When the mail man lets you down....
 

Just received a banana parcel the other day. Was "guaranteed" to arrive last Friday, and was at the delivering post office Thursday, but somehow the nanners didn't arrive until Tuesday after spending 8 days in a box. They were still in decent shape but there were some rotten roots and a few other spots of rot. Postal workers seem to be universally crap so here's a little step by step of how I treated my nanners to hopefully ensure the main stems would continue to grow.

How they were packaged. A great job. Roots wrapped in damp PT and then wrapped in plastic bags/tape.


Unpackaged


Cleaned up. Rotten roots were snipped, soft rotting leaf sheets were removed, and dead leaf removed from top. Notice the rot on the corm of the RP on the left, it was scraped out with a small spoon, leaving only firm tissue.


Treated with a Copper fungicide to help resist mold. Notice spot of rot on the pstem of RP on the left. Copper helps dry it out and will prevent rot from growing into the cigar leaf b4 it can begin pushing out again in a few weeks.


Planted in very well draining soil, with pstem rot above soil level.

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

Great job with giving them the best chances. Banana plants are tougher than we think.
But I totally get your frustration with government run post office. Had some nightmares here recently, too.
It is always worth while to look into other mailing carriers like FedEx: I had two different packages that were about $7 cheaper each shipped with FedEx.
There is a reason why USPS had a net loss of $5 Billion last year alone. The private sector could never afford losses like that without any consequences.

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

Yes I hear you. The issue with me is the international shipping w/o a phyto cert. FedEx and ups will nail me with customs charges and thats best case scenario. The more likely case is just confiscation of the plant material. With usps I never have any issues with confiscated plants or customs fees. So its the lesser of many evils, but still far from perfect.

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

So brady, the transportation process took 8 days and cost how much to get from where to where? Am only asking for future reference.

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

I believe shipping was around $60USD for priority rush shipping from southern USA to Canada.

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

Thank you!

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

For $60 bucks id kiss the ole lady goodbye and make a road trip

Re: When the mail man lets you down....
 

$60 is a lot less than a trip to the USA for me, and there is simply no way for me to get the varieties I want. It is cost effective for me to get a plant that I actually know what it is, rather than get an illegid variety just to find out in 3 years its another DC.