The Potential of Musa Basjoo - Page 3

buzzybee · 07-31-2008, 10:26 PM

I wish I could post pics but I have not come into the light of things with learning how to do that...... It's on my to do list!

I will work on it and see if I can post something soon so y'all can help me identify my naner. Thanks!

austinl01 · 08-01-2008, 12:00 AM

Hey y'all. I wanted to update you with a fresh picture of my musa basjoo mat. We got a little rain today (0.12 inches) so this really revived them. It's been near 100 degrees for the last week. I've been watering regularly, but it's hard to keep up.

\

Dean W. · 08-01-2008, 02:07 PM

Looks great, Austin.

deruo · 08-17-2008, 12:50 AM

I would kill for a garden like that!

Hi everyone, new member here in Southern Ontario and big fan of Musa Basjoo.
I bought a 3 inch shoot last July, and never got around to planting it outside due to a couple of moves since then.

I've cut one pup off and planted it outside and though I thought I'd killed it in the separation process, it's come back and doing very well. I was thinking about mulching it over the winter but think I'd best put it in my storage space in the parking garage over winter. Unfortunately, the dirt in my "garden" is only about a foot or so deep because it's over the parking garage. I'd think it'd be fairly easy for a foot of soil to freeze here sufficiently to kill it. Unless I get a heating cable and wrap it around the rootball somehow - but thats too much work for this year

The main plant isn't looking too healthy. For months it's grown on a slant, leaves withered with brown spots, but its working on two more pups. I've repotted it and it was pretty rootbound, but I'm going to try using some 20-20-20 fertilizer on it and see what happens. After that its spending the winter inside and will go into the garden with this years bamboo next spring.

I do have what may seem like a silly question. For those of you who overwinter your plants in the garage - do you water them at all or just let 'em dry out and then replant them in the spring?

austinl01 · 08-19-2008, 10:05 PM

Tom, when people overwinter their bananas in a garage they water very sparingly or just let them dry out completely. I would water just a few times during the winter because the banana won't grow much at all. Let the soil completely dry out and then just water a very small amount. It's better to underwater than overwater in the winter.

raggedyredhead · 08-20-2008, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by man with the yellow hat

you can grow them in Michigan, no problem at all. I dug up some rather large basjoo last fall, left them in the garage all winter and they are monsters this year.

I'm in NJ and after speaking to a number of people, I am leaving mine in the ground. I'll probably wrap Pstems in paperbacked housing insulation. They already are mulched but, I will probably add more. Doing pretty well so far though temp is still 80's. Looks like I will have the other non cold tolerant ones
growing under lights.
My house is a jungle! I need to live in a glass house.

Chironex · 08-20-2008, 12:46 AM

It's never too early to think about where and how to best protect our investments. I don't have too much to worry about here in Las Vegas, except for a chance for frost a few times and perhaps a few cold days. Fortunately, I have access to a southeast-facing garage that keeps everything above freezing. Already cleared out a spot for all of my bananas to keep toasty this winter. I almost laugh when I say winter as it is nothing like the winters near Chicago.

Jimzone7 · 08-20-2008, 06:22 AM

raggedy
I'd be very careful using house insulation, if that stuff gets wet it wont dry out and that's about one of the easiest ways to kill a mat in our zone 7. I'm in Staten Island and wintered over basjoo last winter. (I've got some pictures of their "winter home" in my picture gallary) Good luck

Austin
Your lasiocarpa are doing great, I think you were right all lasiocarpa's are not created equally, ours are beauties. I'll try to get some pics up soon, There's one in my gallary but that's not even the big one. Thanks for a great addition.
Jim

raggedyredhead · 08-20-2008, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimzone7

raggedy
I'd be very careful using house insulation, if that stuff gets wet it wont dry out and that's about one of the easiest ways to kill a mat in our zone 7. I'm in Staten Island and wintered over basjoo last winter. (I've got some pictures of their "winter home" in my picture gallary) Good luck

Austin
Your lasiocarpa are doing great, I think you were right all lasiocarpa's are not created equally, ours are beauties. I'll try to get some pics up soon, There's one in my gallary but that's not even the big one. Thanks for a great addition.
Jim

Thanks very much for the warning Jim. Only reason I considered this was because I saw a video on Utube. I will check out youe pics on winterizing.
You made an excellent point!

