gregsmith

Have just started putting bananas to rest outdoors in Pa. I have eight musa basjoos with between twelve and thirty pseudostems each, two orinicos with
one pseudostem each and one dwarf brazillian with three pseudostems.
The dwarf brazillian is currently with fruit (has been since August). one of the musa basjoo has one large bud, we'll see how it makes it over the winter.

This will be the third winter outdoors for the musa basjoos and the second
winter for the orinocos and dwarf brazillian.

I cutoff the pseudostems at six feet in heigth and form a cage out of 2x4
wire mesh fencing, cover that with polyethelene and fill the cage with leaves and whatever vegetation I can find.

Three of the musa basjoos I cut off at one foot above ground and take a large black plastic tub and fill it with leaves and invert the tub over the plants and place a large rock on the tub so that the high winds won't blow it away.

I haven't noticed any difference in the end of season plant size by doing either of the two methods.

My best musabasjoo reached sixteen feet to the leaf ends. It was planted at the north side of the house where it gets no sun and faces the cold north winds all winter. It has eighteen pseudostems with a diameter of six feet.
No flowers as of yet, but I am expecting some in the summer.

This summer I had four flowers on the musa basjoo but they withered away and did not produce fruit.

My dwarf brazillian and velutina have both produced fruit and am hoping to eat the dwarf brazillian fuit sometime at the end of November.

Indoors, I have fourteen varieties (twenty plants total), nothing over four feet. I have fourteen additional varieties planted as seeds.

My goal is to have a least ten varieties winter over outdoors with protection.

So far this has been easier then what I have been told it would be. I know that we have had mild winters in the past few years. One of my biggest problems has been the invasiveness of the bananas.

My wife is starting to make comments about my going bananas to everyone we meet!

The neighbors have made remarks about the mini-silos I have in my front yard! So far I have ignored them!

More random thoughts later,

Greg Smith

garnetmoth

How do you have a Brazilian outside still? weve had frost.

What do you have indoors? pics?

I have small TC dwarfs in pots this winter....

mrbungalow

Cool! A banana-grower in PA! I used to live in Pittsburgh, and I remember the winters could be very cold for a relatively long period. How cold do you get where you are? And can you really treat brazilians like basjoo?

Erlend

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gregsmith

Yes I do have pictures, I need to learn how to post them! We have not had any frost yet. I live on top of a hill with no windbreak for 7 or 8 miles. As a rule I don't get frost until November and not a lot of frost all winter. There is always a strong wind blowing. Last spring I removed the protective cages and leaf mulch from the bananas on April 1st. We had no frost after that date, but some close calls. I had the cages ready to go and had to check Weatherbug.com daily. The weather turned nasty last evening, so I decided to pack the dwarf brazilian with leaves. I left the fruit on the plant and will check in two weeks to see how it is doing. One successful winter with the d.b. does not prove that the way that I protect the plants will work every year but I am hopefull. I will have to come up with a list of the plants that I have. I purchased a sampler seed set from rare palm seeds two years ago and most of the seeds germinated. I have been buying both seeds and plants on e-bay.

I give most of my plants away to local gardeners that stop to see what kind
of plants these are! Usually, every inquirer leaves with a least one banana plant! People ask me if they are palms or rubber trees!

It has been nice to show people both fruit and flowers this year!

Once a plant gets to big to move, it stays outside! Its between the plant,
myself and God as to whether it survives!

Greg Smith

mudcat25

Hello Greg Smith. I live in Mo and have only been messing with bananas for about two years. My wife bought me my first two bananas two years ago and ever since they have been my favorite plants to care for. I don't know a whole lot about them that's why I'm here learning alot from many posts. Thank you for posting how to keep basjoos outside for the winter. May save my back next year from the big ones.

mrbungalow

Any bananas from the keystone-state this year? This all seems too good to be true! Dwarf Brazilian banana-bunches in Z 6!

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cactus6103

Great post gregsmith! Once you learn how to post pics, please do so. I am new at this and trying to learn what I can from fellow members. Red

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Family, Friends and Bananas

mrbungalow

Hey Greg, did your plants survive this winter?

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