Japanese Fiber Banana, Japanese Hardy Banana (Musa basjoo)

Japanese Fiber Banana, Japanese Hardy Banana
Musa basjoo

Pseudostem cross-section

why did you cut the stem? are you protecting it or something?

Great question. Yes- you see- The first fall, I left the stem its full hieght, so the top inch or so stuck out of the top of the leaf pile. (The stems will freeze below 28 degrees) This exposed end worked like a cold-wick which froze the stem all the way down to the root. It had to grow new stems the following year, which slowed it down in size. This year I cut all but a few inches of stem and buried it all quite deeply in leaves. It has been a cold winter, I hope the stems are protected. In the worst scenario, the roots will just have to grow new stems.

Here's a pic of a musa basjoo that wasn't cut back the previous year. This pic was taken in Oct of 2006.

I put a cage around it and fill it up with white pine needles - 2' or 3'. Here it is after the first frost.

Next spring there should be a 2' green puesdostem - if all goes well....Note the exposed portion will not survive.

Some others, Additional pine needles were added to cages shortly after this pic was taken.

Same place - diff. angle & w/ my assistant...

Truly Beautiful garden and assistant.
Those Ricinus seem to like your summers. Do you grow the red leafed varieties?
How did you protect them in the winter of 05/06? Did the entire stems get killed?
And do tell what other species of Musa you are growing there, please.
(A voice is screaming in my head that I cannot sign off without suggesting you plant some very horizontal groundcovers to exaggerate the Bananas and add earlier-season interest, if not scads of spring-blooming bulbs...)

I haven't tried the red leafed castor bean. I don't think they get very big - a prerequisite for me...My castors top out at about 18' and average 14'. Largest diameter was 7" and average 3-4". Largest leaves are 3'. They will survive a mild frost with little leaf damage but are toast after a hard frost. I grow cavendish and musa basjoos so far...The musa basjoos stay outside year round. I prefer the cage method. 2-3' of pine needles in each cage. Had hoped to score some more pine needles this year to insulate them 4' high or more but no such luck.The stems die down to the tops of the pine needle cage while the puesdostem remains green under the needles. A leaf will pop out quickly this spring and give a quick head start - sometime in late April.... Next fall I may try cutting some stems down to 3 or 4' before "insulating" them. Last year I did leave some puesdostems completely unprotected - the stems eventually fell over...but they did come back... just a little slower. The photo of the tall nanner was taken late in the season and doesn't show what was growing there just a month earlier. That area was literally full of wild flowers, giant hibiscuses... and even a lime tree. I 'm always changing things around so who knows what I'll have there next year other than a big banana( I hope). Think I'm going to try some cold hardy palm trees somewhere....

Thanks for the data.
My Red Ricinus are generally just a few feet shorter than the green, but some years taller. The leaves are not as wide, and they branch much more. The dark colour and bright red flowers are nice.

As someone who has been there, let me strongly suggest starting with both small (gallon) and large (fifteen gallon, if possible) potted palms, planted in the spring. (Spring, that's critical.) Leaf cages are one of the better ways to protect them, too.

Hey, I have few red ricinus seeds someone gave me and I'll try them here in a few months...I'm with you on the early start. The way our place is layed out I don't have that microclimate people suggest...Plenty of sun in the summer but some shade at times during the winter - sun at a lower angle...I 've read about using christmas lights and/or a cold shelter. Right now I'm trying to find out where to find some larger palms...Maybe a road trip!

Ha, roadtrip is the only way I could devise... even gallon sized ones are getting a little harder to find via mailorder lately. I've got plenty of seedlings, but impatience pushes me to want to see some palms earlier than the five years or more it will take to grow these grass-like seedlings out into respectable young palms.
That winter low-angle sun is a killer, it truly reduces the plant variety I can put in an otherwise good area I have. Annuals are great and all, "but..."

wow that seems like an awful lot of work for those. whn do yalls die bak and come out in the spring?

The musa basjoos are probably one of the easiest plants I have these days.... In the fall I might have spent an hour towards overwintering my cold hardy bananas. The stalks die back in the fall/winter after a few hard frosts. When the soil warms up enough -around May for this area, they will pop up and look sort of, like say... a hosta ,for example. Putting the cage around the plant in the fall will give you a head start as well as some insurance....

oh, well we just leave em out in the winter and forget about em til spring, or whenever they start to grow again. no care, protection or special treatment. sometimes they stay green .they stop growing around christmas or thanksgiving. maybe some leaf damage before then, but most damage is during winter (mid jan- mid feb) and when they are fooled by the sporadic weather here in the winter. one week is in the 70's the next in the 50's w/ lows arond 25 @ coldest. damage rarely to the pseudostem. how about yall?

This message was edited Feb 17, 2007 2:53 PM

I loose mine at 20-25F.