New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Hello, I finally found a good musa basjoo online and placed the order. It arrived yesterday and I put it in my windowsill until the Utah temps are a bit warmer. At what point am I okay putting this plant in the ground?

The soil was clay, so I dug a nice hole and added sand, Kellogg compost, Kellog Soil Ammend, and tilled it up. Looks nice and I hope the Basjoo will be happy. Looking forward to watching this little guy grow!

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

First, get the plant in a pot with open drainage and a saucer or it most likely won't live long enough to be transplanted out side. Banana roots grow deep fast and you don't want the plant roots to be in the water or soggy soil at the bottom of the pot. Empty the saucer if there is excess water.

This looks like a TC plant from a green house. It needs a lot of care, daily misting, very little water to the pot, and partial sun for a couple of weeks then slowly increase to full sunlight. Add about 2 table spoons (10 or 12 g) of slow release fertilizer to the pot. Transplant to the ground when the plant gets about 12" tall with about double the number of leaves it has now. This will take 8 to 12 weeks.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Looking good...plant in ground after last frost...

Make sure the planting hole is LARGE,your plant will triple in size in a few years if all goes well and those roots will need to go somewhere.

Do it now.
Make the hole larger/amended while you can.:08:

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Thanks for the very helpful info! I've been amending the planting site and think it's ready to go. I plan on putting the plant in the ground next week or the following.

Also, I just learned something about banana plants as I had no idea about tissue cultures. Sounds like getting a corm would be much better. Any tips on good places to buy a corm or two?

Thanks!

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

I'm in Denver and probably have about the same climate as you. I have a stem I dug up last fall and am waiting for it to return from dormancy (indoors) to plant the first week of May (assuming forecast doesn't show any freeze chances).

I have horrible clay soil, so I'm going to dig my hole bigger this year and add decent soil. I've found a local garden center that sells large Musa Basjoos, so I might buy another one soon for this year. I think if I have better soil, I'll get more growth. Last year it got to about 8' tall.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Thanks for the information. Yes, Denver and Salt Lake City have very similar climates. I will start checking with local nurseries to see if they have any Basjoo corms or pups. I did some research online and am not sure how to tell if a plant is TC or corm/pup. Lots to learn!

Please post some pictures of your plants if possible. It would be fun to see how yours have been doing.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Nothing to see yet lol! Last year I tried to overwinter the p-stem, which didn't work. But it did come back from the ground. I didn't get much growth though. I see others around the country where they get many feet of growth in one season, so I suspect the horrible clay soil is to blame.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

I am in Northern NJ and my local Lowes/Home Depot sells Musa Basjoo plants, usually around 3 to 4 feet tall but stems are on thin side. Not sure if these are from corm or tissue culture but plants I grow get much thicker trunks from the start so I am thinking TC.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Thanks, good point. Maybe the TC plants are thinner as they start out. I will have to check my local Lowes and Home Depot.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

You definitely should but at my stores they get them during the summer months..... maybe a bit early now.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Good news, I took the advice to check local stores and found a nice Basjoo. It is roughly 3-3.5 feet tall with 4 leaves. The stem also appears to be fairly thick. If our nighttime lows are high 30's to high 40's and daytime highs are 50-60+ degrees, is it relatively safe to plant outdoors in well amended soil?

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Also, I just counted and there are 6 pups around the base of the plant. Very exciting!

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

I put mine in the ground last week... now we're looking at a possibility of SNOW this Thursday. What the...???? Our weather in Denver has been insane the past few weeks with violent swings in temperature!

I think I'm going to take it back out of the ground and leave it in the garage in a pot for a couple days to wait for the cold to move on. I also have elephant ears in the ground that I'll have to cover for sure. Uhg!

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Yes, I am in the same boat here in Utah. I planted my Basjoos a couple of weeks back and now we are forecasting two days of lows around 35-40F and highs around 47-52F, then it gets warm again. Crazy weather. Still debating whether to leave them in the ground and cover with something or pull them up. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Mine is about the same size as your larger one in the picture. I know this happened a few years ago and since I have just planted it, it'll come back out easily. That's what I did before... just gently pulled it out, put it in a pot in the garage for a couple days. Then back into the ground.

Is your short plant one you brought in for the winter?

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Sounds like a good idea. The short plant is a corm that I bought online. It has been in the ground for a couple weeks and is now starting to push out new leaves.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

OK. I have a nursery in Denver that sells Basjoos every year of decent height, so never bought online.

Everything is out of the ground now and in the garage. I hauled in potted plants too, and will need to cover some perennials. I checked online and it looks like there hasn't been a snow/freeze this late in May in Denver in over 50 years. This is definitely out of the norm. The weather has really been screwed up the past few weeks with the jet stream going nuts!

It looks like I can re-plant on Sunday. They've even filled up our neighborhood pool in time for snow!

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

I purchased the smaller plant online and then found the larger plant at a local nursery for less! Go figure, haha.

I did some research and found that Basjoo leaves will not brown until the temps are at 29 degrees. Our temps here in the Salt Lake City area only dropped to about 34 degrees last night so I left them in the ground with my fingers crossed. Tonight will drop to 39 and it warms up from there. Pretty crazy watching the snow fall yesterday!

I will let you know how my plants do. I also have a newer Sabal Minor palm right next to the bananas. They seem to being hanging on so far.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

My Basjoo stayed green/alive in the ground well into November the past couple years.

Right now, it looks crazy outside. Huge flakes of snow coming down! But it's 35 degrees. I guess it's the altitude that allows it to snow while the temp is above freezing. Glad I brought everything in. Big risk now is tree damage. Trees are leafed out and catching that wet snow.

Re: New Musa Basjoo Plant Arrived
 

Well, the cold is now gone and the Basjoos look rough! There is still some green so here's to hoping they come back strong as we get warmer. Should I be watering them everyday?