tastyratz

I think there are a lot of posts in this thread which could be useful in the wiki, but they are not necessarily fact or something that might translate well. If this were trimmed down to 5 pages it would look awfully out of place in a wiki in its current form, don't you think?
Testimony, one persons method deviation, and single person experience with a species are more "case law" than written.

I think a combination of the 2 would be an excellent idea. Anything that would work well in the wiki entered while the thread is also trimmed up.

Jack Daw

If someone can definitely say what the meat and potato part is then maybe. But it would only solve the "problem" temporarily and somebody would have to do it all over again next year and the year after that, as more posts and people come to the forum.

It's a sticky thread already, that should hint everybody that there's much to be extracted from the thread and it's just up to the individuals to make the effort.

What I think would be more effective is, if someone, and again that's not definite, would like to collect the information, extract it, add pictures and post it to the site as a document file. This way you could even prepare the "beginner's package", i.e. something that every new forum member could find in his/her inbox as a basic extraction of the most important information on this (and other) respected topic.

Still, it would require lots of time and effort to do such a thing. And I'm not sure who would have that time and be willing to do that.



I appreciate your idea and thanks for pointing it out.

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Bob

Yeah this thread is pretty long now and with a lot of comments likely to stray off topic ( I should go back and check my own "contributions") Still for me growing in a colder zone its one of the greatest ever on the org and one I occaisionally.... like at this time of year when I'm about to turn my spine in to a pretzel shaped gelatinous mass... go back and read it in it's entirety and just skim over the fluff. I always reccomend it to newer members to read from first to last post.

For the record I'll be posting with pics in a couple of weeks when I try to cram all the bananas and ensetes into my tiny root cellar.

Not sure if it was mentioned in here but there was a web site posted around the org from Germany the past few years and I lost it when I got my new computer this year. Anyway this guy Roland had posted in it over the years a giant E. Maurelii and it turned out that it did much better stored upright so I did mine that way last year when my two foot tall plant turned in to this 6 ft monster ( it's about 14 overall):

I'm planning on modifying the "Bigdog" technique to try and store these and the bigger bananas at least tilted upwards if not straight up and down and see if that helps improve survival and promote earlier growth than those left prone.

If anyone wanted to collaborate I'd be interested in helping prepare the most important points for the wiki.

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mbfirey

I'll probably do the "upright" storage too- since I'm doing it in the garage and it could go either way...
I was pondering which way to go...

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colldp68

I thought I'd share some pictures of my bananas grown in Zone 5, Western New York. I potted them up and brought in doors today.

PAbananas

Put in a small root cellar for my nanas. When putting them inside do I wrap them with something ( I was thinking of using newspaper)? I no the cellar will get alittle damp, not much I can do to stop it. Does any think this my cause root or any other problems? if so, do you have any suggestions? I only saved 10 5' bananas because of space and left a couple in the ground just incase.Taller ones are just to heavey for me. Thanks in advance:

Bob

I think some humidity might actually be good for them and may even prevent the roots from drying ,but not sure I'd wrap them which would keep the psuedostems even wetter.

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bananarama2

Back again! The main problem with overwintering plants is trying to put them into a state of "suspended animation" as it were, since the current conditions do not encourage or support active growth. With bananas, being tropicals that are probably 90% moisture, it's a tough call between preventing freezing and encouraging rot. Active growth stops around 14degrees C, so storing between maybe 5 to 10 degrees C would seem ideal, along with maintaining just enough moisture content to sustain green plant tissue survival would seem to be key. Peat moss works well for this, since it absorbs moisture, keeping the actual plant surfaces dry, but maintains a humid zone around the plants. Newspaper has a long history of being used just the same way, to pack around things to wick moisture away from surfaces. Keeping direct moisture away from the newspaper is important however. Packed around the corms of bananas in a suitable above freezing location could have real potential.....IMHO! Anything that might work to help banana survival for those who have to overwinter in cold climates!

