vaindioux

Hi

Has anyone stored these bananas in a non freezing basement for the winter? I would like to get your feedback.

-Ensete ventricosum "Maurelii"
-Musa gran nain
-Musa rajapuri
-Dwarf orinoco

Thanks a lot

Patrick
Zone 7-Georgia

Randy4ut

Patrick,
I cannot say how they do in an unheated basement, but I overwintered an orinoco and a raja in my unheated garage last winter... Both were small potted nanners and I simply put them in the garage as is and did not water but twice from Novenber to mid Feb. They both did great until warmer weather and I would take them out for a few hours and watered them early in the day... The raja ended up rotting on me and the orinoco never skipped a beat... The main difference fro the garage and basement would definitely be the light and that is why I didn't trim them and left them in their pot... I will be interested in seeing what others say about the no light situation... I am sure BigDog will be able to give some great advice especially on the orinocos for that is who I got mine from last summer/fall...

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vaindioux

Randy

I appreciate the quick answer. I have stored bananas in my basement for 2 years now.
All bare rooted with only emerging leaf left.

First year:
1 Zebrina
1 Musa cavendish
They both came back when planted.

Second year:
2 Zebrina
1 musa cavendish
1 chinese yellow
1 Tall orinoco

Both the chinese yellow and the orinoco came back and the Zebrinas and cavendish died.

Randy do you consider keeping a banana dormant if you still have it potted and water it even slightly?
I thought dormant meant bare rooted, no light, no freezing temps.

Anyway thanks Randy, I hope we get more opinions.

Patrick

Randy4ut

Patrick,
The orinoco and the chinese yellow (musella lasiocarpus), should be fine if you are in the Atlanta area outside in the ground... I know Bigdog has musella outside in his Knoxville jungle... I am almost positive the orinoco would also do fine outside... I have my first orinoco that I planted outside this past spring that I plan on leaving in the ground... As far as dormant, I guess my nanners in the garage never exactly went "dormant", they just didn't grow any during the cold period... I will be doing that again with several others this coming winter as well as digging and storing bare rooted a couple of ensetes that I did that to last year...

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Andrea

Patrick,
Last winter I stored bare-root: dwarf orinocos, raja puri, icecream, manzanos and goldfingers in my unheated basement.
When planting time arrived this spring, the D. orinocos, raja puri and icecream still had a green leaf.
The manzanos and goldfingers died back to the corm.
I planted the manzano and golfinger corms and both have put out many pups.
My largest D. orinoco is currently blooming.
I wonder if any one has successfully overwintered bare-root manzanos and goldfingers?

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Andrea

vaindioux

Randy

I lost a tall Orinoco last year that I left in the ground, I mulched it well too, it never came back. I guess something might have eaten it (Vole?) without proof of that though as I know they usually do well in ground over winter.
I have 1 chinese yellow that spent 1 winter out already with success. I stored the other chinese in the basement as it was huge and was given to me late in september last year, I didn't want to take a chance with a late transplant, it worked it is gorgeous and I hope for a flower.
Ok so it seems you successfully stored an ensete bare rooted last year. Was it a "Maurelii"? That's 1 of the 4 that I need to know.

Andrea

Thanks so much for confirming successfull storage of the dwarf orinoco and rajapuri. "Ensete ventricosum Maurelii" seems to be a go also so I just need to know if someone stored a "Musa gran nain" with success.
Congrats on your flower, you are in a slightly colder zone than me. I am still working on my first flower but it will happened I am sure even if it's next year.

Thanks Randy and Andrea and keep them coming people!

Patrick
Georgia-7b

bigdog

Patrick,

The Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' stores very well, as does Orinoco. I have had problems with Raja Puri for two years in a row, and am probably going to ditch it next year (or plant it in a bed just for foliage, and if it comes back then great). Kandrian did pretty well also, as did Musella lasiocarpa.

My Ice Creams didn't do so hot this last winter either, and neither did FHIA-03 (Sweetheart), FHIA-01 (Goldfinger), Brazilian, or Hua Moa. One Sweetheart banana came back from the mother pseudostem, but the rest did not. I don't think my crawl space is an ideal spot for dormant bananas though either. It may be too damp, or perhaps I just need to cover up the vents in the winter because too much cold air came in. I was dismayed at my Brazilian pseudostem not surviving, but it did come back from the corm and is growing well now. I now have Dwarf Brazilian to try too. On a side note, I forgot to label my Dwarf Orinoco last Fall (thinking "oh, I'll remember where I put it"), but it's in the garden somewhere, lol. I've narrowed it down...

Regarding what constitutes dormancy, as long as the plant is not growing, that is considered dormant. Most bananas will stop growing somewhere in the low 50s Fahrenheit (cold-hardy species excluded), so that is dormant. Of course, if you strip the roots AND leaves off the plant, lay it on some boards in a cold, dark space...that's about as dormant as you can get. Even so, I pulled my Ensete 'Maurelii' out of the crawl space in spring of '06 and it had grown a large, solid white leaf.

vaindioux

Bigdog

That is a lot of experimentation with dormant bananas you have done. Just like you I ditch what doesn't work, as dormant they have to go for me.
I am through with Zebrina and Dwarf cavendish. It's a bummer to learn that your Rajapuri didn't do good 2 years in a row, we will see how mine fares this winter in my basement.

Thanks again for the detailed post.

Patrick
GA-7

bigdog

Patrick,

I should clarify a little. The bananas that come back from the pseudostem in the spring are the ones I keep. The only reason I keep them under the house like that is to get fruit, which can only be accomplished by having them come back from a pseudostem several feet long. All of the edible cultivars I have tried so far have no problem coming back from the dormant corm, whether or not the pseudostem will survive or not. Some of the species that I've tried under the house didn't make it though, including M. velutina, M. mannii, M. coccinea, and the ornamental hybrid 'M. 'Royal Red'. M 'African Red' stores great as a corm, and is one reason I keep it around (haven't tried it outside over winter yet). The other reason is it will flower in one season for me.

vaindioux

Bigdog

You are a great inspiration for me being up there in Knoxville. It is great news about storing pseudostems for fruits. I grow for foliage and I want my bananas to be as big as they can get and my next hope is to get a flower.
My collection grows yearly by numbers and also species, soon or later one will flower.
Have you stored Zebrinas or Dwarf cavendish? I did ok the first year but they died the second year.

Thanks again

Patrick

bigdog

Thanks, Patrick!

No experience with Zebrina (but I will this year, thanks Jarred!), but I have stored Super Dwarf Cavendish under the house in a pot with mixed results. One year it came back from the pseudostem and started growing like gangbusters. The next year, the pseudostem died, but it sprouted numerous pups from the corm. This past spring, it came back from the pseudostem again. Don't know why I even keep the thing, lol. I'll never see fruit! Oh well, it is a nice foliage plant.