Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Jim, I'm glad to hear that it is helpful! The book idea is still just that...an idea. I'm in school at UT Knoxville full-time right now, so that eats up the majority of my time. Maybe one day. Thanks!

As for your M. basjoo, I'd leave it in the ground and mulch it really well. You can build a cage and fill with leaves like some do in order to save as much pseudostem as possible. The only reason I dug mine up was because of the move. Personally, I just mulch the base really well, then invert a trash bag full of leaves (with a hole big enough for the pseudostem in the bottom) over the top of the pseudostem (cutting the pseudostem back to a couple of feet). Digging it up also means that it will take much longer for it to re-establish in the spring.

Frank, the thought has crossed my mind, but it's more work than it's worth for me. Dragging them under the house is pretty hard work, but somehow I think burying them would be even more difficult.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Big Dog, Great pics and explanation! Same method I use here in Kansas. This year I'm gonna try one of those, kids toboggan sleds. Ya know, the plastic one's you get at Wally world. Tie a rope on that dude, load it up, and pull a load under, several at a time. We'll see how it works. Its gotta be easier on the back. But the thought of wintering other borderline hardy plants under the house is pretty smart. What about bulbs or elephant ear tubers? What do ya think about wintering these that way: Plumeria, Majesty palm, and hardy potted plants? And my last question is, my Siam Ruby. I got it about a month ago from P.D.N. its about 2ft. and has put on two leaves so far. Do you think it would be too fragile or has it grown strong enough? The reason I ask all this is because I don't have the space to bring all of them in and am seeking an alternative method. Thanx!! --NNNNNNNNNAAATTTEEEEEEEE:2185:

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Nate, I can't speak for the other plants, but Siam Ruby is worth making space for. My gut says it won't store well at all, although we'll never really know until someone tries. But any 2' banana is probably too small to make it.

My 2 cents,

~Joe

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Nate, out of the plants you mentioned, the ones I know you can store like bananas are Plumeria, EE bulbs and other bulbs. In fact, I have a couple Plumerias that are going under the house this fall too. If you try that with your Majesty Palm, however, you will find a really dead palm in the spring, lol! I don't know about the "hardy potted plants" you mentioned, you'll have to be more specific.

Oh, and I surely wouldn't try it with a young 'Siam Ruby'! I'd wait until I had several feet of pseudostem before even thinking about it. With the prices down and availability up now, I guess it wouldn't be such a tragic loss as it would have been about a year ago. They are TC plants also, so there isn't enough corm for it to store energy in.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I read JoeReal's post and I also brought my plants in the basement for the winter. I have a grow light on them and the temp. right now is about 70 F and 58% humidity. I have some small plants about 1ft tall, a basjoo a raja and a candavish I also have 2 plants that are about 3 ft tall that I have no idea what they are. This my first year overwintering, It's been a couple of days and the 2 larger plants are loosing some leaves, is this normal? The temp at night before I brought them in was in the high 40's for a couple of days so I don't know if there some shock damage. My question is should I leave the light on and will they continue to grow in that environment? Thanks

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I would leave the grow light on them, Dave, but greatly reduce the watering to almost none. Just water when the soil is bone-dry and the plant starts to look stressed (and then use some lukewarm water). They may grow a very little bit, but that's not really the goal. The goal is just to keep them alive through the winter until next spring. Good luck. It is more difficult with plants that size, but entirely possible.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I kept a SDC in a cold bedroom (temps in the 50's) without ANY light except for the window and it did fine. I don't remember EVER watering it for the entire winter! and i also don't remember it dropping any leaves. Same will happen this year, except now i've got even more. I don't try for winter growth, just keeping them alive is good enough for me. Too expensive to give them the growing conditions they would like (up here it is!).

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Below 55F or so, nanners stop growing altogether so that would work if you can maintain that cool temperature or thereabouts. It gets warm in the winter here in Texas, so I have to resort to greenhousing or wrapping.

