3rd year basjoo's?
 

Hello all. I have some Musa Basjoos that have come back for a 3rd year without any winter protection in NJ. The first year they grew great and got over 8 foot tall. 2nd year not as good. Only one new sprout but it got to about 5 foot with few pups that did not make it.
3rd year, this year 6 pups sprouted and started growing great. But they have since stalled and are looking sad. Some of the plants have skinny leaves & do not really look like banana plants at all. I do not believe they are being over watered.
I was hoping maybe someone can look at the pics and give some ideas. These things should be way bigger this point in the season. Thank you in advance.

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Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

I'm not an expert, but I believe those thin leaved pups are sword suckers, which have broad rhizomes and are good propagation material.

Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

I never heard of that. I will have to do some research. Thank you.

Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

Speculating here but it seems to me 2 things may be going on. 1) at least in the pics it looks like they need more water, and 2) the soil is depleted.

Have you been watering enough and have you been amending the soil and or fertilizing them?

Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

In addition to the other posts this is what I will add to help understand what's going on.

First lets approach the plant that has been in that container way too long.

The plant will need to be repotted with new/refreshed soilless mix and lowered in the pot about 3-5 inches to cover the corm once again.
When a plant is container grown the rhizome will rise/enlarge until it moves above the soil line causing potential issues over time......like now.
At this time you may also split the plant and repot the other in a matching pot

Lower your corm in the soilless mix to fully cover the rhizome, by doing this new viable roots/pups will soon form and improve the health of your plant.
You will need to do this every few years......looks like that has not been done for at least three years:)

Here is a plant of mine that needed lowering.
The rhizome was clearly above the soil line hindering the plants potential.


Repot and maintenence
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr


Here is the plant lowered in the landscape container.
This will have to be repeated in three years or so.


Repot and maintenence
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr


Now those Basjoo beasts.

As another post said you will need to refresh/amend the soil in the immediate area......don't be shy dig that heavy clay soil out of that devil strip heat trap and mix some amendments in there and replant your plant.
Try not to disturb the root structure too bad because it is late in the season and you want the plant to recover.


This is why your plant has gotten where it is today. Short answer:)

Remember this ....basjoo only get larger on LAST years corm size and growth.
That means the longer the corm survives the taller and bigger the beast will get.
So if you mulch and protect your corm from the winter elements and cold you will have a larger plant come spring..... that is if your corm did not perish over winter.

If you have a winter kill of large corm then your plant "starts over" each spring with little pups as in your case.

An easy way to protect your plant is to get a bag of mulch and simply lay it on top on your dormant plants after a hard freeze and you should be good to go.

Strips between the home and sidewalk are usually difficult for anything to grow because of poor soil
and radiant heat from the structure.

With basjoo I will always tell the homeowner this.

The first year it sleeps .
The second year it creeps.
The third year it leaps.

Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

Thank you for the reply. Well we had heavy rain the day before I took these pictures. And I do water when we don't have rain for a few days in row. As for fertilizer I have not put any down since spring. I will try that.

Re: 3rd year basjoo's?
 

Thank you for all that info. I thought about that strip needing the soil amended. Living in a condo kind of sucks for gardening. What concerns me is how late in the season it is. But I will give it a try.
As for the potted plants I honestly did not think it would live this long, 5 years now. But I will try your suggestion.

Thank you again for sharing that knowledge.