Akula

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I added Christmas lights to my bananas in late December prior to the first big freeze we had in early January. I will wait till mid February to unwrapp and post the "after pics". At this point I feel my efforts were futile and like spitting in the wind. Got down to 21F last night and we had almost full 24 hours below freezing from Tuesday to Wednesday. My wife is laughing at my efforts although she did help me.

beam2050

it was 20 below the last few days here in ne florida. we are building igloos and snow men today. snow ball fight is scheduled a 4 pm. peppermint schnapps and jambalaya popsicles will be served.

26 here right now.

but I think most everything is still ok. here is a pic from today. at least 9 nights of freezing temps, most down to 26 f. my snow banana, ensete glaucum, still looks ok.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

sputinc7

My backyard thermometer said 26 overnight Wed into Thursday. The weather station a couple blocks away got 27.6 but it is south of a canal, so that may make a small difference.... I think the "official" Palm bay temp was at almost 29... It finished off anything green the last freeze missed as well as anything new that grew since then.

I am more concerned whether this bunch might make it... I had it well covered during both freezes. With a sheet and a sheet of plastic. I also spread the sheet over the crook in the peduncle to protect it, too... The PS seems ok but the leaves are gone. So far the fingers are still green... Time will tell, I know, but I am curious if anyone else has done this before. I won't give up until they turn either black or yellow... Y'all know which one I'm hoping for...Pics here from Friday around 11 A.M. The hard freeze was overnight Wed to Thurs, so it's about 24+ hours after the freezing temps. Fingers are still green.

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If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

sputinc7

Akula, it seems to me if you leave them wrapped in warmer temps that could cause rotting and do more harm than good. Covering them is a pain, but I don't think they will take being covered long term, especially when it warms up a few days.

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

Akula

Sputinc7 you are absolutely right about the risk of rot at higher temperatures when wrapped.

I think I minimized it by covering and not wrapping the upper 70% in heavy frost cloth vs. polyethylene. The bottom third is wrapped in thick burlap. Both are breathable but I do get some visible wetness in the burlap from either sweat, dew, or rain but this seems to evaporate off.

I've had them covered prior to the first freeze in early December. The pstem feels solid when squeezed...so far.

The pstems are around 12 feet so they were a major pain to cover. I threw the cloth over the pstems like a cast net from the top of my ten foot step ladder and then used my extended pool pole to position the cloth. The cloth was heavy and cumbersome.

beam2050

use a pole and lift up the sunny side when its warm.

__________________
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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

cincinnana

Lol.... me there

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Akula

My plants have been wrapped since December 7th which is prior to the first serious freeze of the season which was that weekend.

I decided to unwrap my banana plants (Namwa and RP) and see what they looked like today. Generally speaking they look pretty good. A few even had a bit of green at the base of the cigar leaf. There was some mildew on the old dried up leaves so I removed them and cleaned up all my plants.

I put a red bow on the RP's in the cleaned up photo to better identify them. They are in the right corner section. The rest are Namwa. I have four RP pups in the garage which I dug up which seem to be in pretty good condition.

So what do you banana heads think? Do they look okay? Do you think I got a successful result? Any advice on what to do next?

Mark Anthony Phair

Excellent work! The Psuedostems appear to be in spectacular condition! Should another hard frost come your way, cover again as you did, and if temperatures sustain at near or below freezing (in the 30s F.) consider mulching a three foot ring around the corm areas with at least a foot thick base.

Other than that, your bananas look terrific, and I do not foresee any problems based on your photos.

I'll bet they look GREAT when in full foliage!

Gone Bananas!
Mark Anthony Phair

Akula

I want to document in this thread that I had two failures with my method of winterization.

One of my Raja Puri's (six feet of height) died all the way back to the ground and one of my Namwa's (seven feet of height) pstem was damaged and I had to cut it back to about four feet. Both plants were wrapped in burlap to about five feet of height and were covered with frost cloth. NO Christmas lights were put on these two plants. Temps dropped to 21F one night. I'm giving Namwa the edge over Raja Puri in regards to which one is more cold hardy based on what I saw in my patch this winter.

The following photo shows the conditions of the two plants on February 20, 2018. An RP pup (very small) is on the left growing from the original RP corn and the Namwa is putting out a new leaf on the right.

sputinc7

At least they made it...

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

Akula

Epilogue

I ended up losing my 5 original nanners that I planted in March of 2017. The pstems made it through the winter however they couldn't get get going in early spring. Day time temps were in the 70's to 80's however overnight temps were in the high 40's and 50's. Cigar would start to push and then rot out. I finally took the machete to the originals and found a flower in them about a third of the way down from the top.

All my medium and smaller size nanners made it through the winter and by June 30 have exceeded the size achieved by my original stock at the end of the prior season. No flowers yet though.

It seems for my area and type of bananas no more than seven months of growth should be taken into the dormant winter months when hit with a hard freeze in order for growth to resume successfully in the Spring.

Banana patch as of June 30, 2018:

sputinc7

Maybe you already said, but... What kind of monster banana is that? What did you feed it, your firstborn?

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

Akula

Thanks! I'm trying!

Its one of three ice creams I ordered from Just Fruit and Exotics before I was aware of the ice cream controversy. JFE confirmed to me by email that I was suppose to have three blue javas but I think they are tall namwa. Who knows. These are the same guys who sent me a raja puri that has grown to ten feet and counting!

I alternate monthly between urea/potassium sulfate and an 8-2-12 palm fertilizer with all the trace elements and micros. I bag all my lawn clippings and toss them on the patch too. I'm averaging about 20 inches of growth per month but I did hit a period where the leaves were deformed a bit which has cleared up.

sputinc7

Namwah do get large, but that is a huge pstem...
I cannot wait to see the bunch you get from it... Should be soon.

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.