Basjoos out of storage.
 

I have read, on the forum, of various methods for protecting plants like basjoo over the winter. One was to dig plants up, and put them in a crawl space, etc. I have a basement room that we hardly ever use that has only an in the wall electric heater. The heater is expensive to run, so we usually only turn it on when we are in the room. Our house is on a slope, so this room is at ground level, and you can walk out through a pair of glass patio doors.

If we don't turn the heater on, it can get down to about 50°F in there. I decided to try a few basjoos in there, this past winter. It seemed warm enough, today, to see how they did. I took them outside, and everything was fine. Three were green right up to the top cigar leafs. I had to cut about 6 inches of stem off of another.

These things were in containers, but I didn't want to waste a lot of space dragging big pots inside, so i took them out of their pots, shook most of the soil off the roots, and stuck them in black plastic garbage bags. I trimmed them up, and stuck them in a large container for now, as the extended forecast says we might get another 38° night next weekend. If needed, I can bring them in again for anothe night or two.

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Some even have some nice pups started. The pink thing nexto them is a 12 inch ruler.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Nicely done! Looks like you've had great success. Thanks for sharing your story and hope they do wonderfully for you this summer!

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Looking good
I don't really worry about the cold above 28(f)as long as the ground is 60+
no worries.
I saved a 5' Orinoco the same way,I cut about 2' off the top as it was mushy,all ready growing as with my overwintered(in ground) Basjoos.

Orinoco


Basjoos



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Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Looking good John. Haven't taken them out yet, but they seem oddly light and dry.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Jim - Yours are certainly growing and looking good. Howie - I think they will get pretty lightweight, after the winter. My basement room gets down to about 50°F, if we don't turn the electric heater on (expensive to run) I put thse four plants, in garbage bags, down there, approximately 5 months ago, and they have gotten absolutely no water in that time. I haven't even ventured in that room, in that time. I took them out 2 days ago, and they are all alive. I had to cut off about 6" on only one, and, in two days that one has pushed out over a half inch.

Next year, I'm going to put 50 of 'em in there.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Jim did you overwinter that orinoco in the ground to??

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

:woohoonaner: I know what you mean!
I don't really even want them inside (except they are so beautiful to have inside during winter!)mine always seem to get WSM,I wouldn't doubt the eggs live inside during the summer as I had some next store and...no white spider mites,anyway what I wanted to say was-I live upstairs and it's kinda tough lugging them up,especially when they get bigger doesn't work as well either.
Easier to store downstairs:ha:


No Nate the Orinoco was stored in the basement,I threw some water at it a few times but it probably does more harm then good-


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Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

LOL...I seriously doubt an orinoco would survive an Iowa winter. Even basjoo would be kinda tricky and would require some pretty serious protection...that may be possible, though. I've never even tried overwintering things outdoors...I always kinda figured it wasn't gonna happen.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

I'm with Bryan and have had mixed results. I have one inground basjoo that looks fine this year . It was from a 6 ft(p-stem height) or so plant that was mulched and covered. One that spent the winter mulched in a cold frame ..... I'm not so hopeful for at this point:(. Haven't given up on it yet though either.
All the plants in the built in root cellar seem fine. I stored a few Orinoco's and Ensete Maurelii as well as a plumeria . All look good and the Ensete's are actually growing!

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

LOL...oops, I had changed my text before posting and it ended up saying the OPPOSITE of what I meant to say in the first sentence. I fixed it now. Basically, I don't think many naners will ever survive winters in Iowa. It gets down to at least -20 F every winter in my area (and it hit -37 F the winter of '08-'09). I don't mean to be pessimistic, but any plant that is considered 'tropical' will more than likely succumb to that intense of cold (and prolonged over periods of weeks/months like it does). The most optimistic thing I could say is that there 'is a chance it MIGHT survive with hardcore protection' but again...not very likely.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

yeah I was wandering what you were trying to say....lol

I didn't think it would survive a winter there but the guys name is jimhardy he might have some secrets on overwintering we don't know about....lol

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Huh?
Did you read the post above?

I lived in St.Louis(if that's where you are?)for 30yrs-once it got down to -18
the record low at Lambert as far as I know is -22f.

Winter(2008) was the coldest I have seen it here -18f,these last few winters have been tough but usually -5 to -10f is it.
Enough about the weather-I overwintered my Basjoos and I'm guessing (with a trash can full of free mulch and a sheet of plastic),that the soil temp went no lower then 38f.

Here is a picture(from today) of one of 3 overwintered clumps

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Well, you're a fair amount farther south than where I'm from in Iowa. I know driving back from St. Louis, that a short distance can really make a difference in temperatures (within a 10-20 minute span heading N, it goes from no snow to 100% snow covered...almost like a visible climate line drawn across there). Maybe you guys luck out, cause it gets a LOT colder than -10F where I live (and we get a lot of snow). Props for overwintering bananas in Iowa!! Impressive.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Thanks Boi
Your right on about a few miles making a big difference,snow covered areas can be 10(f colder but it can also keep the ground from freezing very far down.

I had a Tetrapanax come back from the roots even though I dug the mama plant up!-they are like zone 6-7 plants,very happy about that one.

I have heard Basjoos have come back as far north as zone 4 if not 3(don't know how much they would grow in zone 3),I think it just depends how much mulch your willing to put down and how far out you go from the plant.

This was my first year trying this and they all came back,they should grow a lot faster then Basjoos brought inside because of the root system already being established.

I was digging arond one of my palms the other day planting some seeds,4-5' from the bananas and there where live roots that far away!

I think Basjoos are a lot tougher then we think,I have also heard Itinerans and Thai black may be close to as hardy,that would be very cool!:02::02::02::02::02:


Here's a picture of the yard(mid summer) from last year,my bananas didn't do much above ground


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Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Jim...Nice house and yard. Im sure your Basjoos will be huge this year.

I have a Thai Black i plan on experimenting with. If I can get a pup off of it im going to try to overwinter it in the ground in Zone 6. So i have my fingers crossed i will get a pup Ive heard they dont pup very much though.

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

Good luck Nate-
Mine are small ones but I have heard they can grow to 8' even from 4" starters in the first year,this warm spring is certainly helping there!
All my bananas are growing,pretty much unheard of at this time of year.
Once they get going even if it does cool off in late April/early May they should keep going.

Post some pics of your Thai blacks,etc during the summer-
I will do the same.
Can't wait to see them take on their blackish tint,I am guessing by July:02:

Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

They have now been uncovered, and outside, for about a month, and all are leafing out nicely.
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Re: Basjoos out of storage.
 

In Ohio I never covered mine and we had plenty of zone 4 winters. We were zone 5. They came back every year and the full sun from heat was the main issue.