored in the dry standing erect and one or two lying on the ground. The ones on the ground turned on me and the ones stored upright took off in the right orientation...
The gentleman in Germany sure did do a great job with his!!! Thanks for sharing the link!!!
damaclese
09-07-2009, 09:47 AM
When I lived in a cooler climate, i'd overwinter my bananas in pots near a sunny window. Worked great! I would dig them up as soon as I saw 30's in the forecast.
BTW Paulo, have we even hit 75 as a nighttime low yet? ;p
yes two days ago it was 74 at 4 am but that was on the heals of that big hurricane/tropical depression that blew in from the gulf of Cortes i think we are back up in to night time 80s don't worry we still have 2 really good months of growing if not 3
wow thats sad that his EVM died I'm still sticking to my original advice to keep it growing all winter i will say iv had similar experience with rot they don't like to be wet in the winter I'm so happy i can leave mine out side
v1rtu0s1ty
09-07-2009, 09:57 AM
Ensetes are better to overwinter in the dry and dark as possible, in my personal experience. As you can see in the above link, once they are too tall to stand upright, it will begin to grow "sideways". I have tried to overwinter dry and in pot, but the ones stored in the dry like in the link, out performed the ones that I tried to overwinter in a pot. Just my personal experience, for what it worth. BTW, I had a couple that I stored in the dry standing erect and one or two lying on the ground. The ones on the ground turned on me and the ones stored upright took off in the right orientation...
The gentleman in Germany sure did do a great job with his!!! Thanks for sharing the link!!!
Thanks for confirming too!!! :D
v1rtu0s1ty
09-07-2009, 11:12 AM
Here are some updates for today: :D So am I correct that we really don't need to water them until they're back to the ground outside? Also, do I need to remove some of the leaves?
Here are the pics.
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic1.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic2.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic3.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic4.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic5.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic6.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic7.jpg
This is the best corner I found in the basement. It's cool but there are some light. I've already covered the windows but I don't have anything to cover them totally. Hopefully it works. Wish me luck folks! :)
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic8.jpg
I wanted to make sure they're protected by the Matrix! Hahaha! :D
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn134/s1mpl3k1d/EnseteMaureliiSept2009/EnseteMaurelii20090907pic9.jpg
v1rtu0s1ty
09-07-2009, 02:31 PM
I found another thread and it says to cut all of the leaves but leave at least 2 new leaves. Then invert the banana so water will drain. Is this true?
This is where I found it:
growingontheedge.net :: View topic - Overwintering Ensete Maurellii and Montbeliardii dormant (http://www.growingontheedge.net/viewtopic.php?t=32&sid=a2eef62399bf3aade93f35d531e72859)
UPDATE:
After reading tons of different overwintering testimonies, I went ahead and cut the leaves. Thanks everyone! :)
v1rtu0s1ty
11-13-2009, 10:21 PM
Just would like to update my thread. I almost forgot about my e maurelii in the basement. I gave them light water almost 45-50 days ago. It's just today that I saw them again. They grew!!! LOL. Hopefully, they'll make it next year.
http://restricted.dyndns.org/emaurelii20091113.jpg
saltydad
11-14-2009, 02:27 AM
I dug up my Ensetes already. The glaucum is bare root, the maurelli is potted and in my living room and still growing. I water pots very sparingly in the winter.
Taylor
11-14-2009, 12:37 PM
You could always bring them inside the house and water them like houseplants. It's only mid-November and your Maurelli look pretty bad. I wouldn't expect them to pull through to spring at this rate, if I were you. Just trying to help...
v1rtu0s1ty
11-14-2009, 12:41 PM
I dug up my Ensetes already. The glauca is bare root, the maurelli is potted and in my living room and still growing. I water pots very sparingly in the winter.
Awesome! I hope mine makes it. I gave them water yesterday but slight. They don't get any sunlight and I'm amazed that they're still growing. The old leaves are dying though.
I tried them in the living room last year but they grew shorter. LOL. I this I have a post of it last year at this site.
v1rtu0s1ty
11-14-2009, 12:42 PM
You could always bring them inside the house and water them like houseplants. It's only mid-November and your Maurelli look pretty bad. I wouldn't expect them to pull through to spring at this rate, if I were you. Just trying to help...
I dug it September 7 I guess and it's in the basement for 2 months now. It gets water barely and no sunlight.
Ivanov_Kuznetsov
11-14-2009, 09:55 PM
Good evening folks. I would like to know if I should dig my ensete maurelii now. We've hit 40F twice last week. I'm very impressed that my ensete didn't complain about it. This week, I see nights with an average temp of 53F.
