bigdog

I cut the biggest pup down to about 2 feet tall, and covered it with a bag full of dry leaves. I was very encouraged to see that the outer layers of the pseudostem were still firm, and the center leaf was quite green still. In contrast, Musa cheesmani's outer layers of pseudostem were a bit mushy, and the middle, while still white, had lots of brown around it.

It does remind me of Musa basjoo, and the two are closely related, so that's good news. The texture of the pseudostem is very similar, sort of a tough, fibrous, hard outer layer. Most of the other bananas I have, you can cut through the pseudostem like a hot knife through butter. This one, while still easy to cut through with a knife, is more difficult to wack through than most.

While Musa basjoo did grow some between frosts also, this banana seemed to grow faster than basjoo or sikkimensis (but my sikkimensis is my slowest-growing banana). Time will tell though. It's technicaly not even winter yet! I'm being a bit hopeful because it is such a nice plant, I'd hate to lose it. At the same time, I don't want to go to extensive lengths to protect it because I like to evaluate the true cold-hardiness of Musa species. Someone's gotta do it, right? I can save the pseudostem on a Cavendish with enough protection, but that doesn't mean it's cold-hardy. I'm really only interested in plants that require little to no protection in my zone, because I don't like having to go to all the lenghts to protect stuff. So, if it's cold-hardy that's great, and I'll continue to grow it. But if it isn't cold-hardy, and I save a pup anyway for next year, it would just be an annual that I had to bring inside every year, and I'm tired of bringing plants into the garage (or under the house) for winter.

I'm sure Kev didn't mean anything by saying I was cocky. Probably just British humour, like several mentioned. No hard feelings! And as far as the TN Valley being colder than the UK in the winter, I'm very well aware of that. It's also colder than Central Alabama or Eastern NC in the winter, and I am under no delusions about my zone. Long-term (1971-2006), this is a zone 7a, bordering on zone 7b (avg. extreme min. low is around 4.8F). Most years we can expect a zone 8a low minimum temp, like we have for the past 4 winters, but it can dip into the single digits every few years, and even below zero (Fahrenheit) temps can happen (although not since 1996). I have done my homework on the climate, and I guess I do tend to get a bit defensive when someone who doesn't live anywhere near here tries to educate me on it. I should probably just laugh it off to myself and let it go. Apologies to Kev if I offended him (I don't try to offend anybody).