Pancrazio

(By "tender bananas" i refer to any edible dessert bananas; "tender" compared to basjoos)
I have seen several people overwintering their bananas under some straw and fleece, while they were encaged in a structure made of chicken wire.
Apparently it works.
BUT
I have searched quite a bit and it look like that everyone who uses this method, does this way to overwinter basjoos.
Does it work for the more tender bananas (dwarf orinoco, namwah, and maybe cavendishes?) Has anyone tried this?
I live in central italy, you can think my climate as "a cold damp winter" with absolute year minimum at about -5C (23F). Snow is a rare occurrence (it never snowed in last two years) but when it happens temperature can go as low as -8/-10 (14/18F). But the maximum temperatures NEVER go above 13C (55F) for 3 months straight and they can stay for weeks into the 30s-40s. And it rains quite often during all the winter. I can stand to lose the pseudostem of my eating bananas in bad years, but in good ones, can they survive under straw? Has anyone had any similiar experience?
If it doesn't work i'll overwinter them in another way, and/or will change my cultivation objectives.
Thank you!

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designshark

Anything's worth a shot. I'm experimenting with straw this year on my Basjoo. Keeping it dry is the hard part. I've peeked in and checked mine a few times and it's dry! I double tarped it just to be safe.

Pancrazio

I will try for sure.
But, as far as i have seen, the basjoo doesn't suffer much humidity, as long the temperatures stay reasonably high. Basjoo here stays outside all winter long and don't suffer at all about our "high" rainfall.
What i fear is the effect that a cold-damp soil can have on the corm of a cavendish, or dwarf namwah. But since the soil is covered with straw it may indeed stay warmer than i expect... so.. i don't know.

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