Raggedy

austinl01 · 08-20-2008, 10:08 PM

Jim, I'm excited to hear the musella are growing great. I had no doubt that they would! This banana is easy to grow and very rewarding with lots of pups. I truly believe my musella is of an excellent source because the leaves are so bluish green that they are amazing to see. Here mine are behind my dwarf cavendish that I picked up at Home Depot last month! I wish I had a better picture of them but this will have to do for now.

Chironex · 08-20-2008, 11:02 PM

Austin, Wow - those are great looking plants. It is starting to get a little cooler here now - almost....Today was over 100 degrees but it's cooling off more at night.

austinl01 · 08-20-2008, 11:07 PM

Thanks, Scot. It's been cool here with 3.13 inches of rain in 24 hours! The high was only 77 too! Very untypical for late August, but I'll take it rather than the typical 100 degree days. All this rain makes the bananas shoot for the stars!

arthurb3 · 08-23-2008, 01:34 PM

WOW!! They look great and so do they palms!
Home

arthurb3 · 08-23-2008, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austinl01

I thought I'd break into my picture vault and find some musa basjoo pictures from a few years ago to compare their growth rate. I found a few good pictures starting with the 3" tissue cultured plants. I hope these pics will give new growers of musa basjoo inspiration. Starting with tissue culture isn't all bad.

The beginning...

The next year...

A couple rewards in 2007 for my hard work...

Here they are today...

I hope you enjoyed watching my musa basjoo grow over the years!

WOW! They look great!
www.arthurinthegardenc.om

austinl01 · 08-24-2008, 09:51 PM

The basjoos keep growing and growing. This year has been super for bananas with regular rainfalls all summer. In just a couple days, I got over 3.10 inches of rain at my house. Yesterday brought another 0.40 inches! The bananas are loving it. I'm 6 feet tall to give the plants some scale. And, we've still got a few good months until frost with is usually in early November.

Jimzone7 · 08-27-2008, 05:16 PM

Hi Austin
Everything looks great, it's nice to see the progression over time.
In one of your earlier photos you showed the replacement for the EE, (the ones with the upright leaves.) It's one of my favorites and I'm thinking about planting them next season. Any info on them would be appreciated.
Jim

austinl01 · 08-30-2008, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimzone7

Hi Austin
Everything looks great, it's nice to see the progression over time.
In one of your earlier photos you showed the replacement for the EE, (the ones with the upright leaves.) It's one of my favorites and I'm thinking about planting them next season. Any info on them would be appreciated.
Jim

Jim, the upright EEs are hardy in my zone. Some people dig them up for the winter and store the corms in a crawl space or garage. I just mulch them and they reliably come back each year. They don't require as much water as the regular EEs which is a great attribute. I got rid of my regular EEs because they would always wilt even if I watered them often. Treat the upright EEs like you would bananas. They like compost, cow manure, and regular fertilizer.

deruo · 09-14-2008, 12:32 PM

Wow, your garden looks great!

I just love this plant. The pup that I divided this year looked like it was a goner after I planted it. Several weeks later it's come back and has been going great guns even with the cooler weather coming.

The momma plant, from which the pup came from, wilted, and then

07-31-2008, 10:26 PM	#41 (permalink)
buzzybee Location: Niles MI Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 17 BananaBucks : 403 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 1 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo I wish I could post pics but I have not come into the light of things with learning how to do that...... It's on my to do list! I will work on it and see if I can post something soon so y'all can help me identify my naner. Thanks!

