sunsetsammy

Wow after a couple wicked wind storms and some freezing nights my basjoos are looking rough.

Las Palmas Norte is just down island and claims he leaves his out all year. Totally unprotected I'm not sure?

After record breaking rainfalls in November I hope these ones make it.

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norteno

Wow, must have gotten several freezing nights! If the trunks aren't mushy to the touch you can still wrap them up to save them for next season. Otherwise, basjoos will pretty reliably resprout from the base next spring. As far as leaving a basjoo outside totally unprotected in the northwest and not having it have heavy damage that would have to be some kinda microclimate!

lorax

LPN also has an amazing microclimate. I'd be chopping those guys back to the firm pstem and wrapping them in burlap, if I were you.

jack hagenaars

I chop the leaves off...then fill garbage bags with oak leaves and stack them up the stem....nice little winter coat...then the leaves roll out of the stem in the spring....

sunsetsammy

Thanks for the responses.

I'm not sure about the microclimate comments. Winters up here are cold, wet and gray. There isn't much sunshine to really warm anything up anywhere. The only real microclimate would be shelter from the wind.

So far the p-stems of these bananas are still firm and green.

I used to dig and store in the garage but after hearing about LPN and others leaving their plants outdoors I thought I would give it a try. Now I'm second guessing my decision.

Cage and mulching are options but I have about 8 large basjoos and some have a lot of pups. Seems like a ton of work and possibly some $$$. Digging might be easier at this point.

Oddly I have two small basjoos in pots that were outside through the same storms and cold. They had more shelter from the wind so the leaves were still okay. I recently moved them into the greenhouse and they now look terrible. Leaves have turned all yellow and died. I considered digging some of the smaller basjoos and potting them for storage in the greenhouse but now I don't know if that is a good idea either.

I might just mulch around the base of each plant and let the p-stems die and hope they re-sprout next year. Will I get good height/size out the plants?

I guess I have enough for a fun experiment if I get really enthusiastic.

norteno

I personally think it is a shame to dig them because you will lose so much root mass when basjoos are perfectly hardy here. Plus if left in the ground they will eventually form a grove which is a cool look. If you leave them alone the stems may or may not die back depending on the winter. If they die, they will resprout and height attained will depend on how established the plant is among other things but will likely not ever exceed 5 foot trunk height in our climate. From the look of yours I would say three feet is more realistic.

What I do is wrap with Owens corning fiberglass insulation to top of stem , plastic wrap from the kitchen to waterproof and burlap for cosmetics (entirely optional) and this way they will always take off again from where you left them. I wrap only SOME of my favorite trunks and let the others fend for themselves so you see it would not be too bad to just wrap several of your best stems, not everything in the garden. This way you will start to get some real HEIGHT and size out of them.

jeffreyp

Sammy,

Seems like microclimate is a big part of the picture up your way. I think it's a little late now, but going forward into next year try some freezepruf on the leaves.

Best,

Jeff

sunsetsammy

Hey thanks again,

Norteno where are you located?

I should have included some more photos. My biggest two stands of basjoo have stems which are between 5 and 6 feet tall. These are the ones I've been digging every winter. Up until this summer they have always grown very quickly once planted out in the spring. This summer however all my basjoos were very slow growing despite some of the best weather we've had here for years.

I was under the impression that digging them was slowing them down due to having to re-establish roots. Maybe in years gone by when the plants were smaller the digging didn't slow them down too much because they didn't need as extensive of a root system???

I think I will add some mulch and try wrapping some of the stems. I've put so much work into these guys it would be a shame to lose them.

thanks again.

sunsetsammy

Wow, I went out to investigate more closely. I cut off a few leaves and they were icy inside! eek! One of the stems had actually burst open from the ice expanding.

Anyhow I think the stems are goners at this point. I piled some mulch/dirt around the bases so hopefully the corms will make it.

It really makes me wonder about people on the island here claiming they leave their basjoos out all winter unprotected. Microclimate or not the top layer of ground was crispy frozen here today and it wasn't even that cold. It was actually sunny. Heck the ones in the greenhouse are looking terrible too so I don't know how much better of a microclimate you can get. Anyhow time will tell I guess....

It could be a sad spring.

The Hollyberry Lady

sunsetsammy

Somewhat of a misconception in my opinion. I've lived in Vancouver, Victoria, and Comox (on the island) for 25 years. Sure in the spring time you can easily see that places like Victoria warm up sooner. I believe they are about a month ahead of a place like Comox.

