Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

Weather says its going to get down to 39F in my area Sunday night, do you think its time to put the Ae Ae's in the Nursery?

The next day the weather reports show it warming up a few degrees then by Christmas the lows overnight are back up to the 50's...

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

Temp here have been down to 39f a couple times. My aeae in an unheated greenhouse and my ELE ELE outdoors are still growing. The kru seems to be the only bsanana I have that has stalled.

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

yah I have been still getting growth even after we got down in the low 40's for a bit.

Tony you think I should be alright and just keep my eyes out for our first frost warning and worry about it then?

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

They're such nice plants you got and valuable. I'd consider wrapping them or at least rig a blanket over them for the coldest nights if you're not bringing them in.

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

Sounds like good advice to me. I made a shelter using Thermal Blanket for the ele ele

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

I can move them into the green house its not that much of a problem I just thought they would do well getting the extra sun they get outside as opposed to inside.

I would rather just move them then construct something to cover them if that is the consensus from all of you. The tallest one is almost 10ft tall...

They are all in 35 gallon pots...

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

djmb74 How is your French horn doing with the cooler weather? This is another plant that has stalled this winter

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

Its still putting out new leaves pretty vigorously!

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

Better safe than sorry with these plants, I think.

My friend had a fairly tall one -- about six or seven feet tall, he said -- that he planted in the ground here in Camarillo. We are Zone 10, but he is slightly colder than what I get. His AeAe was in the ground, and the cold killed it last winter. It died to the ground. This makes me nervous about putting mine in the ground in the future.

My new variegated acquisitions are all in an unheated greenhouse. The down side is that it gets intensely hot during the day if I don't vent it. I am withholding water this time because I killed my last four with too much water. This time, I'll probably kill them by keeping them too dry in a hot-house environment. The adeniums really like it in there though.

But about you...I would protect those beauties of yours this time of year no matter what the forecast. They are incredibly expensive to replace.

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

I may be wrong but I think if the soil can be keep on the dry side an AE AE will make it in zone 10. Pretty sure it's the wet soil combined with the cold that does them in.

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

I'm sure you're right, Tony. I just have to keep from overwatering. Our winters have been pretty dry, and when rain comes, it is usually warmer by a few degrees. They say it will be an El Nino winter this year with lots of rain. My variegated ones will probably go into the ground in the spring. I want a grove like all you guys have!

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

I planted a 2 1/2' Ae Ae pup outside last yr. October/ November in very fertile, well prepaired soil. Added lots of organic goodies and gave it the same care as all the other bananas ( water, ferts. etc. ). I wanted to see if it could make it through the winter months without any special care, (protection), and it grew and pupped vigorously! A good friend suggested that I plant it in the ground instead of potting it up and he was right. This paticular Ae Ae seems to be extremely vigorous and was the least affected out of all my other naners. We had 3 nights near freezing and one night of lite frost. It pretty much fried my fhia-18 completely, and a few other naners suffered some leaf burn but the Ae Ae seemed unfazed. Now I have 2 different Ae Ae's growing and established and am waiting to see how they make it! The second one has a bit more white in it and is less vigorous.
I'm in zone 10a and about 2 mi from the ocean so that helps alot, if I were 10 miles inland it would be considered zone 9 and I'm not sure they would have done nearly as well.

Re: Looking for everyone's opinion...
 

I went ahead and put everything I have thats in a pot in the nursery... took me a day and half. LOL

they are jammed in there a little tight but hopefully that won't cause any problems...