Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

After growing this guy from a small, 2 leaved plant for 3 years in a pot, it has gotten over 2 feet tall, with a 2 inch base. I believe its time to get it in the ground, so it can take off. Here are a few things to know:

- Im boarderline zone 5. The area im going to be planting it in is a definite microclimate. It will be in front of 2 walls, one facing east, one facing south, like an "L" shape (or "7" i guess ). There are 4 concrete pavers leading to a small lockstone patio. THese should help with heating up the soil, and retaining heat in winter.

- The soil is on the sandy side. The spot is the first area to melt, and heat up in the spring/summer.

- There is a gasline in the soil, so I cant go crazy with digging, but I will be adding top soil.

- The area heats up to almsot 40C in the summer in the sun.

Can anyone suggest anything?

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

Hi Jesse,

I agree with you planting where the snow melts first I did the same when I planted my basjoo couple years back. I don't know exactly where you are but you want the daytime high's to be in the 60's so the roots can settle. and the night temps as long as you cover the plant with a container so the frost doesn't do any damage. I planted a kru on april 26 last year. im close to toronto and there was a horrible week of weather into first week of may and I lost it due to rot. It was too cool and wet. for me I plant any time after May 2nd or 3rd. I'd wait a bit but it's up to you.

the sandy soil I have that too not a problem add some other soil too it.
the 40 degree weather in summer is not an issue. Maybe some heat damage just keep it watered.

hope it works out well for you.

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

Thanks Matt

I wont be planting it untill may. My last frost is usually june 1st, but its really give and take. THis year im guessing beginning - mid may, so thats when Ill plant it. It took -5C one night and didnt even blink an eye last fall!

IT should get around 8 hours of direct sun, then the sun moves towards the front of the house, and its in shade (still a "brightish" area, just no direct sun for the latter part of the day/evening.

Im going to have to add some top soil to level the area off. Im also going to add some peat and compost to make it a bit more fertile, seeing as ive been growing things there with out fert.

Thats the other thing. I do not want to use synthetic fertilizer. Im aware of the abundance of nitrogen needed to get some good growth. I was thinking of using blood/bone meal (I know one is higher in N then the other, I just cant remember right now :D)

For clarification reasons, Im in Thunder bay, my area is on the zone 4/5 border.

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

That sounds good, I think there is a whole thread on ferts, I have been using the miricle grow and that has been doing okay for the past 2 years but like you said I want some real good growth this year so I'm gonna look around!

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

Im trying to ignore any/all synthetic, petroleum based fert. THat means 90% of the commercial stuff is off limits. Again, the only thing that comes to mind is blood/bone meal. I only use fertilizer when they are potted up, so it doesnt leech into the ground water.

Im going to be using nitrofying ground covers to help pump some nitrogen into the soil. THis includes clover, legumes, comfrey, and a whole score of others.

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

i decided to uncover my 3 biggest clumps of basjoo today.
last couple days have been near or hit 80F..?? what the #$(&($%
lol
this spring is so weird here in utah..dry..and WARM !!!
i have leaves all around the clumps..we are "maybe" going to have
a "cooling" into the weekend.. so im going to wait and see how "cool"..
im hoping they did well..we sure didnt have the cold weather that
could have challenged them..
ive certainly learned alot over the last few yrs on tropicals/bananas
last yr i decided ive been starving most of my tropicals..so im going to
be more generous with the feeding this summer..
we'll see what mother nature brings us with the weather.. that i have
no control over.. sigh..

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

Been lurking here for a while but this is my 1st post, so I will introduce myself at the same time

I'm a full time landscaper, enjoy planting tropical/exotic style, but am careful with choices as I'm in the UK

I'm learning about fertilizers and nutrients and brew my own actively aerated compost tea .... I have switched away from miracle gro and the likes and now use fertilizers/nutrients that are marketed specifically to cannabis growers (at the moment, I still use Scotts for the lawns though)

some amazing stuff on the market .... even composts (I now use plagron bat mix ) and use loads of worm humus (vermicompost) .... it makes the likes of John innes look like playsand

google for your nearest hydroponic store .... there are 2 in my area that I never knew even existed

but getting back to musa .... I have planted 2 small ones a few weeks ago .... they have not done anything yet as it's still mild here, but they look ok

so, this is what I have been doing so far...

every 2 weeks, a foliar spray with Advanced Nutrients Iguana Grow (its a combination of seaweed, fish hydrolosate, volcanic rock dusts, humic acids etc etc)

every 2 weeks a soil drench of aerated compost tea made with worm humus, kelp, volcanic rock dust, humic acid, forest topsoil, normal garden topsoil, bat guano, unsulphered black strap molasses, and the water I use is rainwater

all other plants/shrubs such as T-rex, huechera, Ricinus, ferns etc are looking very healthy since I have started using my combination of nutrients

I will add other nutrients as I learn more about them .... calcium plus manganese is a definate as I have read lots about this ... I will try advanced nutrients calmag

seaweed extract is brilliant and I don't know why I waited so long to use it

Re: Time to finally plant my Musa Basjoo
 

Welcome to the fourm Dim! Bananas take a while to take off in the spring. Mine dont really get doing until June when weather in the 80sF and 90sF are common. I start fertilizing when the weather is hot and humid. Just planted my more tropical bananas in the ground this past weekend and my Basjoos are coming up after their first winter!
Very happy to see that they survived, not sure how big they will get though!