PhilMusa

Hi Everyone,

I live near Toronto and yes I'm growing bananas (Musa Basjoo) outside in Canada. What a remarkable plant. This is my second year with them. Started with a small plant about 12" tall. It grew to about 7ft the first year with 4 pups. I now have over 10 plants and some of them are over 11 ft.(pseudostem over 6ft) not bad considering they froze to the ground last winter. I also have another banana plant outdoors but I'm not sure what it is. All I know is that I need to bring it in before the cold sets in. I hope to try other Banana plants in the future to see if I could create a microclimate in my small backyard. If anyone has suggestions on other banana plants or hardy tropicals that I could try to over winter here in a zone 5b/6a I would appreciate it.

Regards.

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PhilMusa

bananaman

Hello, I am growing in England.
I have Basjoo 4 years old about 16 feet tall.
I agree that it is a remarkable plant -- never ceases to amaze me.
Can I suggest that you consider " Sikkimensis" Mine are about 6 / 7feet tall from seed in 2003, but if you can get hold of a pup ( I have several ) it gives you a faster start.
Wrap your Basjoo and preserve the stem at all costs and you will bew AMAZED at its growth next year,
good luck

Parker.

PhilMusa

Thanks for the Tips Bananaman. I did wrap my Basjoo last year in Burlap and then built a cage around it using dry straw and more burlap. However it froze right to the ground. I don't think our past abnormally cold winter helped much. Lows went down to -9F/-22C. However, we made up for it this summer with more than 40 days of over 86F/30C temperatures. Hopefully this winter will be much warmer. I really would like to see these how big they would get it they started above ground.

Thanks again.

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PhilMusa