Hi All,
Will be getting several kinds of Bananas this year, Looked for a banana forum, but we don't have one?
So found this forum to be the best place to get the info I seek, As I understand it Musa Basjoo is the only cold hardy banana?
Do any of you grow this banana outside over the winter? If so could you give me some pointers for success?
Thanks for any help.:)Anita
Musa Basjoo Banana Question.
Welcome Anita. Never tried but hopefully someone has.
I think you should ask your question on the tropical gardening forum also. Here is a link that may be helpful. Good luck , I hope you get some answers. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/787941/
If you don't get any direct answers..try to email Logee's they may, or may not, email you back with their response. They have overwintered the cold hardy/winter hardy bananas at their place, which is z5.
Ooo, yeah, Logee's. They should definitely be helpful.
Thom, remember the gigantic elephant ear they had????
I do, I ordered 2 of them from their spring catalog. Paul and I just had a deck put onto our house, and, since the gardening bug is slowly eating at him....muahahaha....he wants the deck to have a "tropical" look to it. So, all of my availabe large pots are going to have elephant ears, shellgingers, sweet potato vines, drac spikes...etc...I might have to add a banana or 2...lol.
Oh, you "might", huh?
It's a def possibility...lol.
Thanks all, Will try both:)Anita
Good luck Anita!
Getting 13 Musa Basjoo, so if the ones going in the ground don't make it, I'll have backups
These are the ones I'm adding to my deck this year,
Musa Basjoo
Dwarf Cavendish
High Color Mini
Ice Cream Blue Java
Truly Tiny
Flowering Musa Royal Pink
Hem,
I think you should add a Brugmansia to your deck.
:)Anita
Beautiful Anita.
I am...there was/is a variegated one that I purchased at the plant RU at Logee's last year...I've repotted it already, and it's sending out leaves left and right...can not for the life of me remember the sport/species/type.
I have a couple of other tricks up my sleaves...lol.
I have 1 veriegated one (Peaches & Cream) very SLOW grower for me, Maybe this year it will take off? I hope anyway.
Thanks Sofo.
Still waiting to hear if anyone as had luck wintering Basjoo over? Pepper (zone5) on the FL forum said they tried it at work, so I might get an answer this spring about the luck they did or did not have.
:)Anita
Anita, found a few web sites, hope this helps.
http://www.caladiumbulbs.com/product/29/
http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=R1974-4
http://www.stokestropicals.com/detail.aspx?ID=2212
Almost all of them say with protection to z5.
Thanks Pixie,
Have read 2 of the 3, what I'm looking for is a real person in zone 5 that has done it. Thanks.:)Anita
In that case, I would definitely say, try and get someone from Logee's on the phone. Their gardens are in z5, and after the RU last year when the garden group went there, they have lots of stuff growing outside...so, I can actually say that their catalog just isn't all glitz and glamour. They had the Musa that is "hardy" growing between an area, that was between 2 of their green houses...it wasn't in a green house, just between a space that the 2 green houses were occupying (almost as if you would plant it between 2 sheds/garages)
Hi there - I'm a real person from zone 5b :-) I have 2 Musa basjoo, and here are my experiences to date.
I purchased my first one in early summer 2006 and promptly planted it right in the ground. In late fall I cut the stalk back to about one foot high, put a length of 18" diameter Big "O" drainage pipe over it, tied the pipe up to stakes to keep it from blowing over, and filled it up with leaves. That winter was extremely cold here, with at least two periods I can remember where the daytime highs were only -25C to -29C for a week at a time.
Around mid-May 2007 I took the pipe down and realized that I should have covered the top with plastic to keep the water out. The main stalk was history, so I went out and bought another M. basjoo with plans to keep it in its pot.
Lo and behold by mid-June a baby appeared off the old stalk. This young'un took a long time to start growing much and never did get past about 2 1/2 to 3 feet high.
In the fall I kept waiting for the weather to cool so I could once again cover my poor banana, but it stayed hot, sunny, and humid - right up until the day I woke up and we had a foot of snow. Sighhhhhhhhhh. I think it's probably history this year.
In the meantime my second one is sitting in my unheated but insulated garage (rarely goes below freezing) in its pot. The stalk just started dieing back within the past two weeks. I'm hoping it pops back in the spring, and hopefully from the main stalk and a little more quickly than the one I had planted in the ground did last year.
I will keep you posted on how both of these stories turn out.
--Ginny
Ginny,
Thank you so much! I have read about wrapping them in PVC insulation (NOT PVC PIPE), so now I know to cover the top if I go that way, looks like the best way is to cover with something & stuff it full, wonder if it would help to do like a box at the base & fill with leaves & then cover with pipe & stuff? Not suffocating it, but so it has a layer of leaves over any roots that may have grown under ground too.
