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Re: basjoo size for leaving outside?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuniPerez (Post 172618)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the most important thing is rootball... how well established and how much of a root system it has... if it's giving you pups, it should be fine... it's the newly planted basjoos I'd worry about... In a zone 5 I'd cover well with plastic and mulch very heavily though. I'm in z6 and I normally use about 6" of mulch out up to a 1' radius ( 2' wide over the corm )...

I completely agree since an established plant should over-winter outside as long as it is planted deep enough,
and even better off if there is a filled leaf bag on top to provide further insulation.
I find that during winter, the deeper you go into the soil, the warmer it gets since I'm able to test it out
with a needle thermometer. I've found that with top protection, nothing below soil lvl was killed,
and even a lot of the top section survives.

Here's one of my musa mekong giant seedlings that I got a few weeks ago and after keeping it
in a pot for 2 weeks to finish growing another leaf, and grow a little bit fatter, I planted it a foot deep,
and it has since perked up even more with a noticeably fatter psuedo-stem than when this photo was taken
they day I bought mine.

Here's what you may find after deep planting, along with top protection.

Even if the top protection fails, having it planted deep will keep the bottom foot of the psuedo-stem alive so it's actually easier to plant smaller bananas.

Re: basjoo size for leaving outside?

The threat of a forecast night of -5^C, which I worried about in my below post of Oct 14 never materialized.,
BUT...

After a night with seven hours of subfreezing temperatures, bottoming out at -4^C (25^F) my yesterday still
proud bananas are now a sad sight. The leaves, which I earmarked to supply the mulch protection for the
winter are still up on the trees, though they are finally starting to turn to their fall colours. Until I can
“harvest” them, I intend to leave the banana leaves as they are, to provide some shelter for the PS. The
coming nights are not supposed to be quite that cold and the present configuration of the banana leaves
makes it much easier to toss a blanket over the plant for further protection.

This picture shows the sad state of my oldest Basjoo prior to entering its second winter outdoors.
The plastic mesh is 2 feet high and ready to receive the leaf mulch, whenever it decides to drop off the trees.

This is the third pup of the one above. (The previous two are still in that clump with mother.) It has spent
the summer in a large pot together with a Canna Tropicana. I planted both together one foot deep into the
ground about three weeks ago.

Re: basjoo size for leaving outside?

where are you located?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olafhenny (Post 176739)

Re: basjoo size for leaving outside?

Penticton, BC; Hardiness Zone 6 :)