Hey guys, it's been a minute (by a minute I mean 10 years
).
So, I've been growing Musa basjoo for years and years now, and it always dies in the winter, but here's the odd part. I'm in zone 6a, it's planted on the south side in light shade, does fantastic during the growing season, is planted in compost, and protected pretty well for the winter. This year I surrounded it with black plastic bags filled with leaves, covered the open areas with leaves, covered the top with a thin piece of black cloth, and then covered that with greenhouse plastic. The mulch is super dry when I uncover it, but for some reason it always dies along with the pups.
One year, I put some in a west facing spot in the garden and they came back from the pseudostems in the spring. It was an average winter too, and I just mulched them and covered them with a garbage can; nothing fancy.
Honestly, I have no idea why that spot doesn't fare well after winter. Anyone know why? The Cautleya ginger comes back, the Aspidistra's remain green, my Trachy did great too. Everything seems fine but the basjoo. Honestly, it's driving me crazy, so any tips would be great.
Thanks