Dayyyy-OOOOOOOOO It's time to bring in my banana trees

15 years ago a buddy gave me a banana tree. I put it in a pot and grew it on the patio. Come fall, I asked him what to do with it. He said, "take it out of the pot, clean off the roots and lay it in the basement for the winter."

It had formed 'pups' (new plants) so I had four banana trees in my garden the next year. I planted them in the ground, instead of a pot, and they SOARED.

Now, 15 years later, I've given away DOZENS of banana trees to my friends and I still have 9 planted around my garden.

With the threat of cold weather, I've begun bringing in my banana trees. I begin by lopping off the leaves.

These go straight to my compost pile.

They're 90% water, so they decompose quickly.

Once they are stripped of leaves, I dig up the plant and knock the dirt off the roots.

The 'pups' sometimes fall off the plant - they're ready to go on their own now!

All of the 'stalks' go down to my basement in a cool, dark room where I lay them on the floor for a long winter's nap.

Next spring I'll bring them back out and plant them in the garden. I'll have enough for my garden and still have 8-12 to give away to friends.

Congrats. I love the Banana plant myself. Keeping them alive here would be no easy task, but the reward is nice.
I would leave them out too long or something and fail them for sure. I'd like having one or 2 in big ol' pots.
How do you cut off pups? Anything like this diagram?
Nice pics btw, if you ever want to give some away just yell!
Will

They are actually quite easy to grow in zone 5 (I seldom get bananas, but last year I had a small stalk). Our growing season is too short for the bananas to mature on the tree.

I don't usually remove the pups - they seem to fall off as I dig the clump - if they don't fall off, I leave them on the mother plant and plant the whole group the next spring.

I always have several to give away. If you're interested, I'd be happy to save you one next spring (unless you'd rather have it this fall and store it in your basement to plant next spring). Send me a D-mail and we can work out the details.

Yeow!! Those are certainly some green nanners! Wow, how easy would that be?! Pups just falling off!
I just like the ornamental look of banana plants, I wouldn't expect to have bananas.
There is this one spot of ground that is surrounded by concrete here at the house, thot I'd try some tropical plants there.
I've already planted an Elephant Ear (Pink China) there. It is supposed to be hardy in zone 6, so maybe it'll be alright, its protected from the North and its only a couple feet from the foundation.

hi
i would love to have one
elle

Leawood, I've had a bananna in a pot for several years that I usually bring in during the fall and place it under fluorescents in the basement. Do you think I could just let it stay in the pot in a dark area of basement? If I just leave it without water and light should it initiate growth itself come spring? (I'd rather use the space it normally occupies under the lights for something else).

I'd say you can leave it in the pot (but cut off the leaves), but put it in a dark, cool space and don't water it and it will be fine when you set it outside in the spring OR you can take it out of the pot, knock the dirt off the roots (cut off the leaves) and lay it on the floor in a dark, cool room and replant it next spring. Either should work just fine.

BTW - when I plant my bananas in the spring, I dig a large hole, fill it half way with composted horse manure (the mix of straw, manure, etc they clean out of the stalls each day), stand the tree in the hole and fill it the rest of the way with more composted manure. I top it off with a layer of mulch, to keep it from smelling and to prevent flies from 'gathering'.

The bananas really seem to thrive in the nitrogen-rich, moisture-retentive environment, and they are easier to dig in the fall, since the soil around them is so loose. I have done the same thing when I've planted them in pots, however I must warn you, the pot will smell and leach 'manure tea' each time you water for the first few weeks. I don't put them in pots any more because the trees don't get as large and in the pots they are easily blown over when they get large leaves.

This message was edited Oct 24, 2009 9:30 AM

thanls Leawood, I'll be following your advise...

Leawood - Nice looking banana trees. Good advise on how to care for them. Someone over on 99 street near I-69 has what appears to be banana trees that they leave in the ground all year. I haven;t been over that way this year but usually they have fencing filled in with straw installed over where they are in the summer. The bananas are near the driveway and the house is on the north side somewhere in the first block east of the hwy.

Susan

Wow. I've had friends (NOT gardeners, but folks who seem to know something about EVERYTHING) tell me all I need to do is mulch them and they'll survive the winter. But, in my limited testing, this doesn't work in zone 5b. Last fall I cut back a large banana tree, built a ring of chicken wire around it and piled mulch 3' deep inside the ring. I waited until late April to uncover the site and when I did, all I found was mush). I'll drive by the area you described - if someone has perfected a way to save the labor of digging up the trees (no fun for an old guy like me) and the mess of storing them in the basement (I dedicate a large area in my basement to banana trees, cannas and elephant ear bulbs), I'll do it! Thanks for your message, Susan!

Same on the storage except the bananas. Maybe they have some version that is hardy or it's not a banana tree or they are bananas but that is not what they are mulching. Any way I thought I'd let you know and you can take a drive by to talk with them. It's on the way to Oak Park Mall and Family Tree depending on your route.

SusanKC

There is a hardy banana tree that wil survive below -10 or something like that and if you mulch it would be even better so they say. I have one but don't want to leave it out to find out. Now it has pups I might try it.

Someone gave me a banana tree, type unknown, sure don't like the thought of digging it up in the fall, that sounds like a really big job. I can see where it wouldn't do as well in a pot and blow over to boot....decisions desisions.

