Denverian

I need to get pictures on here! We ended up having one light frost last week, but I covered the Bananas and elephant ears, and they're all fine. No threat of frost or cold this week.

MBindy2000

Frost is an indicator that its time to cut them down or dig them up. The plants(corm) needs to be protected from the deep freeze. Everything we see ends up going to waste unless if we live in warm places such as Florida, Gulf Coast, or So Cal. where our issue would be no big deal.

Post some pix, I'd like to see your garden.

Denverian

Denverian

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Ah! There we go. I finally got a picture up!

Still no hard freeze in Denver. It's supposed to be 85 today, 80s for the next few days, so I'm still enjoying all of this.

Denverian

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Here's a view from the front. Just to the left of the larger Musa, you can see where last year's Musa grew up from nothing, after surviving the winter. But not any real impressive growth there.

MBindy2000

Thanks for posting the pictures. I like your garden.

MBindy2000

Really abnormal warmth here in Speedway. Its not suppose to be 80 degrees this late into October. Well I'm taking the end of the week off to do what I don't want to do and that's winterize the bananas and other tropical plants. Such a bummer, but I know next year will be here before I know it. When I hear race cars roaring over at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I'll know its time to fire up the garden all over again I'll post picks of D-Day, even bigger bummer its suppose to rain.

cincinnana

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MBindy2000

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Sad day in the rain HA They'll be back bigger and better next year.

beam2050

looks like your going to war.

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Denverian

Did they freeze already? Mine were hit with about 32 degrees the last two early mornings. I'll chop it this weekend.

Do you immediately wrap the p-stems? Or let them sit for a while first? My thought is that as long as temps aren't dropping into the 20s, it's ok to not be wrapped. Maybe sends it into dormancy? I've let my Elephant Ears be exposed to mid or low 20s before digging up the bulbs, and they've always been ok.

Side note: Once of my neighbors has Elephant Ears and the ones near the SE corner of his house have come back without digging them up or even mulching. I think they're a lot more cold hardy than I thought. Same with his Cannas... they all come back with no mulch. Being near the south or east side of the house keeps them warm enough in winter.

MBindy2000

the cannas and elephant ears are little more hardier. We haven't had a frost yet. I was a little worried last night. it was suppose to get down to 35. It didn't get that cold thankfully. Anyway I generally dig mine up that way I can place them in different places. Now the bananas are different story because of their size. Although in the spring I will transplant a couple of my bananas to different areas of the garden. IF you are going do the bubble wrap do that after you mulch the bottom. I decided to not go that route this year. I cut my bananas down to about six inches and covered them with a couple of bags of mulch for each plant. A couple of guys on this site suggest getting away from the bubble wrapping. I was thinking about it and thought back to what the plant looked like after I unwrapped it. It was a sloppy mess all the way to the ground. So I might as well start from the ground.

cincinnana

That is one big plant......

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Denverian

I bought some insulation to wrap it first. That way it can breathe, then maybe bubble wrap on the outside of the insulation.

From last year, I just did bubble wrap and it turned to mush down to the ground. What came back only grew to about 3' tall.

I haven't chopped mine yet. We've had a couple frosts, but most of the leaves survived. No temps predicted below 40 this week, so I'll leave it alone for now. Some elephant ear leaves were burned, so I cut them off. But still plenty left ok.

MBindy2000

Is your plant a Musa Basjoo or another type of banana? Mine is a Musa Basjoo and I did the bubble wrap and hay and bag with mulch in the bottom of the bag and it worked well. It was a sloppy mess in the spring, but the plant exploded to a height of 15 feet, with two other healthy pups that grew in excess of ten feet with it. This year I am gambling by cutting this baby down to six inches and used two bags of mulch untop of it. I'll let you and everyone know how this turns out in the spring. If its a winner its probably the best way to deal with our bananas for winterizing. Keep in mind, I saw you tube videos of guys doing the bubble wrapping, but they seem to be from Vancouver. I'm sure their winters are more mild that ours(Indy, Denver) winters, since they are right off the ocean. Maybe not I have no idea but the idea looked like a good one.

I love my elephant ears and always choose to dig them up. I hate to lose them but I hate to lose any plant for that matter.

Denverian

Yes, I have Musa Basjoo.

Did you take a trash bag and cut a hole in the bottom, then slide it over the p-stem? Then fill it with mulch? And what do you use for mulch? I used grass/leaf clippings last year all around the base. That saved it from completely dying and I had new growth come up from nothing. The wrapping just didn't save the p-stem.

Indy and Denver probably have similar lows in winter. But Denver's lowest average high is 43 in Dec - Jan. Lows that time of year are typically in the mid teens to low 20s.

Vancouver is much warmer. Their average lows never get below freezing, although it does freeze every now and then. A much more garden-friendly climate!

MBindy2000

Interesting, I don't much about Vancouver. I assumed it might be similar to Seattle. Anyway, to your question. Before I put the bag on I put a bunch of mulch in the area I assumed where the corm is and I did cut the bottom of a trash bag then put it over the stalk, then I put another layer of mulch. Then I bubble wrapped the stalk and then I packed the bag with hey(other yard waste would work fine). Then I put two more bags over the initial bag. I did this with one of my bananas the other day. On top of the second bag I put a tarp over the bag and put a trashcan over that. I'm sure it will keep it dry. We'll see what happens. I believe I can guarantee a success to this but what I'm learning on these discussions it might not be worth the hassle. Its seems more practical to bubble wrap in warmer climates, and in our climates we just need to cut them down and pile mulch on them. Whichever way we go about protecting our plants we should succeed.

Snarkie

If they are too big, you can resize them in MS Paint. If they are that huge, I would reduce to 33%, and save as the same name of the original, followed be the word, "small." Try again with the new smaller file and they should upload just fine.

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MBindy2000

I have actually don't that and that's how I have been able to share my photos.