Illinistu

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new member. I've read through the forums for the last few years but never joined. I've been a Musa Basjoo owner for several years now. Last year was the first year for my current plant. I cut it down (to about 2 ft height) and wintered it as normal. Due to the late cold this spring I waited longer than normal to uncover it. As a result the first leaf/shoot was pushing against the top of the container and was curled up. However, after some time and fertilizer it finally got going and was growing well. I used a mixture of "Banana Fuel" fertilizer and Miracle Grow. I normally just fertilize with the Banana Fuel but wanted the extra nitrogen of the Miracle Grow to get it going from its stunted start. Unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks something is starting to go wrong. My leaves are getting smaller and opening before they completely emerge from the pseudostem (see pictures). I've never had this happen before and don't know what is causing this. Can anyone tell me what is causing this and what I can do to get my banana back on track to growing normally and producing nice big leaves? Thanks!

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cincinnana

Looking fine....you will have a flower soon.

Looks like your plant is about to toss a flower......


keep taking pics

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cincinnana

All good....did your plant sort itself out??

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Illinistu

Well you are correct. It is flowering. Kinda sucks to have a Basjoo flowering at 5 ft but it is what it is I guess. Will be interesting to see things develop. I have a new question now. I have a sword sucker that is growing next to it that I have left alone. I have removed any other suckers. Should I leave the one sword sucker or remove it too? How big will the sucker get while the mother plant flowers and develops fruit? Again, this is a Musa Basjoo so it's not like the fruit is going to be edible.

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cincinnana

Me, I leave them on because they will be next seasons plants.

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Backyard Banana Joe

Do you have any interest in growing edible varieties?

Illinistu

Well I grow this plant out by my front door. I like tropicals and wanted something big and tropical there. So this is grown more for ornamental reasons. The biggest problem I have with edible varieties is that I really don't have a good place in my condo to winter them. I live in central Illinois and the winter temps can get well below zero. The Basjoo I just insulate and cover with a large, heavy-duty rubber trash container and leave outside over the winter. I'm not aware of any edible varieties that will survive the winter here.