Hi happ, I once asked a guy if its a job digging up all his banana trees in the Fall.
He said its not too bad because the roots only go down about 6 inches, even in the big ones. Prolly one or two shovel fulls would do it, it sounds like. This Summer or Fall I'd like to get a Banana 'basjoo' from Lowes (the cold hardy one) for the tropical spot I propose here.

Digging the trees in the fall is certainly NOT an easy task (I'd say the roots are certainly lower than 6 inches), but if the trunk is accessible from all sides, it isn't too much work. the problem is the trees weigh a TON in the fall, after growing all summer. They are 90% water, and if they are tall (mine get 8-9 feet tall) that translates into a lot of weight, even after you cut off all the leaves.

Maybe he meant the corm is only 6 inches down.
Maybe the roots don't need to be dug up when storing.
Thanks Leawood, I don't want to mis-lead anyone.
I don't have a banana tree.

Well, since I do all the gardening myself I think I will leave it in a pot for awhile and see what happens. I have a great pot mover, and in the fall I have a lot of dahlias and cannas to dig since I had to buy all new this year, along with brugs, hibiscus, ee's and the such......

Leawoodgardener - Just drove by that location at 99st and the banana plants are up.

Do you know the cross street? I'd love to drive by and see them - even better, I would like to meet the gardener and ask about them.

West 99 terrace between Wedd St and Mastin Dr. North side of the road. There is a raised bed with bananas on the west side of the driveway. The house is a brown and white split level (at least as shown in google maps)

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl

A friend of mine gave me 2 Banana trees this spring. They were spindly little things and I pulled back the dead stuff to the green and it was so spindly I had to stake it up. Thought I'd killed it. It is now about 6' tall and the trunk is 3" across! It even has a pup coming up. I planted both of them in a whisky barrel that the bottom was out of. I situated it where I wanted it then filled it with potting soil. It is strong enough to hold them upright, but will be easy digging as I can get to each side and it isn't real compacted. She gave me 6 more a couple weeks ago! I have them planted on the east side of my house right up next to it, and only get morning sun so may not grow as well as the others, but sure look pretty even though they are small. I have hanging baskets above them. Very tropical. I really LOVE the banana trees. Just add an extra KICK to the landscaping.

Leawoodgardener:
Did you ever find out about the trees that were left in the ground all winter up there? I'm in Tulsa, OK and if they survive the winter there, they would here too. The friend I got mine from always digs them.

Sorry for the slow response - I have not been on DG very much lately.

Hardy bananas in KC? I'm not sure. I have tested the variety I grow (see my 12/17/09 post, above) and they are NOT hardy in zone 5b, but it is possible there are other varieties that ARE hardy. All of my trees are descendants from one tree given to me in 1994, so I have no way of knowing the variety. Check out this site:

http://www.tytyga.com/category/Banana+Trees?gclid=COerr5C7vqQCFQwDbAodmy8lPQ

They have LOTS of varieties. Good luck!

I don't know what 'variety' mine are either. The tree I was talking about is now about 4-5" across and has 2 pups coming up. They are not right up close to the tree, but about 4-5" away from the base of the mother.

I probably won't chance leaving mine in the ground, even though some of them are up close to the house. They are 'small' and won't be any trouble to dig, just a pain finding a place in the garage to store them! lol

Hello! Not to but into the conversation here, but we have a musa basjoo (the hardy one), and I have seen reports of it hardy to zone 7 and reports of it hardy to zone 6 with lots of mulching (I am zone 6b, by the way). I bought one from the president of our master gardener's association during a fundraiser, and he said, after the leaves have drooped and turned brown in the fall, just cut the stalk down to about 1 foot, and mulch it heavily. We surround ours with a large chicken wire ring and mulch it with about a foot or so of leaves or wood mulch. Last year, we didn't get around to it, so it was completely uncovered; but it came back - I think all the snow we got over the winter saved it!
We also have the non-hardy type of bananas, and we just dig them up and don't worry about how much of the roots we unearth, just as long as we get the bulb. Don't know if that's right or not, but it's worked so far - maybe they would grow larger if we got more of the roots.
Pictured below is the hardy banana - we now have seven, after just a couple of years. The largest one is around 6 feet tall.

Hi ericabelle,

Very interesting about your hardy banana. I was not aware that even the hardy ones would live in that zone. I am in 7a, near Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you have any babies to trade, I would definately be interested in a few of them!!!
I used to live outside of Dora, MO. I was in West Plains all the time. Home of Dick Van Dyke!!!! :-)) I really liked it over the. The Mark Twain National Forest is a beautiful place.

Hope to see you around here more.

Crit

ericabelle, altho I have not left mine outside, but hardy banana is suppose to be hardy to zone 4. I have enough pups that I will probably leave one out this winter and see what happens.

Hello, Crit! It's a small world! Mark Twain Nat'l Forest is a beauty - my husband and I keep saying we are going to go camping there with our dogs sometime, but we've lived here 3 years, and haven't yet! I hate to tell you, but my parents and in-laws have dibbs on the little nanners this year. Actually, until they mentioned it to me, I wasn't going to attempt to separate them this year. I really don't know how to tell which banana pups can be dug and separated. Does anyone know?

Wow, happgarden I didn't know they could be hardy to zone 4 - I guess I shouldn't worry too much about mine. Last year, when we didn't mulch it, the stalk at ground level got all mushy. I thought for sure it was a goner. We will be sure to mulch it this year. =)