Be well,
Mike

Re: cold floor in garage
 

have you thought of using cheap roofing paper and wrapping the bananas in it? I mean, the whole plant. That ought to keep them well insulated and warm. Wrap the banana tree lenthwise until you have used the whole width and staple the paper.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

My bananas are put to sleep in a dark spot in the basement. WOW. I can't believe how heavy those things are. I dried them out in garage for a week to get some of the soil off the roots, but not much came off. I left the one Basjoo about 5 feet in height. Next year i will not do this. I will chance them in the ground. Way too much work to save them. I'll have enough pups, etc to winter over next year, so i'll then be able to afford to lose some.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Thanks for the advise, the plants have all lost leaves but some look like they have stabilized (I hope) not much to do but wait it out and see what happens. I thought about going on the offensive and watering like they were outside since it's about 70 in the basement and the grow light is on for about 12 hours but now I'm just gonna leave em alone.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Hello,

first of all I am new on this forum (and I am French)

I have a balbisiana which seems to be a "neue art" because it looks like yours. Do you know what is the lowest temperature it can bear?

It is for the moment in a pot but I would like to plant it outside next year. I live in eastern France zone 6/7 with strong winters (lowest temperature about -18 C degrees.


Bye

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Welcome to the forum! I haven't planted any of my Musa balbisiana 'Neue Art' yet, so I'm not sure. I think they would be good to at least a zone 8a though, and probably zone 7 with some protection. I'll find out next year. By the way, the other name for this banana is M. balbisiana 'Gigantia' (or 'Gigantea', not sure which). Most Musa balbisiana look very similar though when young, so unless you bought seeds that were labaled as such, no telling what you have.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Hi All,
haven't posted here since last Spring when I transplanted my 2 IC bananas inground. I dug them up last week or so, & one is in 5 gal. pot with little soil around, & bigger 1 is laying on west side of sunroom floor on it's side with as much soil I could shake off. The rootball is wrapped in a towel with tarp under. I was surprised at how small the rootballs were! That one was 6 ft tall when planted & is now 12 1/2 ft tall --- that is the one I have dormant laying down. It is bigger because it was in a much bigger pot last winter & will not fit in sunroom in pot. It also has 4 pups - largest is about 3 ft. tall. I hear that they get their energy from mother plant so decided to leave them on.
I cut all but 3 top leaves off of both & the one that is forced into dormancy, I cut the 3 leaves in half.
I might try cutting off 2nd biggest pup & pot it up for a Christmas gift to a friend. (should I take the chance?)
I twisted my left ankle about 5 weeks ago & fractured & tore ligaments in left ankle, so it was a real chore digging & carting them up 4 steps (dolly) to SR. but not so bad! I sure hope that big IC will gorw back next spring & produce 'nannas next year!
Any opinions are welcome.....thanks again Bigdog!
To DaveK...don't water like they are outside. They KNOW it is winter & will be semi-dormant (my opinion).
Pintandeago...no grass is GOOD! I killed all of mine & it is now all wood chips now. YEAAY -- no mowing!
Frankthetank...we are in same boat huh? Sorta? (Hey, how 'bout those Packers & Brett Favre?!)
Question: how do you cut 'nanna plants back from 6-12 ft tall to 2 ft & still have them grow? I thought you have to leave at least the stem growing from top leaf. Isn't this the pseudostem that can't be cut off?
Thanks much...am learning a lot from here & will let you know how my plants overwinter.
I also have a double Mahoi potted that did real well potted over summer. It's 2 lower leaves are yellow but I think it's too moist. Anyone ever tasted one of those? Thanks again.
Patty (geeze, it's getting cold...1st night of frost tonight!)

