cortejuan

Hello,

first of all I am new on this forum (and I am French)

I have a balbisiana which seems to be a "neue art" because it looks like yours. Do you know what is the lowest temperature it can bear?

It is for the moment in a pot but I would like to plant it outside next year. I live in eastern France zone 6/7 with strong winters (lowest temperature about -18 C degrees.


Bye

bigdog

Welcome to the forum! I haven't planted any of my Musa balbisiana 'Neue Art' yet, so I'm not sure. I think they would be good to at least a zone 8a though, and probably zone 7 with some protection. I'll find out next year. By the way, the other name for this banana is M. balbisiana 'Gigantia' (or 'Gigantea', not sure which). Most Musa balbisiana look very similar though when young, so unless you bought seeds that were labaled as such, no telling what you have.

Patty in Wisc

Hi All,
haven't posted here since last Spring when I transplanted my 2 IC bananas inground. I dug them up last week or so, & one is in 5 gal. pot with little soil around, & bigger 1 is laying on west side of sunroom floor on it's side with as much soil I could shake off. The rootball is wrapped in a towel with tarp under. I was surprised at how small the rootballs were! That one was 6 ft tall when planted & is now 12 1/2 ft tall --- that is the one I have dormant laying down. It is bigger because it was in a much bigger pot last winter & will not fit in sunroom in pot. It also has 4 pups - largest is about 3 ft. tall. I hear that they get their energy from mother plant so decided to leave them on.
I cut all but 3 top leaves off of both & the one that is forced into dormancy, I cut the 3 leaves in half.
I might try cutting off 2nd biggest pup & pot it up for a Christmas gift to a friend. (should I take the chance?)
I twisted my left ankle about 5 weeks ago & fractured & tore ligaments in left ankle, so it was a real chore digging & carting them up 4 steps (dolly) to SR. but not so bad! I sure hope that big IC will gorw back next spring & produce 'nannas next year!
Any opinions are welcome.....thanks again Bigdog!
To DaveK...don't water like they are outside. They KNOW it is winter & will be semi-dormant (my opinion).
Pintandeago...no grass is GOOD! I killed all of mine & it is now all wood chips now. YEAAY -- no mowing!
Frankthetank...we are in same boat huh? Sorta? (Hey, how 'bout those Packers & Brett Favre?!)
Question: how do you cut 'nanna plants back from 6-12 ft tall to 2 ft & still have them grow? I thought you have to leave at least the stem growing from top leaf. Isn't this the pseudostem that can't be cut off?
Thanks much...am learning a lot from here & will let you know how my plants overwinter.
I also have a double Mahoi potted that did real well potted over summer. It's 2 lower leaves are yellow but I think it's too moist. Anyone ever tasted one of those? Thanks again.
Patty (geeze, it's getting cold...1st night of frost tonight!)

mikevan

Cutting the stem shorter won't harm that stem so long as it's cut above the originating point of the leaves and it's not about to flower - it'll continue growing from where you cut it. A couple or three feet is a hard cut-back - I'd go for four feet, but I've chopped mine before and had them continue growing from the center. The only time you want to really avoid cutting is when you think that a flower-stalk is coming up the center. If you cut the flower-stalk, that stem will die and you won't get nanners from it. So - younger stems can be cut back if needed, but older stems should be kept intact. Of course, it takes a lot of energy to put out new leaves and heal the wound when there are no leaves feeding the process, so don't do it often or you'll likely end up with a weaker plant and smaller bunch of nanners.

Be well,
Mike

bencelest

What I've been wondering about is how can you tell if there is a flower-stalk inside the p-stem. Is there any slight bulge there? Or any sign?
I have a dwarf Brazilian that is ready to bloom and I keep on watching any tell-tale sign for the flag or shorter leaves but I can't tell by looking at the p-stem if there is a flower ready to come up.

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Banana Nut

Patty in Wisc

Thanks Mike.
Good guestion Benny! Am wondering the same thing.

Patty

bencelest

Patty:
I guess we'll never know and will keep on wondering.

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Banana Nut

mikevan

You'll know when your nanner flowers. You won't see any more sign of the flag leaf coming that you see from regular leaves, and the flower either - if there's any change it's very imperceptible. Unless the flower chokes and splits the stem, that is.

Be well,
Mike

jeff tn

I hate digging them up too.The yard is not the same without them .I put mine in the garage where there is heat.Cant wait til April.Thanks for sharing.

bikoro child

HI everyone ...today was the d day for protecting my bananas .First freeze is coming so you can see what i've done here/http://gardenbreizh.org/photos/ryan/album-5397.html

mcollum83

this is a very imformative thread...thankyou to all of you putting all this imformation down. I have a question for you all. I live in zone four...can I plant mine outdoors as long as I bring them in to winter dormant in my basement when temps are near freezing? What if my basement gets above 55 degrees because a heater duct runs down there? Any information to help me would be great. Thank you all

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Help me, I've gone bananas!

D_&_T

Depends on variety of bananas you have, if you know what kind try reading about them on other threads or in the wiki.

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Dan & Tara
in need of greenhouse

stumpy4700

Thanks bigdog, While searching on how to winterize my bananas is the only way I found this must-have site! This post should be a must read for anyone who is thinking about growing bananas, so for the entire group of newbie's I "Thank-You" . I too live in the Nashvile area and last year I brought my 2 Bananas in the sunroom. They were only about 2 ft tall so they didn't take up much space.They did survive that but I put one out too early and 1 died. So far this year I'm up to 6 Plants so I might have to try the garage. There is no telling how many banana lives you have save but I just want you to know that your time was well spent posting this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!