briangifford

Hey eveyone. I have all my nanners in the ground here in Central KY.
Some of my basjoo’s will stay in the ground with mulch but my Manzanos and Dwarf Cavendish need to be dug up. Problem with some is that i cant put them in pots and store in the House. I want to store them in the Garage where last winter temps never dropped below 40.
My questions are.

1. Do you remove all dirt once dug up?
2. Do you separa pups?
3. Do you wrap them with garbage bags at the roots or with burlap?
4. Do you cut of all the leaves?
5. Do you just lay them down or angled against the wall?
6. What ist the temperature cutoff to dig them up?

I know those are lots of questions but i am not 100% sure how to go about it.
Thanks

Brian

cincinnana

Short answer to your question.

Check out this link and read some of the love ❤️ these fellas put into this stuff.
Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter

Check out Youtube keywords_ overwinter dug up bananas.
There are many DIY videos each with a different take on technique
Most are pretty accurate with the way they are doing things.
Pick and choose what you think will work for you in your situation.

I used to dig them up knock the dirt off them and put them in a bathtub in a vertical position for the winter but now since they are in containers I just bring them in.

Keep the pups on the plant they have a better chance of survival connected to the main corm .

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briangifford

Thank you. I found a good amount of content on youtube. I think I know what I'll do. Only question now is at what temperature will I dig them up. I was thinking once lows go to 40. But if it's wiser to do it earlier I'll do that.

cincinnana

I do a lot of my stuff right before a HARD freeze.
Get it tune with your weather patterns on the weather channel or weather bug.
Examine you average frost dates and last frost dates.
And after a few cycles (years) you will have a good understanding of your pattern.

Make mental note in detail how the frost settles around your house and formulate a plan when your plants will have to be lifted. This is important.

For instance plants close to a home (a huge heatsink) will not get frost while the rest of the yard will be hit.

Know your weather.

Some folks like to do it sooner.
You may run a shovel around your plants now (root pruning)and lift your plants out at the last moment....I do that with a few of my plants.

Best of all have fun figuring it all out....

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nph

My best advice is do not have any banana lying down. For me those alway rot while the ones in vertical positions mostly do fine provided they are large enough. Soil or not really doesn't matter in my view. I just try to minimize it to keep the garage as clean as possible...