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Cutting the stem shorter won't harm that stem so long as it's cut above the originating point of the leaves and it's not about to flower - it'll continue growing from where you cut it. A couple or three feet is a hard cut-back - I'd go for four feet, but I've chopped mine before and had them continue growing from the center. The only time you want to really avoid cutting is when you think that a flower-stalk is coming up the center. If you cut the flower-stalk, that stem will die and you won't get nanners from it. So - younger stems can be cut back if needed, but older stems should be kept intact. Of course, it takes a lot of energy to put out new leaves and heal the wound when there are no leaves feeding the process, so don't do it often or you'll likely end up with a weaker plant and smaller bunch of nanners.

Be well,
Mike

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

What I've been wondering about is how can you tell if there is a flower-stalk inside the p-stem. Is there any slight bulge there? Or any sign?
I have a dwarf Brazilian that is ready to bloom and I keep on watching any tell-tale sign for the flag or shorter leaves but I can't tell by looking at the p-stem if there is a flower ready to come up.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Thanks Mike.
Good guestion Benny! Am wondering the same thing.

Patty

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Patty:
I guess we'll never know and will keep on wondering.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

You'll know when your nanner flowers. You won't see any more sign of the flag leaf coming that you see from regular leaves, and the flower either - if there's any change it's very imperceptible. Unless the flower chokes and splits the stem, that is.

Be well,
Mike

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I hate digging them up too.The yard is not the same without them:2141: .I put mine in the garage where there is heat.Cant wait til April.Thanks for sharing.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

HI everyone ...today was the d day for protecting my bananas .First freeze is coming so you can see what i've done here/http://gardenbreizh.org/photos/ryan/album-5397.html

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

this is a very imformative thread...thankyou to all of you putting all this imformation down. I have a question for you all. I live in zone four...can I plant mine outdoors as long as I bring them in to winter dormant in my basement when temps are near freezing? What if my basement gets above 55 degrees because a heater duct runs down there? Any information to help me would be great. Thank you all

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Depends on variety of bananas you have, if you know what kind try reading about them on other threads or in the wiki.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Thanks bigdog, While searching on how to winterize my bananas is the only way I found this must-have site! This post should be a must read for anyone who is thinking about growing bananas, so for the entire group of newbie's I "Thank-You" . I too live in the Nashvile area and last year I brought my 2 Bananas in the sunroom. They were only about 2 ft tall so they didn't take up much space.They did survive that but I put one out too early and 1 died. So far this year I'm up to 6 Plants so I might have to try the garage. There is no telling how many banana lives you have save but I just want you to know that your time was well spent posting this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:2785:

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Joe, Big Dog, that is great info'. I killed the only nana of size last winter. now I have lots of little ones I want to keep. do you still suggest bare root, dry & dark if they are small for overwintering. I do have a greenhouse for option....thanks again both of you excellent for novices !!!

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Seems like this thread has been going for years and I must say that I wish I had had this information when I first started...it would have saved alot of years of trial and error. Great work big dog!

I started doing the crawl space thing and quickly realized that I was breaking my back. So now, I cut mine down to fit my 9 ft garage and store them vertically against the wall. It makes it easier to roll in and out on a dolly.

In terms of temperatures... I put a cover over the windows and keep it as dark as possible. The temperature rarely goes below 50 and seems to stay in the low 60's for the bulk of winter. In fact, sometimes at the end of Feb and in March it will even go into the 70's. At first I was worried about the temps being too high but it seems that the mysore, orinco, raja's, and ice cream have no problems with it. On the other hand, I can't seem to get the dwarf cavendish to overwinter well and have all but given up on this type.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

A 16' trailer would work too so you don't have to cut your taller nanners back as much. Let it hang over some and you can keep 20' nanners even. If you have room in the garage, of course. Knowing most nanner-heads, we'll park the BMW outside and put the nanners in the garage over the winter. :ha:

It's good that the DC doesn't get very big - you could probably put that in a large pot and in a greenhouse over the winter.

