deruo

Hello from Canada!

I had a basjoo that sprung a couple of pups and then did a weird die off thing last year. The first pup that I separated went nuts in the garden. The others suffered at the paws of a squirrel.

I dug the big pup up and laid it bare rooted in the garage over winter. I cut the leaves off and left about 2 feet of "stem" on it.

The others I dug up and kept inside in a pot over winter, but the pups eventually browned out and there doesn't appear to be anything alive in the pot. I'll be throwing it into the garden once we get some above freezing weather. If it grows something great, if not, at least I tried.

My question involves the plant with the 2 feet of stem on it. The stem is all dried out and the remains of leaves (I don't know what you call them) that are still there are all dry and loose. Theres nothing solid inside. When I plant this guy again, should I be cutting the stem back to ground level or leaving it as is? It sounds as if some people leave the stems long and plant them as is to get a head start on height, which was my hope, but are their stems all loose or is there usually some solid stem inside?

Further, is it okay to plant it now and see if anything happens and then plant it outside in May, or should I just wait until late April or early May and plant it outside then?

Edited just to add how jealous I am of those of you who live in warmer climes. It took everything I had NOT to start washing and staining the deck today - apparently its supposed to be above 40F to do that ;-)

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Funny how the more I enjoy growing my banana plants, the less enjoy eating bananas.

sirmoebly

When I have a plant in trouble I cut it back to the corm (repot). Do not plant anything outside till temps get to a consistant 60F!!! If the corm feels solid & after you cut it, if you see some color its alive!!!!!