So when should I dig it and lay it flat naked in my unfinished basement?
Thanks!
I'm curious about this, too. I've been leaving my plants out when it dips into the upper 20's, 30's, and 40's here. The farmers here will usually irrigate overnight when a frost is expected to damage a crop. Wonder if that helps for banana plants.
v1rtu0s1ty
11-15-2009, 02:41 AM
I'm curious about this, too. I've been leaving my plants out when it dips into the upper 20's, 30's, and 40's here. The farmers here will usually irrigate overnight when a frost is expected to damage a crop. Wonder if that helps for banana plants.
Maybe next year, I'll try to dig it much more later in the year. But I'm just worried that they might end up like my cannas. Most or all of the pictures of dug ensete I have seen here were still very healthy. I have not seen someone dug his ensete with the leaves already damaged. That's what they do in cannas. They wait for the leaves to get knock down by hard frost before they dig them up.
So guys, if you are in similar zone like me, in 5a, when do you dig your ensete? Is it true that Ensete's leave won't get damaged when temperature is at 20F?
I'm very willing to leave my Ensete next winter when it goes down to 20F but would like to hope someone with a very kind heart to offer a free ensete as replacement. I'll pay for the shipping. This way, we can test their tolerance on cold temps.
Ivanov_Kuznetsov
11-15-2009, 11:00 PM
I'm 9a/9b, fairly inland, though the huge walls of oak trees and such seem to protect me from higher winds and lower temperatures. My plants are right next to my house and seem to do well with the morning dew and radiant heat when I don't have time to take care of them in the winter. When the air is cold, the water out of my well still feels quite warm to the hands, so unless it's all evaporating very quickly or freezing on contact, I would figure it to do be a positive thing. Wonder if this is time to fork and make new thread :)
Maybe next year, I'll try to dig it much more later in the year. But I'm just worried that they might end up like my cannas. Most or all of the pictures of dug ensete I have seen here were still very healthy. I have not seen someone dug his ensete with the leaves already damaged. That's what they do in cannas. They wait for the leaves to get knock down by hard frost before they dig them up.
So guys, if you are in similar zone like me, in 5a, when do you dig your ensete? Is it true that Ensete's leave won't get damaged when temperature is at 20F?
I'm very willing to leave my Ensete next winter when it goes down to 20F but would like to hope someone with a very kind heart to offer a free ensete as replacement. I'll pay for the shipping. This way, we can test their tolerance on cold temps.
sandy0225
11-16-2009, 09:23 AM
I dug mine after the first frost. We don't get frost as early as others around here though because we are on a slight hill and all the cold air settles to both sides of our bed. I forgot about my one out by the highway, so I let it get frosted really hard about 5-6 times before I dug it and my cannas up. I just dig my e. maurelii and cram them into a pot, whatever size the roots will fit into and stand them in the basement. I don't add any potting soil, so they are basically just a root ball sitting in a plastic pot. I water them from time to time with the hose. I don't usually cut off any leaves. sometimes the leaves dry out on their own, and sometimes the plants carry the leaves through winter. I guess it depends on how often I water them. It's not an exact science as far as I'm concerned. You kind of get a feel for it after you kill a few...lol.. If they get to standing crooked, they will grow sideways by spring but when you plant them back outside they will reorient themselves. Mine fell over last year, they were kind of in a big pile, but when I planted them outside, they straightened back up.
saltydad
11-16-2009, 04:27 PM
Here's what my basjoo clump looks like after being hit by freezing temps. Actually not too bad considering. I will probably cut and mulch after the next freeze.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=26865&size=1
v1rtu0s1ty
11-17-2009, 09:22 PM
I dug mine after the first frost. We don't get frost as early as others around here though because we are on a slight hill and all the cold air settles to both sides of our bed. I forgot about my one out by the highway, so I let it get frosted really hard about 5-6 times before I dug it and my cannas up. I just dig my e. maurelii and cram them into a pot, whatever size the roots will fit into and stand them in the basement. I don't add any potting soil, so they are basically just a root ball sitting in a plastic pot. I water them from time to time with the hose. I don't usually cut off any leaves. sometimes the leaves dry out on their own, and sometimes the plants carry the leaves through winter. I guess it depends on how often I water them. It's not an exact science as far as I'm concerned. You kind of get a feel for it after you kill a few...lol.. If they get to standing crooked, they will grow sideways by spring but when you plant them back outside they will reorient themselves. Mine fell over last year, they were kind of in a big pile, but when I planted them outside, they straightened back up.
Hi Sandy,
Did yours look like saltydad's banana when you dug it? Should I wait for first frost next year before I dig it?
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