Be well,
Mike

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I just read through the whole thread for the first time, and I agree this is one of the best threads on the forum. I hope this one keeps going - full of good info. After doing a lot of reading on this forum I've decided to dig up a lot of my larger bananas this year and preserve the full p-stem. I figure I'm young and might as well do the grunt work on saving them while I can - and it'll pay off in the spring with a nice full p-stem growing again.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Hi everyone. I'm hooked. I grew my first Musa basjoo this year and it's now at least 7 feet tall. Here's were I need help. The tree is in the ground. I'm in zone 6 along the Connecticut coast. The catalog where I bought the sappling claims the plant can withstand -20 degrees F. It seems hard to believe. What should I do to protect this beautiful banana tree? I was able to get one of the pups transplanted to a pot that I could bring in just in case. I know you folks will be able to guide me. Thanks!

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Lots of good methods are discussed here on the forums, do a search to find the best method for your area.

You probably will need to mulch a good bit heavier than we do here for basjoo if you want to keep any of the p-stem alive. If you're not concerned about the p-stem, but just want to keep the banana alive in general, you could probably just put a few inches of hay/leaves on the surface and it'd be fine. Basjoo are pretty tough and can survive very cold temps. How much you want to keep above the surface is up to you - the methods I use always preserve as much of the p-stem as possible.

Edit - here's another good page with photos:
Protecting cold hardy bananas

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Good evening folks. I read bigdog's first post about how he does his overwintering. Looking at his pictures, the leaves are still very healthy. So am I correct that even if they're not dormant yet, you can start digging and knocking the soil around the roots? When you do this and put them in a cold free-frost dark area and not even a single drop of water, that's the time the banana tree will go dormant. Am I correct?

Oh, I also couldn't visualize how to plant them in spring if they are like 7 ft tall since their roots are short or are dead. How will it be able to grasp the soil? Do you stake it?

Thanks!

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Hello All...... just dug up some banana plants 2 fairly large ice cream , and a bunch of EV's .....going to store under the house as bigdog has been doing.. kinda nervous about 6 months with no water.....this thread is really informative..... thanks again for all the info

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Virtuosity (sp?) & Kent, don't worry! Yes, you can dig up a healthy growing nanna & shake off all/most dirt on rootball & it will just go to sleep in a cool dark place. It will know that winter is around the corner. It won't need water. I was leary too, but it works.
You are both in warmer climates than me, so maybe it's a little soon for you to dig them up? I have one still inground but will dig it up tomorrow & pot it to go in sunroom. This year, I will keep it potted for winter. I figure the more time it has growing, the sooner it will flower.
Last year I laid it on cool sunroom floor to sleep & covered it to keep it dark.
I potted it up in late March or April (in sunroom) & gave it a little water & it sprung a leaf very soon....it just woke up & had a early start for summer. Then after letting it get used to outdoors, I replanted inground end of May & it took off. I sure am hoping for a flower next year!
Patty

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Thanks Patty.

What about my second question, can you please share how I would plant them come spring assuming they're 7 or 8 ft tall? Do I bury the pstem 1 or 2 ft below so that wind won't be able to take them or blown them down?

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Good point. The stem on mine is now 5ft & overall height is prolly just over 8ft. Going out now to dig it up & pot it. They do have shallow roots but the rootball is heavy. There might be some concern when you first plant it if there is a big wind storm ahead. I didn't plant any deeper than just above root ball.
How about a big stake next to it when you plant next spring!? I had no problem with wind taking it down this year, but I may put a treated 2X4 next to rootball & tie onto it next summer. Thanks for the idea...better safe than sorry!
Patty

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Here's a pic of the freshly dug up I.C. nanna. You can see the pup still attached (leaf unfurling) & the rootball is sitting on the dolly. The tree in center is a pup I chopped off about 2 months ago. The one on right is Dbl Mahoi. The big IC is now in pot & in sunroom for winter.
If this doesn't flower next year, it will take more than just me to dig & pot it!

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Ah, I wasn't aware before that folks here stake it when they replant their bananas. Thanks for the tips! :)

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I wasn't either, but it sounds like a good idea!

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Dug up my bananas and put them under the house for the winter today. I hope it wasn't too early, but we've had our frosts start here in NC. This is the first time I've tried the digging up so I hope and pray it works. The biggest (which was a bear to move) was about 12-14 feet tall.

