Dingo2001

Hi! I got tiny starter Basjoo last winter, they are about 4 ft tall now. How deep should I plant them so they will hopefully survive the winter here in the Chicago area? Thanks for your help!
Julie

Banana Gallery - Basjoo

Longwoods Tropicals

In Z5 you shouldn't have to plant it any deeper than you would normally plant anything else.

All my basjoos are planted at a normal depth and survived the last 2winters from hell nicely with only a few feet of mulched leaves and a tarp. I even managed to save some of the P-stem.

George Webster

Can you give more detail?
What is normal depth?
How Thick the mulch?
Do you remove it in the spring?
When did you remove the tarp?

Thanks
George in St Louis

Kevin2685

I planted mine at normal depth which was top of soil in pot to around the top of soil in the ground. Some people like to plant them deeper but mine came back this year no problem. I cut mine down to almost the ground on a slight angle not completely straight across to let it drain some.But this year I will try and leave a little more height.Going back through my pictures looks like I cut mine down last year on October 29th. Its going to be different every year but I just watched the weather and do it accordingly. I added a little bit of mulch but then like a week later November 5 th I added little more mulch cause I didn't think the couple bags I added was enough and 1 bale of straw and then topped it off with just enough mulch to keep the straw weighed down. I think I used 6 bags of mulch then one bale of straw and 2 bags on top of straw total. Then I placed tarp over the mound and used tent stakes on all 4 corners and bricks on a couple edges were there were no holes for stakes still leaving some openings for air. I kept it covered all winter and didn't uncover intill the weather was warmer into the 40's at night.then I removed all the straw and mulch and inspected and looked for any rot. I kept a spare bale of straw around in the garage so if the chance of frost or cold weather came around I could cover it. Was glad I did cause I had one last unexpected dip in temperatures and frost for couple days. I covered it with just extra bale of straw and tarped it again to keep it dry.Cold and wet is what I wanted to avoid to prevent rot. If it's in the 40's at night they are fine they just don't grow.The neighbor just put stakes around his and covered with moving blankets when that cold spell hit and removed when it got above 40 at night. His way was probally better to deal with that last dip cause cleaning up all that straw sucked but I had the extra around so might as well use it.If it was warm and sunny in the day before I uncovered everything sometimes I would take the tarp off but cover with the tarp again before it got cold and dark to let some air get to that pile in spring time and dry up some. I didn't water it till it got nice and warm just let the spring rain do my watering. That's how I did mine.

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Currently growing

Musa basjoo
Dwarf orinico
Variegated dwarf namwah
Aeae
Patupi
Veinte cohol
Musa lasiocarpa (golden lotus)
Musa velutina
Raja puri
Mekong giant
Double cavendish
Super dwarf cavendish
Truly tiny
Musa laterita
Ensete maurelli

Longwoods Tropicals

Can you give more detail?
What is normal depth?
How Thick the mulch?
Do you remove it in the spring?
When did you remove the tarp?


Normal depth would be so that the base of the p-stem is level with the soil surface. I have never tried to bury a banana so deep that part of the p-stem is under the soil surface, I not lost a lost a basjoo yet.
The mulched leaves are usually between 2-3 feet and reach out about four feet or so from the p-stems.

This year as an experiment (I do a lot of that...not always successfully) I left 4 inches of the more broken down at the bottom, on top of which I covered with 2-3 inches of hardwood mulch (I had to take down several old sugar maples a couple of years ago, I netted about 200 cubic yards of mulch). So far it looks great and had greatly aided in weed suppression.

I would normally remove the tarp when all risk of extended freezing weather has past, I don't worry about light frosts as it takes about a month for the first leaves to emerge, before that it is just the p-stems elongating and a light frost won't hurt them. Usually for me that is mid April...in retrospect in 2012 I could have done it mid March....so YMMV.

Regards Harold

Snarkie

6" without mulch. While they can go in at ground level, I'm planting all of mine at 4" or deeper here, in case we get a really hard winter. I'm not bothering to mulch over them either.

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Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

cincinnana

Your plants look awesome.....
They are still small though ....plant the small corm a couple inches below grade in well amended and drained soil.

Here is a thread which you might find of interest
.Hibernating a basjoo
This is just another option that you can use overwinter your plants, but do what you are comfortable with.

Generally you cannot go wrong; I am in zone 5 and many gardeners/professionals do this, however if you read the thread it's your choice.

The real key point is to plant the plant in well drained amended/with organics, soil... a million dollar hole for a ten dollar plant.
In the springtime feed the plant during heavy growth.

Use a fert that you can afford; I use whatever I have on hand.
16-16-16-....19-19-19... Miracle Grow, you are growing this plant for size
.
Amend the soil with anything organic .....lots of it..I use a lot of byproduct from a couple of tree services........wood chips, leaves.

Untitled by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr



Spring Basjoo growth by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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