planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I talked to a guy up near Cleveland Ohio and he swears his basjoo come back every year with no mulch at all, but when he planted them, he planted them in a hole a foot deeper than they originally were growing. I thought that might have some merit, what do you all think? I've already planted one that way just to find out. Has anyone tried that? I put one out about two feet tall and planted it so a foot is sticking out of the ground yesterday.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I haven't tried it, but in theory I guess the corm might be better insulated. Keep us updated..

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

In the "Growing Bananas" DVD it seems to be standard practice to do this with commercial vaieties in Hawaii. It shows them cutting off pups that look to be cut down to 3-4' tall and uncerimoniously tossing them in to holes dug about a foot deeper in the commercial plantaions. I wonder though if you'd have better luck starting with a bigger corm. Looking forward to your results. If this works it would kind of be a major breakthrough for all the cold weather growers.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I personally wouldn't do it. Soil heats up/freezes and holds temperatures only to certain depths. Below that it's more or less constant temperature (colder in colder climates, warmer in hot climates). It would probably slow down your banana most of the time.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Y'all talked about planting Orinocos deep two three weeks ago. A refresher might provide some insight.

http://www.bananas.org/f2/plant-orinocos-deep-8701.html

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Jack in zone 5 like Sandy has as well as us the ground can freeze 4 ft (1.22m) depth if we have no snow cover to insulate. In normal winter it freezes about foot down or little more!

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

In here it's only about 25cm (9,9 inches), below that is a constant year-round temp of maybe 6 to 15°C. Depends on the time of the year. How deep would you have to put it then?

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

The one got from Pete buried top flush th soil level, but its only few feet from foundation.So it will have some heat from the house,plus buried in straw and leaves when winter gets here.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

sounds like a very good plan for the UK the ground only freezes down a few inches deep.

Jack, the ground temp does vary a fair bit, this effect lessens until you get down below about 10M deep when you will get to a steady 10/12C (in germany at least). I have a graph somewhere.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I have heard this works well in zone 6 New Jersey.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Hi
I am following infos about wintering of cold hardy banans in Polish forums and people there recomended planting banans deeper then they generally grow. Some guy said that he planted his banana about 30 cm deeper and it gave better results in wintering.
I also planted my basjoo deeper, I hope it helps the bulb survive the winter in better condition – but for results I have to wait till April I think.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Thanx, I woud like to box off part of the garden specially for some tropical plants, but the problem is that my garden is actually "fully furnished" and every time I want to plant something new I must remove something.

Sev

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Do you know if I could still dig up my young plant, make the pit deeper as mentioned and put it back deep without disturbing it's overwintering possibilities? There should be about two months before the growth season stops here.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Some time last year Gabe posted a link to a study on the benefits to planting Musa Deeper i read it and from what i could determine if you plant the corm up to 6 inches deeper you can expect up to a 40% increase in the amount of fruit it will produce but this study said nothing about winter hardiness for related depth sorry kinda off subject but i thought you all would like to hear it i planted many of my Musa deeper this year and did receive a much lusher canopy i certainly think it helps with protecting the corm from heat related stress so I'm sure the revers would be true also

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

wolfebc

This is E. neglecta I think, and it hasn't spent winter in the ground yet. I had E. gunnii and till - 15C / 5F it was ok but when during 2 nights temperature decreased to -19C/ -2F it turned dark and died. I have 2 new E. gunnii in the garden but bigger and I will wrap them well this time.
Ps all my eucaliptuses are cultivated from the seeds, they are 1,5 year old.

ilmr

I join to the others! If you dig it up a this moment you will demage its roots and that will be the worst thing you can do for your plant before winter.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Thanks wolfebc and seweryn. I am anyway protecting it with mulch and covering since this is z5. I'll skip the planting deep part this year then, I thought that I could've removed and reinserted quite easy without much damage to the roots since it's still a small plant, but I'm not sure if it would have enough time to get familiar with the new circumstances.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

Hi if you really afraid of it, you always can dig it up, put to the pot and take home for winter. I know it's nice to wintering it in the garden but if you take it home you will have bigger plant in next season.

Good Luck Sev

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I will put the really small one inside, just want to make the best possible circumstances for the bigger one to survive the winter outside.

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I have heard it's best for Basjoos to be at least 3' to overwinter,so I agree,pot up.
I think the planting the corm/plant deeper sounds like a good idea,the soil at about 8" takes longer to reach a constant temp so,this may help your nanars come up at a safer time in spring as well?

Re: planting basjoo a foot deeper?
 

I am zone 6 and have had musa basjoo's outside for 3 winters. Last year we had 3 days of 4*F. I put a big tomato cage made out of fencing wire around mine. I then put 2 bags cyprus mulch in each cage. This year I will have 3 cages. I moved some pups and gave some away. I wait untill it is going to frost and cut them off and mulch them. I then uncover them here in May.