Lousy summer weather and stunted Basjoo growth
 

I'm in Toronto and just wondering if I'm the only one that has been disappointed with my basjoo growth this "summer".

Last year by this time, my new plant planted in the ground was about 3 feet tall. This year, the new plant (as none of my old ones survived winter...indoors or out) is only about 1 foot tall and not looking nearly as vigorous as the old one was. It's had compost and some feeding and gets plenty of sun.

I kept an extra indoors as backup and it's doing much better than the one outside. Purchased the same time and it's now about 2 ft tall.

Summer has been cool with some nights darn near cold. I've used the furnace more than the AC in July so far. Today is only 66F.

I had planned on trying to overwinter the outdoor plant outdoors, but who knows?

Been a very disappointing summer for my plans of a northern banana plantation! :2141:

Re: Lousy summer weather and stunted Basjoo growth
 

Tom I agree with you and understand what you are saying. It's been hit or miss in Iowa this summer. June was fantastic, one of the warmer Junes on record in Cedar Rapids. July is on track to rival the coolest July on record. Several days ago we had nights in the low 50's (F), several nights tied and even broke the record low for that particular day.

Lets hope for some "summer weather" in late September and early October.

Re: Lousy summer weather and stunted Basjoo growth
 

Hi Tom.

I'm just across the lake from you in Rochester, NY. I agree... this summer has been awful. I am growing M. sikkimensis, M. basjoo, and Musella Lasiocarpa. Right now the Musas are about 3 feet tall, but I feel the growth hasn't been at it's best due to not enough sun (it's been raining most of the summer or just cloudy). The Musellas remain at about a foot tall. Maybe next year will be better. They still stop traffic though since most folks still have a "They don't grow here" mind set.

Good luck.

Juni

Re: Lousy summer weather and stunted Basjoo growth
 

Some of our climatologists say that this year's weather has been very unpredictible and strange because of an active volcano in Alaska. This volcano went active in spring and since then, the weather has been very atypic for the better part of the time.

Re: Lousy summer weather and stunted Basjoo growth
 

This has been a bad summer for basjoo around here too. Also bad for tomatoes until this week. I just picked three bushels yesterday though, since it finally got to be 90 degrees.