Bananas.org

Welcome to the Bananas.org forums.

You're currently viewing our message boards as a guest which gives you limited access to participate in discussions and access our other features such as our wiki and photo gallery. By joining our community, you'll have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, and access many other special features. Registration is fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Go Back   Bananas.org > Other Topics > Member Introductions
Register Photo Gallery Classifieds Wiki Chat Map Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Member Introductions This is the `tell us about yourself` category. Please make an introductory post here, let us know a little about yourself. A perfect place to break the ice.


Members currently in the chatroom: 0
The most chatters online in one day was 17, 09-06-2009.
No one is currently using the chat.

Reply   Email this Page Email this Page
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 09-27-2010, 06:29 PM   #21 (permalink)
 
eric27's Avatar
 
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Zone: 5b
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 248
BananaBucks : 79,132
Feedback: 0 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 313 Times
Was Thanked 253 Times in 105 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times
Default Re: Hello from Milwaukee!

Wxman good job! I'm glad to hear about your success. They look great. If you saw what I do with my plants, no using the heater is not excess. You know as well as I do how cold it can get around here. It's fun pushing the limit isn't it? I'm glad to know I'm not alone up here.

Timmko when I planted my basjoo 10 years ago everyone told me I couldn't do it. Yeah it takes some work but the end result is well worth it. Give it a try next year. It's true you never know what each winter will be like, and next spring my plants might be trashed, but it's worth trying. I'm sure you will have great success and we are all here to help you out.
eric27 is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To eric27
Old 09-27-2010, 09:17 PM   #22 (permalink)
 
Location: Saukville, WI
Zone: 5
Name: Tim
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 133
BananaBucks : 98,277
Feedback: 1 / 100%
Said "Thanks" 12 Times
Was Thanked 186 Times in 60 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 4 Times
Default Re: Hello from Milwaukee!

Quote:
Originally Posted by eric27 View Post
Wxman good job! I'm glad to hear about your success. They look great. If you saw what I do with my plants, no using the heater is not excess. You know as well as I do how cold it can get around here. It's fun pushing the limit isn't it? I'm glad to know I'm not alone up here.

Timmko when I planted my basjoo 10 years ago everyone told me I couldn't do it. Yeah it takes some work but the end result is well worth it. Give it a try next year. It's true you never know what each winter will be like, and next spring my plants might be trashed, but it's worth trying. I'm sure you will have great success and we are all here to help you out.
Eric,

Do you leave your musa basjoo in the ground? I just dug mine up for the winter. I would like to eventually leave them in the ground. If you do leave them in the ground how do you protect them for our winters? I tried them in the ground in 2008 and they rotted out.

I don't know if I get bad luck, but mine never seem to have corms. They are currently 6 feet tall and just have white roots coming out the bottom of the pseudostem... Seems like there was no underground corm.

Tim
wxman is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To wxman
Old 09-28-2010, 02:38 PM   #23 (permalink)
 
timmko's Avatar
 
Location: Central WIsconsin USA
Zone: 5
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 162
BananaBucks : 94,764
Feedback: 0 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 54 Times
Was Thanked 123 Times in 57 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 5 Times
Default Re: Hello from Milwaukee!

Yeah I have a question about that also. The ground up where I live is a lot of clay and since the water doesnt' drain well that might also be a problem? What kind of soil do you have. About 1/2 hour south of me the ground has a lot of sand base to it so it does drain well. RIght now my basjoos are near or a bit under 3ft, too small to try and overwinter? I can if needed dig them up for this winter and store them inside a heated building with my others but my main intent on the basjoos was to leave them in the ground.
__________________
timmko is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To timmko
Old 09-29-2010, 11:06 PM   #24 (permalink)
 
eric27's Avatar
 
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Zone: 5b
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 248
BananaBucks : 79,132
Feedback: 0 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 313 Times
Was Thanked 253 Times in 105 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times
Default Re: Hello from Milwaukee!

Tim,

Well first that is odd that there is no corm and they are alredy 6 ft tall. I know I have smaller ones that have corms cause I see them sticking out of the ground. I wonder why they aren't making any. How do they do over the winter? Do you pot them up?

I'll give you the simple version. The basjoo is in a raised bed so it drains. I think that helps. And the soil is mostly compost, maure and topsoil. I amended it before I planted it 10 years ago and again about 5 years ago. Every year I top dress it with compost, manure and worm castings. My soil is generally very good overall, although I do know 2 other people not far away that have some of the worst clay I have ever seen. I'm lucky I guess.

To get it through the winter I use to (up until last year) cage it, cut the pseudostems down to cage height, and stuff it with straw and leaves. Straw works much better. I cover it with plastic to keep rain out and punch some holes in it to cut down on condensation. Over that goes burlap and I even use black fleece.

Last year I started something different that I plan to do again. It worked really well and I want to see if it was due to the mild winter we had or if it is a better method. I took straw bales and built a wall around a couple of the stems. This year I plan to widen it and do it all around the whole plant. Inside I stuff it with straw. I cover all that with the same method as above. The stems did really well last year.

I had 2 really bad years, I forget which 2, when all the stems got knocked to the ground and new ones had to start from the corms. But all of the other years I have managed to save some degree of stems, from a foot to 5 or 6 feet. As you both know it depends on our winter. But this will be it's 10th winter in the ground. I have never taken it out since planting it. It's a lot of work but well worth it. Actually my biggest problem has been 2 or 3 times losing nice big pseudostems to center rot. They were huge, would have flowered, but due to cutting the top and exposing the growing tip rot got in over winter from too much moisture. The irony is smaller thinner ones would survive just fine-ones I didn't cut. So I never know what will happen.

I hope this helps!
Eric
eric27 is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To eric27
Reply   Email this Page Email this Page

Previous Thread: New Member
Next Thread: Hello from the land of the delta blues





Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:13 PM.





All content © Bananas.org & the respective author.