Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

I live in North Texas, Plano outside of Dallas to be exact. We have had the best (mildest winter) so far that I can remember in years and today when I looked out I saw that not only did my Basjoos sprout some green but also two of my IceCreams!
I have them all covered in frost cloth so I can hopefully save at least 4-5 feet of p-stem.

My question whether they were still alive got answered :woohoonaner: but given that they seem to sprout some green makes me worried, what happens if we get some real cold? It can still happen since it is only first week of February yet.

What do you think? I know that fruit trees that bloom too early get hit hard if there is a strong freeze but in this case maybe the week of 70s we just had is just ok and once it gets colder they will hibernate again?

Funny though is that I also have a Dwarf Orinico but that one doesn't look nearly as good as the IceCream and I thought that would be more hardy?

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

So, the leaves might perish. The corm is apparently healthy. If it stays that way, then any leaves that perish will eventually be followed by green ones.

Bananas are very different from deciduous fruit trees. They do not hibernate in the same sense.

BTW, if you plant super-low chill (under 300 chill-hours) deciduous pit and pome fruit trees that can tolerate the cold in your area, then an early bloom followed by a freeze is not a problem -- they just bloom again when the weather warms back up!

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

After it dropped to -9F last year and I was able to save over a foot of psuedo-stem on basjoo, I've realized that bananas are much hardier than you may think as long as they are planted well deeper than soil level.

This year it only reached single digits twice and after checking some of the bananas by lifting up the halfway filled leaf bags, I'm not finding any of them killed at all. The sikkimus even has a cigar leaf trying to rise up likely from the heating of the plastic bag. I believe all my in ground bananas should come back pretty strong because with a leaf bag on top of the soil, it is very unlikely for soil temperatures to drop below freezing especially if the corm is over 1ft deep.

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

The warm weather here has been great. My Mysore seems to be enjoying it. It's pushing out a new leaf!

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

I think they will be fine. If it gets cold again then the new leaves will brown, but the plant itself will be fine and will regrow in the spring (maybe a little bit set back, but definitely nothing too noticable)
Im a bit worried for my Musa Basjoos. I left mine in the ground with no protection and the psudeostem is completely dead, but Im hoping the corm is still alive. We got down to 12F (cold considering how mild it has been this winter), but the ground has barely been frozen at all this winter so Im hoping thats good enough to keep them alive. I guess we will see!

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

weve had a really mild winter too.. so far.. LOL
ive been tempted to unwrap my basjoos i overwintered outside
and see how they are doing..but im being a good parent..and leaving
them alone.. :)
this week its to be near 50F all week for day highs..
yippie !!!!

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

Both the real Ice Cream and the fake Ice Cream (which most people seem to have) are tough plants. The fake one (Pisang Awak) seems to do as well or better in the cool season here than Orinoco does.

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

How do you tell the difference between the real Icecream and the Pisang Awak?

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack another thread with the "Ice Cream issue". Search the website and you can find a number of discussions. The short answer is, until you have fruit, you probably can't tell the difference. When you have fruit, true Ice Cream (Blue Java) have fruit that are quite blue and hands that are more widely spaced than those of the tightly packed hands of Pisang Awak cultivars.

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

No worries, I looked at the previous discussions and it wasn't clear which is inline with your statement that it is impossible to determine until they bloom and fruit.
hopefully one will survive the winter and produce fruit this year!
:ha:

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

There was some discussion about whether pink edges on the leaves could distinguish them. The Pisang Awak ones have more on average, but the true Blue Java sometimes has some, too. Otherwise, they look really, really similar as small plants.

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)
 

Palmtree, I'm in 5b in west-central Ohio and have left my basjoo totally unprotected in much harsher winters than this one and had them come back. I know in years I don't protect it, it takes a long time for a start to pop up but they still usually get 7-8' tall. I've never had any luck keeping the psuedostem alive. I've tried packing with leaves and straw with no luck. This year I built a green house around it it with christmas lights wrapped around the psuedostem to keep it a little warm on really cold nights. The leaves still got hit when it was in the 20's and teens for a week, but I still see green pushing up from the center. I'm still holding out hope that I won't be starting out from the mulch this year!

Re: Yes!!! My bananas are alive (so far at least)