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saltydad

Well, I'm sitting down after watching the Yankee game and the weather report comes on. I haven't paid much attention the last few days as I was bringing my Mom back and forth to the doctors. I hear the weatherman say something about it going down to 34 F in the suburbs, which is where I live. I immediately start pulling in the plants on my patio. I got all the smaller plumeria inside in the basement where they will winter. I brought in all the potted palms- pygmy date palms, a Sabal tamaulipas and an unknown palmate palm that I took home after my sister's 50th birthday party. It was the table decoration, and was bought from HD, but no one remembers what variety, and it's not in one of their blue pots that denotes cold hardy. The sago got pulled in, along with both brugs (both have buds on them). The bougainvillea also came inside; I expect it to drop it's leaves as it usually does when I bring it in. It's in full bloom too. Now I have to see what else I can fit inside at midnight. Normally I spray everything a day or so in advance of the move, and lay down plastic over the carpet. This time it's just pull them inside. The irony is that it's going up to the 70's tomorrow! I've not dug any of my gingers, palms ( European fan palms and a large Butia capitata) or 12 varieties of bananas (not counting the basjoos, needle palms and windmill palms which stay out) yet. The caladiums and cannas and ee's are OK; they need the frost to help start the corm into dormancy. I also have a very large plumeria (7 foot tall) that is in bloom now. I winter it bare root on the basement floor, but I'll have to see if I can bring it in without knocking off all the leaves and blooms as I guess I'll be keeping it in the pot. I have a large double vertical wrought iron planter that has my mandevilleas in it. Guess they'll have to take their chances tonight as the planter is too big for me to bring in by myself. Wish me luck; it's already 39F. I really was caught short this year by the 1st frost. :-(

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Bob

Same here Howard, lots of stuff still oustside including plumeria and the larger bananas in the ground . I brought most of the last porch plants in before it got dark and now just hoping we dont get that first frost tonight but it's not looking good. Tomorrow everything's getting dug for sure though I wont wrap the hardy plants for another month.

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Bob

If you go back to the first post in this thread I'll quote Frank and say

"It's the time of year that I dread...time to dig up the bananas."

Now I understand Bigdog.......
Between last week and this I got all the smaller plants in the front porch and yesterday and today moved the heavyweights in to the root cellar for the winter. Here's some random shots of the "fun".

I could barely dig them nevermind move them with ease so the handtruck was essential:


then they had to go up the stairs do get them back down underground in the root cellar fortunately I had help..... Swiss mountain dogs were bred and developed to pull heavy loads..... I got the slacker of the breed and she just watched:

A Ca. gold and what was one dwarf namwah that I had to remove the "pup" just to be able to lift them and then used a plywood ramp to get them down to the stairs underneath the porch.


Next up was the E. Maurelii in the driveway garden. I had to remove the Alocasias and do some other pruning to get things cleaned up.




the leaves on these Ensetes are just huge... I'm 6' tall and can reach up about 8' here's one of the E. Glaucum leaves:

I was stunned at the size of the base on the Maurelii! Here it is with a yardstick or scale.


After a lot of work and sweat I finally got it on the handtruck and it was ready for the trip indoors for the winter. It is much heavier than it looks.....My chiropractor will verify this.

Sebastian here who weighs close to 120 lbs was no help either!


Finally I got just about everything including the plumeria inside( broke my heart to dig it up because it was still blooming) but.... the heavy work's done till I get the joy of reversing the process in spring!
Here's a peek inside the "banana dungeon":

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Dalmatiansoap

Hat down Bob!
Impresive job done.
And I get nervous whan I have to relocate pots

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saltydad

I still haven't dug anything yet, as I am trying to let my back recuperate from a strain earlier last week. However, a status report. Everything brought inside looks great. No dropped leaves or blooms (yet). Now the weird part. Everything still outside seems to have been unaffected by the cold temps the other night. The only ee to suffer was my Pink China, which was already shutting down for the season. The following ee's all are still doing fine, and some are blooming- Black Magic, LimeAde, Maui Magic, Mojito, Persian Palm, Lime Zinger, Hilo Beauty, Illustris, Teacup, Jack's Giant, gageana.The following bananas are also fine still in the ground- basjoo (of course), lasiocarpa (of course), Ensete Maurelli, ventricosum, and glauca, Siam Ruby, Orinoco, zebrina, DC, velutina, sikkim Darjeeling Giant, IC, Bordelon. The caladiums are all in the process of foliage dying. My large P. selloum is fine, as are the cannas and mandevilleas and tropical hibiscus and my large plumeria, which all continue to bloom. So I can continue to enjoy my jungle landscape for a bit more of the fall.

