Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

I am thinking I might like to add a Saba to my collection, but before I think anymore about it, I wanted to get my facts straight... Would a Saba, if heavily mulched, overwinter in my zone 7a/b area? I am not a big dig up kinda guy, yet, but I would really like to possibly try a Saba... Any input would be appreciated.... BTW, if it will overwinter, anybody have a pup for sale???

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

From the experiments we have carried out in zone 8b (Savannah, GA) over the last 4-5 years, it is one of the top 3 or 4 in terms of it's tolerance for the cold. The pseudostem of Saba appears to be better capable of living through the winters in our area than a large majority of the other (50+) varieties we have looked at in the research project. (Of course you are a good bit colder during the winter than we are in Savannah.)

Saba is also one of the most impressive plants in the field. A real eye catcher in both height and girth.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

Thanks GATrops... I am not loking for a fruiter... I just want the overall size for landscaping purposes.... Biggest concern is root hardiness. My basjoos keep about 2-3' of pstem here and I was wndering how much pstem a Saba would retain...

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

We also have Basjoo in the experimental plot and Saba seems to do almost as well as Basjoo does with the cold. Another very large plant (Saba is a little bigger) that seems to do well with the cold in our experiments is Kandarian.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

Bump!

How do you harvest bananas so tall? A ladder?

So the Kandarian is pretty hardy.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

On another message board I recall a fellow in knoxville, tn who was growing saba for years. I know of another gentleman who was growing some in the atlanta area as well. At the very least it's as hardy as orinoco. Dean..you harvest them by cutting down the trunk, in the same way using a ladder to change a light bulb in a building that's being demolished the next day just wouldn't make sense.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

Good to hear! I plan on leaving my Saba in the ground now. I wanted to find out more info on the Kandarian. I get varying info off the net and here. But it seems it's as hardy as a Saba and fast growing to.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

I use a machete to cut an x in the p-stem. The weight of the plant and fruit bunch will slowly bend parallel to the ground. cut the rack of fruit off and chop up whats left.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

All my Sabas made it thru 9 straight days of 30 to 32 deg weather this year. And these did not get wrapped with frost proof like the others. Lost a few leaves but all are doing fine.

Dan

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

not surprising Dan, but another testament to the hardiness nevertheless.

Re: Musa Saba Hardiness???
 

Well, after 3 years, here is how my Saba has done for me. I received my first Saba in the summer of '07 and quickly planted it. By the end of the summer, it had grown to about 10' overall height and had put out two additional pups. I attempted to protect my pstem, but had to start from the corm in '08. Below are a few pics of how well it did in the summer of '08. I again tried to overwinter some of the pstems, but again had to start from the corm in '09. No matter how hard I tried, I could not overwinter any of the pstems. Well, this past winter SE TN endured one of the worst winters in many years. It was not the extreme low (9F), but the extended cold that was the "killer"!!! We endured approximately 240 hours of continual temperatures of below 32F!!! This was all it took to cause me to lose my Saba.
For me, Saba was always slow to start compared to basjoo and some of my other hardier bananas. I believe Saba is indeed hardier than orinoco, as well as ice cream, but not basjoo. My basjoo were about 4 weeks late this year compare to past winters, but are doing well.
I have a friend in the Birmingham, AL area that grows Saba and he cuts his back to just above ground level and then covers the mat with a layer of plastic and then adds about 4" of mulch on top of the plastic. This helps keep some of the moisture out. I have not tried it on bananas, yet, but do overwinter several more tender aroids this way with good success.
I believe Sabas are indeed worth adding to a garden and have since received two more pups that I am trying to get started now and will try the plastic protection method and pray for a more mild winter!!!
Here are a couple pics of my Sabas from 2008 which was the second summer in ground...(BTW, the fence behind the mat is 12' tall in that particular corner!)