NGSuperbum7

Well for starters im in zone 6a so they shouldve came back. Our low this year was only -2F. I had 2 basjoos planted and both of them are dead. What is everyones protection method? I mean can i cut it down to the ground and just mulch it with tons of leaves or what? Any help would be MUCH appreciated because i have 1 basjoo 1 sikkimensis and 3 musella ready for this year and i want them to come back!

sandercohen

hi there,

i cut mine to the ground and covered with 8 inches of mulch... then i put a large tarp over the mulch and mulched again with about 12 inches of straw.

I am in michigan and i peeked at my plants this week and they are firm and look good.

It is critical that the plants stay dry otherwise they will rot with wet weather and continuous freezing and thawing.

hope this helps

NGSuperbum7

Wow yea i only had about 4-5 inches of leaves on it, this helped alot! thank you

basjooman

Well, I went completely overboard this year and built a large cage around mine, triple wrapped it with burlap, stuffed it with straw and covered the top with a plastic tarp to keep the rain and snow out. I also put a wireless temp. sensor at the base of the plant to see whats going on in there througout the winter. We had a low of -20C (about -10F) this winter but the internal temps in this structure didn't go below -1C (28F)

It's a lot of work to build this thing (and the neighbours think I am nuts) but up here in Canada its the only way.

Its a little early to uncover them, I usually do that gradually through April, but so far the psuedostems are firm.

sandy0225

I take dry leaves, still in the plastic trash bag, and pile them over the stems after I cut them down about 12" tall. I put 4 bags around each stem, and then one over the top. If its a big clump, I just pile several bags over them. Then in the spring, in about 2 weeks or so, I'll take those off of there and pile them up and use them to mulch around my tomato plants to help keep the blight off of them. It's a win-win situation!
I got the idea off Gardenweb and it's worked for four years now.
Are you sure yours are dead though? unless they've rotted to where a hole is where the plants used to be be, they might just still come up.
Sandy

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NGSuperbum7

I'm pretty sure theyre dead. Everyone else around here has little sprouts coming up and i dont and theyre just mush but I will most likely use your approach to it. Sounds easy and fun! Thank you!!

NGSuperbum7

Also, do you overwinter any other cold hardy varieties cause im going to try musella and sikkimensis this year and wanted to know if theres any other ones that can be overwintered in our zone.

jeffreyp

Is it possible you planted a small tissue cultured plant? If so, it won't come back. Small tissue cultured plants dont have enough starchy root mass to survive through the winter as they are mostly finger roots at a juvenile age.

If this is not the case, as long as you mulched over the stem with about 6-8 inches of mulch it should come back...just give it time. I gave a couple plants to my folks in Connecticut and their Basjoos come back around early - mid May.

Hope that helps..

the flying dutchman

My Basjoo is not back either, we had a winter with allmost no frosts,
he is still under the mulch. i am pretty sure he will regrow.

Ron