Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Success! I didn't even look at it until yesterday, but here it is! The leaves have mostly blown away with all the windy weather we had this spring, but all I did to this one is plant it a foot deeper, then cut it off to about a foot tall and dumped 3 wheelbarrow loads of leaves over the top of it in a big mound. This was a little easier than getting all the bags of leaves and piling the bags over it and it looked a little better too.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Good job Sandy
I just dumped a trash can full of mulch on mine and covered with plastic sheeting.
More than one way-I think leaves are a great idea,
I had about 6" down over some ferns I planted and they looked exactly like they did when I covered them last fall.
I cheated a little bit and put mini umbrella g-houses over my basjoos to give them a head start-
not really needed with this warm spring we are having.
Here's what they looked like 4-15-10-next leaf will really move them into gear!

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

congrats Sandy, still too early for them over here, had a touch of ground frost last night, but hopefully that will be the last one.

Mind you as the UK is a no fly zone due to the Icelandic volcano at present the sky is an eerie clear blue with no high level cloud due to the lack of vapour trails, something I may never see again, it's like coming out of L.A.'s smog into clear fresh mountain air.:02:

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

It was like that here after 911

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Very interesting thread. I'll keep that in mind when I go to plant my Dwarf Orinoco outside (soon, I hope).

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

We've had no commercial air traffic for 3 days and they've not confirmed when they'll restart. We normally have a sky full of vapour trails now it's noticeable that there is no cirrus type high level cloud. Makes you wonder what the heating effect of all that extra water vapour is on the planet.

Anyway, been gardening all day and no sign of any of the outside banana plants sprouting as yet, just as well I've got a polytunnel full to keep me company whilst I'm waiting :-)

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

But the very coolest part of this all is by just planting this banana a foot deeper, I didn't have to protect it nearly as much. This would solve the problem of picky neighborhood associations and etc, that wouldn't let some of my customers have something as "tacky" as bags of leaves with a tarp over them in the yard.
Also, what would happen if we took sikkimensis or even another one that wasn't even quite as hardy and planted it a foot deep, and then protected it like I usually mulch the basjoo with bags of leaves and a tarp over it? The possibilities are endless...lol...

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I had such good luck with the first basjoo being planted deeper, that I did plant two more at the end of the driveway yesterday. I didn't want to look at the bags of leaves all winter. I'm just going to use the mower in the fall to mow leaves into the bed where they are, like I do with all my other perennials. I planted them a foot deep each like the other one.
By the way, the one I planted deeper is as big as the other ones that were mulched with bags of leaves.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Great job Sandy!

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I haven't had the best luck mulching basjoos but may give this a try with my sikkimensis "Daj Giant" this year and think I'm going to dig them up today and replant them.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Winter preparations allready starts, hey. This year I plan to leave few plants in ground. Last winter I had sucsess with Basjoo (unprotected) but lost few Ensetes.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

biggest mistake some people make is they buy and plant small tissue cultured plants with absolutely no root ball (corm). My dad has been growing musa basjoo in East Lyme, CT for the past 5 years and it gets about 8 ft tall before the first hard freeze. He dumps a bunch of compost and dead leaves around the stem and by the end of May the stem is sprouting again. In Connecticut the soil freezes several inches if not a foot deep I can't help but think mixing hay/straw with the top layers of soil would be most beneficial. In regard to the idea of planting in a deeper hole, a good test would be to plant two corms 1 at a depth of 8-12 " and another in a hole 24 " with a little bit of stem above the soil line in early spring. The proof will be which on sprouts first on the following the spring.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I thnk maybe 24" would be a bit too deep. I can't think of anything you plant that deep. but I'm game to try one. I just planted 13 or so a foot deep the other day to test it out some more. I could put another one 2 feet deep somewhere.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I wonder if the banana would just form a corm close to the surface anyway no matter what the depth is. If it would root out of the pseudostem and form a corm at the normal location ...

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I think it would take many years for it to reach back the normal depth again since pups tend to form right on the side and the corms might create a bowl effect.

I have some musa basjoos which are close to 4ft tall with pups now and I'm wondering is it ok to dig it and plant it deeper?

Of course I will try to make sure I don't break that many roots in the process and also add a good dose of root stimulator in the process, but it does make sense that burying it deeper should make over-wintering much easier resulting in a bigger plant starting out next year.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I just transplanted 2 of my basjoos onto a spot that drains very well due to the slope it is planted so that it doesn't get too wet and end up rotting. I also planted them 1ft deeper than the soil line and tried to keep as many roots intact as possible, then used myccorhizal inuculation and root stimulator on them to reduce the transplant stress.

I hope they grow another 2-3ft before I cut off the leaves and cover them up for the winter. Here's the pictures.

[IMG][/IMG]

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Why not find some scrape wood or buy some from a box store in there cheap pile. Make a hoop house with the wood and plastic painters tape,the thick ply. I did this back in Ohio zone 5-4 winters for a needle palm. It lived for years and seeded twice for me. It got fired one time in the winter when I was not around to remove the hoop house. We lived in a windy area and had to have it straped to the ground so had no vent opening for it.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

The plan here is to keep a bunch of pups in pots inside over winter and leave all the big boys in the ground... Going to find out how hardy this things are up here. Plan on protecting them with mulch and garbage cans or something. I'll also bury them in snow if when we get big storms (if)..

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Having them nice and deep just helps them in the long run to over-winter since the ground doesn't freeze that far down especially if I put even more protection on top and tarp it to keep the psuedo-stems as dry as possible.

Both of the plants looked a bit droopy in the hot sun today as it got into the mid 80s with full sun, but they perked back up in the evening and look like they are well on their way to being situated in their new spots where they should resume growing in perhaps 3 days.


The root-less pups I took yesterday are still looking great since they are being kept very moist with not a lot of sun so they have enough time to grow a root system. I think they should succeed because juicy root which I use on other stuff too usually makes roots form very fast.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

After the transplant, these basjoos looked like they were about to die for a few days, but they have now resumed their normal growth with both of them growing another leaf since the transplant. They seem to grow just as well with their psuedo-stems 1ft deep.