I am constantly amazed at the resilience of many of the tropical and subtropical plants. While all still need to be dug up and stored or potted up, it is reassuring to see such cold resistance to a single night of frost temps. Luckily it was not a wet night.

Way to go Bob; you put me to shame!

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"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
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tastyratz

Ya know all of my bananas right now are small enough potters to fit in my basement with all leaves (one just barely)

My plan has been to leave all of the leaves and just stick them semidormant on a cement shelf by the foundation in front of a casement window.
I recently sprayfoam insulated my sill plate though and the uunfinished nheated basement is MUCH MUCH warmer than it was!

My guess is it wont get below 50 down there now if not staying more towards 58 or so normally.

I wonder if that's going to be a problem for me and the dinky casement window?.
I'm in nh z5/6 so I don't have much of a middleground unfortunately

bananarama2

Three persons to acknowledge in one topic post.....

Firstly, Bob, you are truly the epitome of dedication! You put many of us to shame with the amount of effort you put into your hobby! We are not worthy!

Saltydad, ...I think there's a fine line with cold and humidity and how it affects tender plants. We occasionally have light frosts here on Vancouver Island, but due to the high humidity, I have yet to see actual frost damage. The same temperatures and dry air would burst the cells of the plants, killing the tissues. The high humidity actually produces a sort of insulating blanket on plants here, so the frosts don't seem to have a damaging effect. Sometimes good to -3 or -4 Celsius without harm as a result. Your high humidity with the Atlantic hurricane season may have improved your survival rates. Interesting!

Tastyratz, ....I'd be very interested to hear in the spring how your setup for this year works out. It sounds like it may have real potential. I think you could easily hang a flourescent light or two, and maybe a fan for air circulation, and have a winning solution to overwintering bananas and similar tropicals. Best of luck with it!

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cheson74

I dug up 2 Ensete Maurellis, cut off but 1 leaf on each plant. Then I wrapped each in a fleece blanket. They both got stored in the crawl space under the house. Hopefully both will make through the winter. Both were 2 large to bring inside. Below is one of the plants. I bought them both from Sandy and both were tiny compared to what they are now!

I potted up the SDC's, a Soba and Praying Hands. They were brought inside and placed under some fluorescent lights in my office. I'll take some pictures of the setup later.

Taken around 10 July 2010



Taken this past weekend

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saltydad

Rik- thanks for the post. You're exactly right about humidity. When I managed a garden center, we would turn on the sprinklers on the annuals when we were due a frost; the ice so formed would insulate as snow does.

__________________
Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/ and
http://community.webshots.com/user/saltydad
http://s751.photobucket.com/albums/xx151/saltydad/

PAbananas

BOB Unbelivable. A few questions if you don't mind. Some of you plants are lying down and some upright and none wrapped. Do you have any problem with drying out? My winters are cold and I am not sure what I am doing. Last year I built 5' enclosers around all my bananas and filled them with mulch. It worked ok but 15 yards of mulch is not cheap. This is my first year in a cold cellar and cold use all the advice I can get. I dug all but 2 bananas to put in the cellar. My one mistake was I poured a floor in the cellar instead of leaving it dirt. I don't no if thats going to cause a problem? I hope not.

Max363

When I started with my banana "hobby" a few years back, in the fall I dealt with 2-3' DCs, baby bords and seedling and seed grown ensetes. Now as the years have passed, I founnd myself wrestling with giants today that are my size and almost weigh as much as me! How did that happen? ;-) ... LOL
Even though this bed would a great display for halloween night - I was too chicken to risk it with one TV station saying Fri nite's low will be 30 while the Weather Channel is saying saying 37!









From 5" to "big enough for my petite self" to hide behind in 20 months!!

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