08-01-2008, 12:00 AM	#42 (permalink)
austinl01 Got pink bananas? austinl01's Photo Gallery Location: Little Rock, AR Find me on the map! Zone: 8a Name: Austin Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 510 BananaBucks : 8,795 Feedback: 7 / 100% Thanks: 355 Thanked 197 Times in 107 Posts Welcomes: 114	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Hey y'all. I wanted to update you with a fresh picture of my musa basjoo mat. We got a little rain today (0.12 inches) so this really revived them. It's been near 100 degrees for the last week. I've been watering regularly, but it's hard to keep up. \ __________________ Austin Arkansas River Valley Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F Typical Low Each Winter: 13-15°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

08-01-2008, 02:07 PM	#43 (permalink)
Dean W. Dean W.'s Photo Gallery Location: Cedar Park, TX Zone: 8b Name: Dean Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,199 BananaBucks : 8,139 Feedback: 6 / 100% Thanks: 645 Thanked 222 Times in 209 Posts Welcomes: 199	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Looks great, Austin. __________________ Dean

08-17-2008, 12:50 AM	#44 (permalink)
deruo Location: Toronto, Ontario Name: Tom Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8 BananaBucks : 437 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 5 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo I would kill for a garden like that! Hi everyone, new member here in Southern Ontario and big fan of Musa Basjoo. I bought a 3 inch shoot last July, and never got around to planting it outside due to a couple of moves since then. I've cut one pup off and planted it outside and though I thought I'd killed it in the separation process, it's come back and doing very well. I was thinking about mulching it over the winter but think I'd best put it in my storage space in the parking garage over winter. Unfortunately, the dirt in my "garden" is only about a foot or so deep because it's over the parking garage. I'd think it'd be fairly easy for a foot of soil to freeze here sufficiently to kill it. Unless I get a heating cable and wrap it around the rootball somehow - but thats too much work for this year The main plant isn't looking too healthy. For months it's grown on a slant, leaves withered with brown spots, but its working on two more pups. I've repotted it and it was pretty rootbound, but I'm going to try using some 20-20-20 fertilizer on it and see what happens. After that its spending the winter inside and will go into the garden with this years bamboo next spring. I do have what may seem like a silly question. For those of you who overwinter your plants in the garage - do you water them at all or just let 'em dry out and then replant them in the spring?

08-19-2008, 10:05 PM	#45 (permalink)
austinl01 Got pink bananas? austinl01's Photo Gallery Location: Little Rock, AR Find me on the map! Zone: 8a Name: Austin Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 510 BananaBucks : 8,795 Feedback: 7 / 100% Thanks: 355 Thanked 197 Times in 107 Posts Welcomes: 114	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Tom, when people overwinter their bananas in a garage they water very sparingly or just let them dry out completely. I would water just a few times during the winter because the banana won't grow much at all. Let the soil completely dry out and then just water a very small amount. It's better to underwater than overwater in the winter. __________________ Austin Arkansas River Valley Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F Typical Low Each Winter: 13-15°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

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08-20-2008, 12:46 AM	#47 (permalink)
Chironex Dayyyyyyyy-O Chironex's Photo Gallery Location: Las Vegas, NV Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Scot Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,214 BananaBucks : 412 Feedback: 5 / 100% Thanks: 1,879 Thanked 319 Times in 223 Posts Welcomes: 250	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo It's never too early to think about where and how to best protect our investments. I don't have too much to worry about here in Las Vegas, except for a chance for frost a few times and perhaps a few cold days. Fortunately, I have access to a southeast-facing garage that keeps everything above freezing. Already cleared out a spot for all of my bananas to keep toasty this winter. I almost laugh when I say winter as it is nothing like the winters near Chicago. __________________ Scot "Grow 'em if ya got 'em!"

08-20-2008, 06:22 AM	#48 (permalink)
Jimzone7 Junior Member Jimzone7's Photo Gallery Zone: 7 Name: Jim Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 60 BananaBucks : 1,042 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 1 Thanked 24 Times in 9 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo raggedy I'd be very careful using house insulation, if that stuff gets wet it wont dry out and that's about one of the easiest ways to kill a mat in our zone 7. I'm in Staten Island and wintered over basjoo last winter. (I've got some pictures of their "winter home" in my picture gallary) Good luck Austin Your lasiocarpa are doing great, I think you were right all lasiocarpa's are not created equally, ours are beauties. I'll try to get some pics up soon, There's one in my gallary but that's not even the big one. Thanks for a great addition. Jim