Thank you, will be waiting to hear how they came through the winter for you.:)Anita
I planted 4 last spring in zone 5 , but have yet to see how they survived the winter :'(. I did read an article here in Cols. OH about a family that had lots of them but they dug them up and stored them inside for the winter.
Hope they make it for you, please let me know. Thanks :)Anita
I'm interested, too. I would love to try one. We haven't been below zero for the past few years, so I'm thinking it would be fine, but if we ever get winters like we used to......
Anita, please let us know anything you find out, and Ginny and rpurple please let us know in the spring.
I've been wanting to try, and I have an almost perfect spot for one, just not sure if I want to risk it or not. Chances are, I will risk it, and if it survives, be glad, and if not, complain for a week or so...lol.
I wish someone would breed a plant that would jump out of the ground and smack rabbits. I saw some outside nibbling on things today.
What would that plant be named ? ;0)
LOL A "Whomping Willow" perhaps?
I'll be happy to post back to this thread in the spring when I know the status of my 2 Musa basjoos.
--Ginny
I would kill for that new plant!!!
I beg hunters to come here & get them suckers, Oh how they LOVE my daylilies & Oh how I hate them darn RABBITS!
Polly,
I might have a spare? I'm getting 13 of them, I had to, or I could not get any, I am getting them from Pam on Yahoo's Co-ops.Had to fill the flat, we all know how that goes:)Anita
I want to try too. Have to put it where the winds won't rip it apart.
Thanks Anita,
I will send you my email address.
Here I am as promised with an update on my 2 Musa basjoos.
The one that threw a pup last June - that I didn't get protected last fall - is indeed history. The poor thing never had a chance in my zone.
The one that I overwintered in my garage died right back by mid-March, but promptly starting growing again by the end of April. This garage normally never freezes but it did this year for about a one week period in March - hence the complete die back of the banana's trunk. The plant now has a number of good sized healthy leaves and is well on its way to good growth for the season.
Here's some comparative data to help you with determining relative cold hardiness. The first year Musa ensete that I also overwintered in the garage did not survive its one week freeze. Neither did the Brugmansia 'Isabella', Silk Oak, Abutilon, or Passiflora. All of these plants were doing fine until the freeze. I would estimate that the temperature dropped to somewhere between 27°F and 30°F. The coldest temperature inside the garage prior to that was about 35°F. The Oleander survived - so did my Sago Palm and my Acnistus australis (Mini Angel's Trumpet), although that one died right back as well and just started putting out new growth about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
I hope this information is useful to you. Happy gardening!
--Ginny
Further update on my surviving Musa Basjoo.
Not only is it doing very well now, it has also started two pups - I wonder if it might be willing to fruit this year? Does anyone know what kind of fertilizer and fertilization schedule might help it to do that if it's so inclined?
--Ginny
There is someone on the DG area here...Brian something or another...crap...he is the owner/operator of Brians Botanicals. He is lurking in the Propagation forum sometimes. He might be able to assist you with that, since he grows several varieties. Or the woman who writes all of the great articles on Aroids...Larianne?
If I can find links to their names, I will send them through here...
bwilliams is his dg name...I meant the Hybridizers group...here is a link to it, he is the first poster in the link. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/822807/
It's LariAnn...here is an article, you can click on her name and dmail her that way. You could not possibly go wrong with asking either of these two fellow DG'ers for advice. There is a website out there also, I think it's gobananas.com something like that...it's a website geared specifically toward all things musa...
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1401/
Wow! Thanks for all the info. I'm sure to get the help I need now :-)
--Ginny
Thom you're a great resource.
Heavy mulching in winter months will be key to them surviving. Basjoo will be your best bet then maybe Musa velutina or Manii. Their will be more soon I am sure I am working on some now.
The fertilizers spring root hormone late spring light feed with 20-20-20 summer heavier feed with some epson salts every 3 weeks. Mid summer I usually put a fertlizer spike beside them 8 inches from the trunk. As they start growing and looking better you can feed heavier.
Plant it in a hot spot in the yard with full to part sun and hopefully wind protection. It should be well draining. I have found that many do well were the roots can grow down to a wet area like a ditch or pond. These roots are usually frozen off each year but regrow and help feed the plant.
Thank you for all of this information. I've heard you're the guru of bananas, and judging by that picture that's absolutely correct! I've never used epsom salts as fertilizer before. How should it be done?
Thanks again,
--Ginny
It's usually 1 tea spoon per gallon or if your like me I just throw a little around the base of the plant. Usually 6 to 8 inches away and around a table spoon or less. It will soak in after a good rain or watering. Only use it on nice healthy growing plants. I see more fertilizer related problems than not.
Thank you. Your help has been greatly appreciated.
--Ginny