Col

I’m in Pittsburgh and would like advice on how warm the nights must be to uncover my banana plants. Thank you.

pjkfarm

We are in Virginia, zone 6b (this year 7 for sure). We uncovered 2 weeks ago. Low since then has been 29.8 F. no damage to plants which had already leafed out (maybe a tiny bit of burn at leaf edges, but all of these leaves will go anyway as they are weak. Had another night of 31. All plants looking happy and new leaf production looks good (the curled leaf)

scottu

assuming you are growing basjoo cause you are uncovering in zone 6 or 7. you have been good for a while now as long as you are ready to cover for a night or two when temps drop well below freezing

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Viva La Banana

cincinnana

Welcome to the Jungle.....

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WindyCityzen

I uncovered mine about a month ago. Granted, I've kept my eye on the weather and covered them back up a few times when the temperature was going to dip rather low. I'll be doing it again one night this weekend. Showing about 3 inches of growth so far, not bad, considering the ground temperature is still only hovering around 50º here in Chicago. This cold spring has really thrown my spring planting for a loop.

pjkfarm

ground temp in Chicago at 50? Wow! Here in Va. it is still high 40's (measured at 1 -2 inch down.
Tomorrow night will be fun - supposed to be 35 - but windy, so will keep fingers crossed.

WindyCityzen

Yeah, well the concrete jungle here loves to absorb solar heat all day and radiate it back out all night. I actually measured myself about an hour ago at 56° but I don’t know how accurate my thermometer is. My garden is also full, unrelenting sun, all day long, so it’s probably not a very accurate example of the entirety of the area.

cincinnana

Uncover at last frost.....which for me was this morning....


I was busted on so many levels.....

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pjkfarm

And here in Va. tonight will be last cold one. ALL our basjoo are growing like wild (2 new leaves on most, colocasia popping out of ground everywhere (have like 500 various places). The colos were an experiment leaving them in the ground with very light mulch, but such a mild winter did not learn a great deal other than they did not rot. Sure has saved a huge amount of work digging and replanting. This year we will leave even more in the ground and see what happens. (Will always dig a few for that rare (but more common) vicious winter as the climate warms to have replacements. We plant on raised beds with vinca and liriope, so if we really have a problem with their returning, we will not have a bare patch of dirt and weeds - the vinca and liriope make a very pleasant ground cover which tolerates their shade. We will be throwing in a few hellebore this year as well.
BTW, anyone on this forum who is a good writer and could help the Foundation write a history and description of the gardens?