08-20-2008, 10:08 PM	#50 (permalink)
austinl01 Got pink bananas? austinl01's Photo Gallery Location: Little Rock, AR Find me on the map! Zone: 8a Name: Austin Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 510 BananaBucks : 8,795 Feedback: 7 / 100% Thanks: 355 Thanked 197 Times in 107 Posts Welcomes: 114	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Jim, I'm excited to hear the musella are growing great. I had no doubt that they would! This banana is easy to grow and very rewarding with lots of pups. I truly believe my musella is of an excellent source because the leaves are so bluish green that they are amazing to see. Here mine are behind my dwarf cavendish that I picked up at Home Depot last month! I wish I had a better picture of them but this will have to do for now. __________________ Austin Arkansas River Valley Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F Typical Low Each Winter: 13-15°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

08-20-2008, 11:02 PM	#51 (permalink)
Chironex Dayyyyyyyy-O Chironex's Photo Gallery Location: Las Vegas, NV Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Scot Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,214 BananaBucks : 412 Feedback: 5 / 100% Thanks: 1,879 Thanked 319 Times in 223 Posts Welcomes: 250	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Austin, Wow - those are great looking plants. It is starting to get a little cooler here now - almost....Today was over 100 degrees but it's cooling off more at night. __________________ Scot "Grow 'em if ya got 'em!"

08-20-2008, 11:07 PM	#52 (permalink)
austinl01 Got pink bananas? austinl01's Photo Gallery Location: Little Rock, AR Find me on the map! Zone: 8a Name: Austin Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 510 BananaBucks : 8,795 Feedback: 7 / 100% Thanks: 355 Thanked 197 Times in 107 Posts Welcomes: 114	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Thanks, Scot. It's been cool here with 3.13 inches of rain in 24 hours! The high was only 77 too! Very untypical for late August, but I'll take it rather than the typical 100 degree days. All this rain makes the bananas shoot for the stars! __________________ Austin Arkansas River Valley Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F Typical Low Each Winter: 13-15°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

08-23-2008, 01:34 PM	#53 (permalink)
arthurb3 Location: Raleigh, NC Zone: 7/8 Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 6 BananaBucks : 305 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 1 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo WOW!! They look great and so do they palms! Home __________________ Arthur Raleigh, North Carolina, USA www.arthurinthegarden.com

08-24-2008, 09:51 PM	#55 (permalink)
austinl01 Got pink bananas? austinl01's Photo Gallery Location: Little Rock, AR Find me on the map! Zone: 8a Name: Austin Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 510 BananaBucks : 8,795 Feedback: 7 / 100% Thanks: 355 Thanked 197 Times in 107 Posts Welcomes: 114	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo The basjoos keep growing and growing. This year has been super for bananas with regular rainfalls all summer. In just a couple days, I got over 3.10 inches of rain at my house. Yesterday brought another 0.40 inches! The bananas are loving it. I'm 6 feet tall to give the plants some scale. And, we've still got a few good months until frost with is usually in early November. __________________ Austin Arkansas River Valley Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F Typical Low Each Winter: 13-15°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

08-27-2008, 05:16 PM	#56 (permalink)
Jimzone7 Junior Member Jimzone7's Photo Gallery Zone: 7 Name: Jim Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 60 BananaBucks : 1,042 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 1 Thanked 24 Times in 9 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Hi Austin Everything looks great, it's nice to see the progression over time. In one of your earlier photos you showed the replacement for the EE, (the ones with the upright leaves.) It's one of my favorites and I'm thinking about planting them next season. Any info on them would be appreciated. Jim

09-14-2008, 12:32 PM	#58 (permalink)
deruo Location: Toronto, Ontario Name: Tom Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8 BananaBucks : 437 Feedback: 0 / 0% Thanks: 5 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: The Potential of Musa Basjoo Wow, your garden looks great! I just love this plant. The pup that I divided this year looked like it was a goner after I planted it. Several weeks later it's come back and has been going great guns even with the cooler weather coming. The momma plant, from which the pup came from, wilted, and then