Every winter though we usually get a decent cold streak where the temps drop below zero. Sometimes we get a good dump of snow. The snow usually only lasts until it starts raining again. When it rains and there is cloud cover the temps are indeed mild. However in the dead of winter when it's cold, icy, and snow on the ground it is cold everywhere. There is no magic microclimate.

If the basjoos are indeed hardy enough to survive without ANY protection at all then I'll be truly amazed. Like I said the ground in full sun a few days ago was frozen solid at least a couple inches down. I have experienced them surviving under a very thick layer of mulch but it will be interesting to see what happens with these ones come spring time.

Anyhow I went to price some burlap at Home Depot yesterday and a roll of 100' is $30. For future reference how many wraps of burlap per stem? Or how thick do you wrap?

bananarama2

Coastal areas of Vancouver Island do experience definite micro-climate conditions, largely due to the temperature moderation of the ocean waters on local air masses. This is particularly evident on the east side of the island, although it does not mean extremes do not occur. Our latest cold snap has instantly ended the season for any tender perennials and most annuals, which includes bananas. Saving any stem material was a matter of timing to be sure. In a bit of a panic, I cobbled together what I think is going to work out as an excellent protection system for my two bananas (a Chinese yellow and a basjoo). Using nothing more complicated than a jigsaw and a cordless drill, I selected 6 larger plastic nursery pots, and cut the bottoms out of each of them, leaving a one inch lip all the way round the bottom. Stacked up pyramid style, I drilled 3 holes in the top lip of each of them, using sheet metal screws to fasten them together. The holes in the lip of the bottom and largest pot are for anchor pegs. I used some steel tent pegs I happened to have. I placed these over the bananas, filled about halfway up with peat moss (does not re-wet easily, keeping the enclosure dry) and filled the top half with tightly packed dry leaves. Coincidentally, an uncut 3 gal. pot makes a perfectly fitting cap for the stack. I may place a garbage bag over the stack later if heavy rains cause excess water infiltration, but so far, I'm excited and pleased at the results and prospects for "happy bananas" in the spring. I'll post a note when the stacks come off in the spring to let everyone know how this works for me. Easy and cheap....gotta like it!

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sunsetsammy

Well here I am on the east coast of Vancouver Island. It finally decided to snow today. Not too bad yet they're saying about 6 inches overnight.

So anyway I decided to take a cruise over to waterfront to check out these elusive BC microclimates. When I got there it was incredible! Right next to the ocean amidst all this snow and winter was tiny pocket of microclimate. The sun was shining and there they were in all their glory. A couple banana trees unprotected and beautiful. They were even putting out fruit! The flowers were blooming and people were actually sun tanning. It was a little taste of summer in December. Truly amazing!!

(If there is a sarcastic banana icon please insert here) LOL!!!

bananarama2

I guess that would indicate the end of this thread then.....

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sunsetsammy

Just having some fun bananarama. I need something to make me laugh with all this cold weather.

Basjoo's are looking real rough around now.

I wonder if you could take the temperature inside your potted structure. It would be interesting to know how big of a difference it makes.

bananarama2

No offense taken! I personally don't appreciate sarcasm, and just felt that the topic was a serious one for those checking in, and chose not to follow that line. On the structures....my main focus is to stabilize the temps, which includes mulching to keep the latent heat ( I know, what heat?) of the earth as near the surface (near the rootmass), and maintain that extra heat (okay, lack of cold) as far up the stem as possible. As most people have told me since moving to the, ahem, micro-climate of Vancouver Island, many bananas are hardy here, but I'm guessing hardy like tulips and lilies, not hardy like, say rhododendrons. No allusions on my part to being anywhere but part of Canada, but open to the notion that some years are much milder than the last two have been. And, I'll put a little checkmark and letter "s" (for sarcasm, a recognized form of humor) beside your name for future reference. Glad you cleared that up for me. I tend to give everyone the benefit of a doubt, then wait for them to prove me wrong. Thought you did that, but you proved me wrong. Glad to call you friend, friend.

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sunsetsammy

Hey no worries here either. Sarcasm never works on these kinds of forums. My mistake. Glad we cleared that up.

I would agree with the tulip/lily comment. Like I said I have been living on the island for many years. I can remember years ago thinking that snow was such a novelty during the winter. Lately however it seems that we have been getting snow fairly consistently every year. All this talk about global warming and in my opinion it's getting colder!

Good luck with your bananas and hopefully your protection methods prove successful.

Cheers