Normally, I just cut them down and mulch them big time. Man, I hope this works.

Before


After


Nestled for their winter slumber

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Don't let the rootball get wet. And, maybe cover it to keep it dark & keep frost out.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

While I'm here -- can anyone tell me what kind of banana I have on the lef there?

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Any one have a comment or openion my Rhino Horn? Over the last 2 weeks I got some cool weather here I'm in zone 10 but in the morning I can see my breath. The AF is really taking a beating are they that cold sensitive?

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Good evening folks. Here is my overwintering in the ground experiment for a 4 month old 2 ft p-stem Basjoo. We'll see if it's going to survive our zone 5a winter. I put mulch around the base then covered it with insulation, then covered it with trash can then finally covered it with trash bag. I'll post pics in May 2009 either dead or alive. I'm sure this can serve as a lesson. So, don't follow my experiment for now. Hehehe. :ha:

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

That handsom young man looks too proud of a job well done. I'll bet he did all that insulating!!!
I'm glad you are trying this. I just read about basjoo & 2 places say they can survive winter into zone 3, & maybe only some leaves will die ---I don't believe that! Am looking Fwrd to May. Good luck.
BTW when it snows, pile all you can on it for more insulation.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I would suggest using a pipe heating cable to wrap around the stem (set the thermostat to 40 degrees.)

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

yesterday i brought the last bananas inside because the temperature was already for a long time betwen the 0 and 10 celcius and my zebrina was getting softer so im just right on time.
only the basjoo is still standing outside, he will stay the whole winter outside. this week we get frost, around -2 and snow so we'll see how it will look after that:)
it doesnt get any protection for -2.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Great thread! Most of my tropicals are planted at my coastal cottage. We are experiencing hard freezing temps a month and a half early this year. Tues I drove nearly 6 hrs round trip to save my favorite bananas. Finished digging by flashlight. It's comforting to know what some may view as extreme measures is considered the norm for this board.
Mitzi

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

I did some insulating experiments myself in in the past. Insulation is great but one has to allow somekind of airmovement. Prone to rotting is the main problem. So always insulate and circulate, works best for me.

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Happy New Year everyone! I joined in October with a brief intro....I'm from Vancouver Canada, zone 8 and a newbie to owning my first banana- a Musa Basjoo. I Love this forum and thanks again to a few members for their great advice when I joined, on how to overwinter in our area. After my post I ended up buying a 'banana jacket', retailing at $19 cdn. I pruned all the leaves and used them to mulch all around, covered the mother plant with this insulated black tube. I stuffed a couple of plastic grocery bags through the top to keep it dry inside, also keeping it ventilated. I left the very small pups exposed (the nursery said they'll be fine and come back in the spring).
.. having said that...
Vancouver experienced what was the most bizarre winter since 40 years ago, with unusual night time temps dropping to -20C in some areas, with snow at least 60cm high within 2 week period. No one was prepared for this so us banana lovers are pretty much bracing ourselves for the spring time to see if everything survived it all. Man, talk about anxiety!

Now a lot of the snow has been washed away by tons of rain and our temperatures have stabilized to a normal range. I had to stand the Basjoo back to its upright position after it flopped over from the storms. I think it's actually ok! Here is a picture of the banana after I covered it back in October, way before all the extreme temps and snowfall.
Stay warm and looking forward to meeting more of you!

From the Great North West Coast,
Heidi :coldbanana:

Re: Time to put the bananas to sleep for the Winter
 

Hello Heidi,
The small pups are the ones that require greater protection than the big Mama corm. Oh! well, the worst may have passed. I just hope the little pups survived the recent freeze. I work with someone whose wife lives in Vancouver and goes home over there during the weekends and holidays. He tells me that the snow was pretty bad over there during the holidays. He said it was even worse than the one we had here in the Seattle area.

Nice to hear from you!

Chong