Heater

While I'm here -- can anyone tell me what kind of banana I have on the lef there?

frog7994

Any one have a comment or openion my Rhino Horn? Over the last 2 weeks I got some cool weather here I'm in zone 10 but in the morning I can see my breath. The AF is really taking a beating are they that cold sensitive?

v1rtu0s1ty

Good evening folks. Here is my overwintering in the ground experiment for a 4 month old 2 ft p-stem Basjoo. We'll see if it's going to survive our zone 5a winter. I put mulch around the base then covered it with insulation, then covered it with trash can then finally covered it with trash bag. I'll post pics in May 2009 either dead or alive. I'm sure this can serve as a lesson. So, don't follow my experiment for now. Hehehe.

Patty in Wisc

That handsom young man looks too proud of a job well done. I'll bet he did all that insulating!!!
I'm glad you are trying this. I just read about basjoo & 2 places say they can survive winter into zone 3, & maybe only some leaves will die ---I don't believe that! Am looking Fwrd to May. Good luck.
BTW when it snows, pile all you can on it for more insulation.

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Patty




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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

jeffreyp

I would suggest using a pipe heating cable to wrap around the stem (set the thermostat to 40 degrees.)

dablo93

yesterday i brought the last bananas inside because the temperature was already for a long time betwen the 0 and 10 celcius and my zebrina was getting softer so im just right on time.
only the basjoo is still standing outside, he will stay the whole winter outside. this week we get frost, around -2 and snow so we'll see how it will look after that
it doesnt get any protection for -2.

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Pamlico Betty

Great thread! Most of my tropicals are planted at my coastal cottage. We are experiencing hard freezing temps a month and a half early this year. Tues I drove nearly 6 hrs round trip to save my favorite bananas. Finished digging by flashlight. It's comforting to know what some may view as extreme measures is considered the norm for this board.
Mitzi

Panaroma

I did some insulating experiments myself in in the past. Insulation is great but one has to allow somekind of airmovement. Prone to rotting is the main problem. So always insulate and circulate, works best for me.

hilashes

Happy New Year everyone! I joined in October with a brief intro....I'm from Vancouver Canada, zone 8 and a newbie to owning my first banana- a Musa Basjoo. I Love this forum and thanks again to a few members for their great advice when I joined, on how to overwinter in our area. After my post I ended up buying a 'banana jacket', retailing at $19 cdn. I pruned all the leaves and used them to mulch all around, covered the mother plant with this insulated black tube. I stuffed a couple of plastic grocery bags through the top to keep it dry inside, also keeping it ventilated. I left the very small pups exposed (the nursery said they'll be fine and come back in the spring).
.. having said that...
Vancouver experienced what was the most bizarre winter since 40 years ago, with unusual night time temps dropping to -20C in some areas, with snow at least 60cm high within 2 week period. No one was prepared for this so us banana lovers are pretty much bracing ourselves for the spring time to see if everything survived it all. Man, talk about anxiety!

Now a lot of the snow has been washed away by tons of rain and our temperatures have stabilized to a normal range. I had to stand the Basjoo back to its upright position after it flopped over from the storms. I think it's actually ok! Here is a picture of the banana after I covered it back in October, way before all the extreme temps and snowfall.
Stay warm and looking forward to meeting more of you!

From the Great North West Coast,
Heidi

Attached Images

banana forum.jpg (149.6 KB, 60 views)

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chong

Hello Heidi,
The small pups are the ones that require greater protection than the big Mama corm. Oh! well, the worst may have passed. I just hope the little pups survived the recent freeze. I work with someone whose wife lives in Vancouver and goes home over there during the weekends and holidays. He tells me that the snow was pretty bad over there during the holidays. He said it was even worse than the one we had here in the Seattle area.

Nice to hear from you!

Chong

hilashes

Hi Chong! thanks for the feedback...oh no I'm doomed. lol Here's keeping our fingers crossed for the spring! I was told that as long as the mother is protected the rest will just come back. In our zone, that is probably true if we hadn't experienced the harsh weather. I was watching the Seattle area during the holidays and noticed we DID have it worse than you! eesh. I'm hoping that was a once-in-a 50-year incident. If they survive this one they will most likely endure any other from here on.

Good to meet you Chong! Hope you are warming up like we are!

From the North West Coast,
Heidi

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From The Canadian West Coast!

chong

Hello again Heidi,
Yes, indeed, if those puppies survived that blast of sub-zero weather without protection, they certainly can survive our normal weather here.

Yes, we're warming up a little here, thank you. Although there are mornings where we still get 28°-30°F (-2 to -1°C) temperatures. And occsional snow. And I still wear my woolen overcoats. Back in the early 80s, I used to fly to Barrow, Alaska, wearing only a suit and a raincoat, and I felt comfortable. Now, I feel as if I just came back from the tropics. Must be that Global Warming thing, eh? (I couldn't help that one!)

I'm very pleased to meet you also. Hopefully, we can get together this summer for a mini-convention, or just meet with the other Northwesterners. Inoneer, from Vancouver, and I were tallking about this briefly a few months ago, when he got married. I guess there are more of you members from B.C. now, than in WA.

Warm regards,
Chong

hilashes

Chong,

That certainly does sound like a fun idea for the summer! Inoneer was a Vancouver member I met last Oct. when I joined. I'm looking forward to meeting more from here, I don't think there's nearly enough!

Ah yes the "Global Warming Thing"...lol I'm with you on that one!
Our AM temps are the same as yours, although we haven't seen anymore snow. I'm sure from here on will be the typical rainy weather. I'll take it over snow anyday, as will my Basjoo!

Take care Chong and talk again soon. Stay warm!

Heidi

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Chironex

I gotta say that you did the nicest job wrapping your banana. That's so neat and tidy looking. At the risk of sounding biased, you can tell that it was done by a woman. A man would have duct tape all around it, uneven edges, plastic hanging from top and bottom, blowing in the wind, 3 different colors of plastic, etc, etc.

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Scot

hilashes

LOL I like you Chironex (Scot)! I hear where you're coming from! Pleased to meet you, I look forward to more of your posts!

Heidi

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Bob

Whats wrong with duct tape and 3 different colors of plastic?

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hilashes

Hi Bob! it all depends on the colour palette of course!

Glad I met this bunch

Heidi

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Chironex

Thanks Heidi! I equate it to how I wrap presents versus the ladies at the giftwrap department. Hehe! I think gift bags were created for men so that they would not have to wrap in gift paper, wouldn't you agree?

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Scot

chong

hilashes

Hey thanks Chong..

And yes I completely agree Scot!

Heidi

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