mouse house - musa basjoo
 

Uncovered my musa basjoo stumps which spent the winter surrounded by straw and a plastic bucket wrapped in burlap. The firm part of largest stump was hollowed out. A hole about 3 inches deep and 3 inches high has been created by some critter- see photo. Anyone have this issue or have a suggestion as to how to deter the critter next winter?

Banana Gallery - Mouse House?

Re: mouse house - musa basjoo
 

It should shoot up a bunch of pups. As for prevention i have no clue, maybe a cat?

Re: mouse house - musa basjoo
 

It did make pups, thank goodness. Is it true that pups will never flower or produce fruit? We have a cat (mostly indoor) but this mouse must've squeaked by him.

Re: mouse house - musa basjoo
 

That is not true.

Re: mouse house - musa basjoo
 

Mothballs work well to keep little hairy critters out of the immediate area but they would probably not be any good for your corm, maybe worse than having the mouse snoozing/snacking on it over the winter.

Re: mouse house - musa basjoo
 

That happens around here every once in a while too. Sometimes when I uncovered some of my bananas before, all there was left was just a little bit of corm. Usually if there's enough left they will still grow. Luckily it doesn't seem to happen all the time. Just think how lucky that mouse was to find such a snug winter home even with a food source. I bet he's one happy critter!