wheelman1976

I'm wondering if some here can chime in with some advice.

I have about 30-35 dwarf Brazilian and red dwarfs that range in size from 3-5 feet that I dug up here in Michigan about a month or so ago. I stacked them like wood in my basement garage where I've found winter temps are great for canna rhizome storage. Anyways, I am seeing what I would assume is leaf die back and I'm seeing a little gray fuzz around the areas that have dried out and died back. My question is is this typical for what one can expect for dry root storage?

My mekong giant, which had four shoots about ready to break ground when I dug it up is starting to shrink a bit too. Normal?

wheelman1976

Man, everyone must be to busy digging up their bananas to answer my question! :-)

Abnshrek

I'd stack them upright. :^)

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wheelman1976

What does stacking them upright do for them versus being laid on their side?

Abnshrek

If they grow when horizontal they may have a blowout in the p-stem since they will attempt to grow vertical. :^)

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wheelman1976

If the temps that they're stored in are between 35-50 that shouldn't be a problem should it?

Abnshrek

you can do what you like, but I'd have digital thermometer down there so you can monitor highs & lows. I was just raising a flag of a possible unseen concern on your part.. :^)

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wheelman1976

I hear you and appreciate it. Wish I wouldn't have gone and built that whole shelf system for all of them to be set on now.... LOL

wheelman1976

Can someone chime into the "drying out" that i think I'm seeing and as to if that's normal for winter storage? Do they come out considerably thinner in the spring?

Pancrazio

Yes, but keep in mind that they need to go out of the soil on for several weeks, so they shouldn't dry too quickly.
Finding the right place to overwinter them is the tricky part, actually. Once settled, i think it can be repeated every year.
Last year i putted all of them in my garage, wich i discovered, was too cold. Rajapuri rotted pretty slowly over 8 weeks from dicember to february, after having shown the first signs of decline... drwarf namwah recovered after being putted in my basement (wich was a little hotter).
Overall the dug method hasn't been a big success for me, but you have got to kill some plant if you want to lear to grow them. And given my climate, it is the only method aviable to grow nanas.

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wheelman1976

Thanks for the insight. This is my first year trying to overwinter mine. I've got a group of 35 dwarf brazilian and dwarf red that I got from a local school. These weren't my choice to grow since I got them for free, so I'm just hoping these will go through the winter in one piece and I something left in the spring to put in the ground that is bigger than when I got them. Time will tell I guess!

pushak513

Just curious what kind of school in zone 6 was trying to grow dwarf reds and brazilians? I mean I would have taken them all for free myself but I would have expected a truck load of bajoo before those.

wheelman1976

It was the local tech center. They have a green house and I don't think they were actually growing them, more like brought them up from florida and were selling them at their mother's day sale. Once school was out, I hit up the instructor and said I'd take them if he didn't want to water them all summer. He said they were written off as a loss on the books so I could take everyone of them. I figure conservatively he gave me about $500 worth of bananas based on how large and established they were.

blownz281

Wow that's awesome! I hope they all survive for you

Abnshrek

I put my outside banana's to sleep for the winter... Heat-tapes are on.. :^)

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blownz281

Only thing I have done is pile mulch around the base of them all,and caged with chicken wire the base. They are still pushing leaves out and my Cavendish have done fine with 2-3 39* temps at night. But we might have not gotten that cold here though. I mulched them real good,then I think I will wrap that with plastic and then place my hoop house over them. They are right up against the house so kinda protected. So we will see if they make the winter whether its a normal one or not. I have spare pups.

Abnshrek

The ones w/ some protection only got christmas lights. :^)

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blownz281

Must have hit pretty low last night,as all my nanners had fried leaves. So they all got a hair cut today and just left the sword leaf on them.

Abnshrek

This bad boy took 28F (Caligold). True test is when it gets down to 26 for 2 nights this week.. :^)

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blownz281

hmm wouldn't think those mini lights would give off enough heat. Now I just need to figure out again how to post on here from photobucket.