Novice

Basjoo? Has to be cold hardy if it's in the ground. We get snow here in Oregon.

Banana Palm Tree

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

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

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.

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Bill

Novice

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

Way to go!!!!!!

Novice

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.

Lagniappe

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!!"

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I'm not tipsy ! I'm just not very articulate and maybe a lil tipsy .

Lagniappe

There looks like a lot of room between the largest psudostems . I would just cut the whole thing in half at that point.

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I'm not tipsy ! I'm just not very articulate and maybe a lil tipsy .

Novice

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

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.

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WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION
"kokomo" beach boys:

Lagniappe

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.

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I'm not tipsy ! I'm just not very articulate and maybe a lil tipsy .

Novice

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

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

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Novice

Thank you all for your help!

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




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)

D_&_T

Looks like a lot of hands on learning!!

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Dan & Tara
in need of greenhouse

momoese

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.

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Mitchel

cactus6103

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

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Family, Friends and Bananas

natedogg1026

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.

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Banana's are a safe addiction. Right?Maybe I need classes.

mskitty38583

awesome job!!! now just get them planted and baby them for a while and wala new nana trees. and see it all worked out well.

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"kokomo" beach boys:

Dean W.

Good buy! Great job too.

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Dean