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

hey Zac,

I was gonna wait till the 40's too, but I get nervous thinking it's a little too close to the frost temp and don't want to take the chance having to haul everything in my house for one night..... How are the temps now where you live in NC?... I've been talking to my friend in Charlotte and he says that the night temps are even a little colder than here on LI... but it warms up more during the day... the last few days have been around 75/60f, but we're taking a nose-dive tomorrow night to around 49f and the next 5-7 days after that will be 65/55 respectively.... It's all downhill from here though..

Bobby

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

We have had one or 2 nights dipping into the 40s( upper) and lots of night in the 50s. I did bring in My Amorphophallus titanum the other day for a few days until it warmed up a bit. I put it back out for a while today. I only have a few things in the ground to dig( A zebrina, a Saba and a Raja Puri) so its not that big of a rush.

Zac

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

Our forcast says 41 for tonight, although at my house we usually read a few degrees lower than the prediction. I'll probably bring in the Zebrina in a few minutes since it is probably the least cold hardy banana I have. Makes me glad everything is in pots! The palms and bird of paradises will just have to deal with it. Very soon I think until I cut stuff up for storage! :banananinja:

~Joe

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

okay, after thinking it over and begging, we decided to bring the 12' + Ice Cream in for one more winter. I'm afraid that under our house might be too cold, but I have a greenhouse. What if I laid it down on the floor (dirt) up next to the plastic? (we just brought the roof down, so no way it will stand up in there this year)

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

Grammie, I'd be very hesitant to place it directly on the dirt floor. I would raise it off of the ground with a few pieces of wood, an old tire, whatever. Other than that, your plan sounds good! Just as long as you don't get any frost or freezing temps in the greenhouse.

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

thanks!!! one more question, should I cover it with plastic to keep it dry when I water the other plants? If I put it under my tables, I know that water would run onto it, at least a bit.

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

Wet=bad, at least as far as storing dormant goes. I wouldn't recommend plastic over the plant either. Sure, it would keep water runoff away from it, but it could also trap moisture underneath it. I would try to find a dry spot.

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

Has anybody ever tried to overwinter the bananas bareroot dormant,without cutting the leafs off?

Or is that taking too much energie for the corm? :exercise:

Maesy

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

:cool: Hi bigdog! have you tried this overwintering method with musa zebrina? They are supposed to be very sensitive,but then again, I have no experience with this. I think this thread will be everlasting

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

Maesy, I have left one leaf on several pseudostems, and most made it through the entire winter. In fact, the ones that did stay green stayed that way for a couple of months after planting outside! I was going to try that with some of my larger plants this winter, but an early frost put a halt to that though.

Nucci, I have never grown m. zebrina. I do know that it is a tender, and from what I have been told by others, the pseudostem will more or less dessicate over the winter if stored under the house.

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

So what happens when you store them dormant with all the leaves on?

Thanx so much for starting this thread!
And thanx so much to whoever put the sticky on it!

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

For Orinocos, I know at least one leaf has been able to make it through the winter still green, and stay green for a couple of months after planting back out in the spring. The lower leaves will surely die, but it may be possible to keep 2 or 3 leaves green. I was going to try it this winter, but an early frost cancelled my plans.

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

We have had an unbeliveable October so far, with themperatures around 20 ° Celsius and the nights never below 10° C.
And so the Bananas still keep growing on and on! :banana_ba

The worst thing about growing bananas here is, that we have for 11 month south-west(spain) winds except the important month of may when the soil should start to warm up we get the wind from the north-east(russia).
Thats why our last possible frostdate is in the midle of may, sometimes even later.
On the 3. of june this year it was 0° (32° Fahrenheit)! :2715:

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

Nice pictures Ronnie.

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

Thanks for your posts Bigdog. I'm trying to hibernate some Ensete Maureliis this year following your guidance. However, I don't have a cellar or crawl-space under the house so have resorted to putting them in an attic. So far, so good, apart from the largest Maurelii which has decided it wants to still grow and has put on a meter of leaf growth so far! I've put it back into the light and will leave it there until it starts to go to sleep, then will tuck it up with the rest.

Now just got to figure out how to keep the Ensete glaucum alive.

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

The attic huh? I may just try that also. We don't have one on our house but we have a large workshop that might work. We are getting our first freeze tonight, so I'll be digging them up at sunrise. First freeze and it's almost December! Pretty cool. I'll try to get some pics if I have time.

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

I believe you can keep them in the garage too. I would keep them covered with a blanket though.

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

HEY! I think modenacart was watching me!

I decided our shop was too cold so I put them in the garage. I really meant to cover them with a blanket but didn't get to it yet. Do you cover the entire plant?
I have the corms on the floor. Is that going to be a problem?
I was potting the last little plant (bird of paradise) in earthworms castings as it began to snow.
The cold front dropped us from 64f to 51f in less than an hour! It got down to 24f at our house. That gave us a wind chill almost in the single digits.
Remind me when it's 110f next summer not to complain.
Everything in our yard is now brown or bare except for the bamboo and weeds and it's going to be even colder tonight.
The good news though. All the plants are in and taken care of and we sent over 45 gallons of tomatoes to the homeless shelter and kept plenty for ourselves.
I will get them covered tonight and post pics of what I did as soon as the camera gets back home.
Thanx for the tip modenacart!

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

I would to simulate a hibernation environment, but I have no experience personally, just what I have read. I have keep plants in the crawl space without problems. Maybe someone with practical experience can give their opinion. I would put some newspaper or something between the corm and the floor for a little insulation. The floor's surface themperature might get pretty cold.

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

You're so right. That floor was freezing cold this morning. I was thinking of putting down some wooden skids until I read your post. I actually have hundreds of pounds of newspaper I've been saving to put in our new worm beds. The last load of papers is sitting right next to the bananas. Why didn't I think of that?!

I have a plant light on a few feet away from them germinating some voodoo lilly bulbs, so I threw a blue plastic tarp over the bananas. The tarp lightly touches them in a few places, but I don't think it'll be a problem. The temp is staying between 40&50 so I think it's gonna be okay.

Thanx!