Survivors this year, and the dead
 

This spring I dug a enourmous bed for my bananas that were on the fringe of life and death. They are taking up too much room inside the green houses, so I bare bulbed, and planted the ones that did'nt have any stem left. Here's some off the top of my head observations.
Green house #1(warmer one)
Small 5 gal Musa nagesium 'floir noir' has some stem left(2ft) and it's bulb is very white with healthy white roots.
Larger 5 gal Musa cheesmanii lost most of stem, and it's corm is less healthy looking than nagesium.
2 gal Musa violecia(bananatree seedling) has good looking corm(no stem), that is starting to shoot.
Three 2 gal Musa acuminata dwarf(BT seedling). Perfect looking corms, with one's stem still perfectly green. Surprising me more for hardiness every year!
Two large Musa thompsonii in one 20 gallon pot. They stems were slightly damaged, but it's coming back strong from top of stem. M. thompsonii is the only other plants that have come back from intact stem besides Musa sikkimensis red flash, and regular sikkimensis(so far).
Tiny one gallon Musa sikkimensis red tiger has kept it's 6 inch stem, and looks healthy, but no growth yet.
Musa african red 5 gallon (dead)
Musa veluntina small 1 gallon, not looking like a survivor right now.
5 gallon Musa balbisiana(seedlings from sunshine seeds) nice stems, but dead in center.
Musa bhutan various sizes- some survived, and coming back, some dead.
Musa basjoo formosiana 1 gal- dead, except for 2 that were in the house.
Musa balbisiana1(sunshine seeds) 1 gal dead except for 2 that were in house.
5 gal Musa ornata(seedling BT), seemed to keep leaves longer than most(may have been in GH microclimate. Coming back really strong from the corm, just like last year when I had it mis identified as Musa paradisica.
Colder green house
Musa cheesmanii 15 gallon- stem looked good months after hardest frost, but rotted after temps warmed up, may still come back from corm.
2 Musa sp big flower 10 gal- tottally dead..mush..gone boo hoo.
1 smallish five gallon Musa burmese blue, seemed to stay very green stemmed during early frosts, and now corm looks alright considering the size of the plant, and the cold coldness of that greenhouse. Worth another try!
large Musa balbisiana(so cal) 15 gallon. Had good looking stem at first, but now it would surprise me if it came back.


The best survivors- Musa sikkimensis various, Musa thompsonii, Musa acuminata dwarf(for healthiest looking corm of dwarf plants, followed by musa violecia), and Musa bhutan(one all green 5 gallon), and one slow growing red one gallon Musa bhutan, Musa nagesium floir noir(nice looking, but it is slow coming back to life)

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

Hi Kyle, don't know how I missed this post!

That's really nice to hear about your Musa thomsonii. I have a three gallon plant going in the ground sometime soon. It seems a lot slower than any of my other bananas in the greenhouse. Hopefully it'll speed up once in the ground. The M. acuminata dwarf surprises me also. Looks like I'll be killing one of my 'African Reds' this year too!

Here's my winners and losers:

Winners:

M. basjoo (of course)
M. sikkimensis 'Red Tiger'
M yunnanensis (sold as M. itinerans by Agri-starts) -

This one started sending pups up in mid-March! A very cold-hardy species.

M. cheesmani -

Two pups are growing back, albeit very slowly. Much slower than the previous three species. The main pseudostem was protected by a bag of leaves, and looked good initially after uncovering. Upon closer inspection, the center was rotten all the way to the corm.

Musella lasiocarpa -

Not only did the pseudostem survive intact in a bag of leaves...it's still flowering! Amazing.

Musa 'Orinoco' -

As far as corm hardiness, it is the most cold-hardy variety I've grown. I have NOT tested M. 'Brazilian' yet, however, or any others that are reportedly cold-hardy. Started sending up pups in Mid-April.

And the losers:

Musa velutina -

I know...I haven't kept one alive through a winter yet. People all around me in this state have no problem with it, but no luck here. I'm trying a different clone this year, as well as a few seed-raised plants. It still may come back, as it is still relatively early...but I'm not holding my breath.

Musa 'Royal Purple' -

I had high hopes for this one. Oh well. Maybe it's just slow coming back too. Another couple of weeks, and I'll dig it up and see what's left.

Musa 'Jamaican Tall' or whatever you want to call it -

Just left this one out for giggles. Complete mush.

Got a bunch more going in the ground this Spring, including:
Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis
Musa nagensium 'Florale Noire'
Musa 'New Bhutan'
Musa velutina (again)
Musa 'Helen's Hybrid'
Musa thomsonii
Musa mannii
M. ornata
M. 'African Red' (doesn't look too hopeful from Kyle's report though)
M. balbisiana 'Neue Art' from sunshine-seeds.com

Now, to find a place to put them...

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

You just reminded me of the one I forgot. A 10 gal Musa yunnaninsis from agri starts was also in the cold greenhouse with the larger cheesmanii and the M.yunnansis bit the big one! Next year I'm not going to keep any bananas in there, since it also killed alot of three year old T.fortunei seedlings. For some reason the new T. Naga hills had no fatalities out of the same number of seedlings as T.fortunei, and the T.naga were in their first year.
I'm betting that M.manni is hardier than M.veluntina. Looking forward to hearing your results this next winter also(M. helens hybrid, etc)!

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

Is your entire plant of Musa yunnanensis dead? That would surprise me! It has been one of the hardiest bananas for me, at least at the corm level. It starts growing very early, and seems to grow better in the cool weather. The pseudostem is thin, and never survives the winter (but I've never tried to protect it either). Then again, testing them in a pot is quite different than in the ground. I've left M. basjoo outside in a pot before, accidentally, and it turned to complete mush. Still, that sounds really good for M. thomsonii! I'm betting that you're right about M. manni too. The only thing is, it probably won't flower in this climate. But maybe it will, who knows. I've heard from others in zone 8 (in the Southeast) that say M. manni is one of the first to come back, but never flowers. They may not have the same form of M. manni that I do though. I have read that there are several plants going around that have been ID'ed as M. mannii, but are not.

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

I've heard reports from customers of mine that saba is also extremely hardy. Probably on par with musa orinoco. It makes very tasty plantains, probably superior to orinoco in that regard. The fruit is also very mild when fully ripe.


:flouenaner:

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

Saba is not at par with orinoco when it comes to cold hardiness, but still is cold hardier than most of the cavendishes. However when Saba develops that thick trunk in time for the winter, then it can be cold hardy almost at par with orinoco.

Saba when properly ripened is a lot sweeter than orinoco.

Re: Survivors this year, and the dead
 

Oh, Oh...I counted out Musa 'Royal Purple' too soon! I've been checking it every day for signs of life, and today I saw the first pseudostem breaking the surface. Good thing too, because I was going to dig it up very soon and plant something else there.

Still nothing from Musa velutina. I'm baffled as to why I can't seem to overwinter it here. Others in Nashville, Chattanooga, Cleveland (TN...Randy), and here in Knoxville seem to have no problems with it. I'll try again, but I'm not holding my breath.