Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

The planting gets about 5+ hours of mid afternoon full sun.
Once the basjoos mature at about a month or two they will provide a canopy for the ferns.
Both plants do very well grown out of normal conditions.
This planting is in heavily amended rich soil and is on irrigation.
Thanks for asking:)

There are basjoos in there somewhere.

The garden
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Love the fern-banana combo!
I wish I could do king ostrich ferns but everything I see says it gets too hot down here :(

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

cincinnana did you ever decide on whether you thought basjoos or mekongs were better in your area?

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Both are wonderful landscape plants when sited in great growing conditions.

Each plant has predictable characteristics which are interesting to observe.

Recommend both plants however basjoo is my favorite cold hardy landscape plant for this growing zone.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Is there a thread where you covered the characteristics? I went looking back through 2-3 years of your posts but I'm not sure if I saw anything specifically on that!

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

I'll tell you this. I just had a pup pop up 7' away so plan accordingly.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Yes ...you are correct never described a detailed comparison
If you forum search both plants you will get an idea of how the plant grows.

Basjoo is a nice clumping landscape plant.
Mekong giant is a runner like bamboo randomly sending shoots up everywhere or busting out a landscape container.
There are some good threads about each plant on the forum and internet.
Here is one such thread.
http://www.bananas.org/f16/musa-itin...html#post77617


Side by side 20 feet away the plants look almost the same.
Mekong Giant is just a cool name to market the plant.

Wstrickland is correct....site the plant where it will roam.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Thanks! Where I'm thinking of planting it, I'm not too concerned about the runners — in part maybe because I doubt they will survive if I'm not mulching over them — but that's good to know behaviorwise.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

I doubt even heavy mulch will stop these things but they're easy enough to cut off

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Maybe I missed it, but I am curious if you left the MG in the ground over the winter and if so, did it survive? Or is it too early to tell yet?

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

On my 5th year in zone 5/6.
My short grow window does not allow this plant to reach full potential in my opinion.

I have observed the plant in warmer zones where it does much better.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

I do have a MG in a blue half barrel that was indoors for 7 months.
The plant is larger than the MG overwintered under mulch in ground.

Much depends on how the plant is sited in the landscape.
Locally others that are grown in full sun are alittle larger than mine.

Basjoo is still the robust grower ...

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

With the cooler days and nights it will soon be time to put the mats down for another season. Other banana plants will be coming in soon once the average temp is in the 60's with some of the newly separated pups already under indoor lighting.


As long as the ground temperature is warmer than the ambient air temperature the basjoo/mekong root systems will continue to be active.



Basjoo
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Been this way for almost a week.
Temperature is 32-45+
The snow was a heavy 3 inches and bent the petioles.
Note the unmelted snow on top of the insulating wood mulch at the base of the plants.
The mulch adds a great barrier from the weather.


Basjoo and snow
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

here are my basjoo (left) and mekong giant (right)
the mekong wilted from the cold before the basjoo
i expected that from reading this thread!

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Wow ....it is definitely colder in the GTA.

My plant did the same thing as yours...it gave up the season before the basjoo.

Maybe you noticed but your basjoo was all green until the first hard frost.
Lets see if your plant will try to push that last leaf it has loaded in the pstem.

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Here is a previous thread of interest.

http://www.bananas.org/f2/market-flo...tml#post190118

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Here is a discussion from forum members years ago which you might find of interest.
Some of the discussions in other threads these members comment in are interesting also.


http://www.bananas.org/f16/musa-yunn...html#post46619

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Soil temps are rising to wake these plants.
Roots are viable under the surface and I am sure the Mekong is growing runners .

Here is a tool( Link )to check your soil temperature for your area..
Add you zip code.

Check out the link.

https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature

Re: Mekong Giant vs Basjoo
 

Soil temperature average in the low 50's and early spring ephemerals are breaking the soil line.

Used 46-0-0- and 19-19-19 on a number of Basjoo and Mekong plantings for the spring boost.
Woodland plantings get a granular 19-19-19 or similiar spring feeding .

Soon the first banana leaves will be out of the soil in grow zone 5/6.