Bananas.org - View Single Post - M. itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis after a few hard frosts

bigdog · 11-24-2008, 11:08 PM

I've noticed that some of the rhizomes run deeper than others on my Musa itinerans. I dug a couple of pups before our first frost, and discovered a rhizome that was much deeper than the one I was intending to cut. No telling how many feet away it was going to pop up! So far, my 'India Form' has sent up four pups, no more than about 3 feet away from the parent pseudostem. I had three seeds germinate, and lost the first one because it just wasn't vigorous at all. The other two seeds started shooting up immediately though. Seems that there were (are) a certain percentage of seeds in that batch that were very weak.

I think I can say with some confidence that 'Yangtze' doesn't really look like M. itinerans to me. My young plant doesn't remind me of itinerans at all. Can't wait to get it in the ground in the spring and see what it looks like in my yard!

Frank

BTW...in keeping in line with the title of this thread, my M. itinerans stems have experienced some very heavy frosts and record cold for this time of year. I've made it down to 12F so far already! Yikes. Knoxville airport (TYS) made it down to 15F, but I am in a cold hole. I haven't protected them yet, but do plan on it here in a few days. I'm hoping for a flower next year.

11-24-2008, 11:08 PM	#59 (permalink)
bigdog ******* bigdog's Photo Gallery** Location: Gainesville, FL Find me on the map! Zone: 8b Name: Frank Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,003 BananaBucks : 749,881 Feedback: 7 / 100% Said "Thanks" 213 Times Was Thanked 1,788 Times in 503 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 131 Times	Re: M. itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis after a few hard frosts I've noticed that some of the rhizomes run deeper than others on my Musa itinerans. I dug a couple of pups before our first frost, and discovered a rhizome that was much deeper than the one I was intending to cut. No telling how many feet away it was going to pop up! So far, my 'India Form' has sent up four pups, no more than about 3 feet away from the parent pseudostem. I had three seeds germinate, and lost the first one because it just wasn't vigorous at all. The other two seeds started shooting up immediately though. Seems that there were (are) a certain percentage of seeds in that batch that were very weak. I think I can say with some confidence that 'Yangtze' doesn't really look like M. itinerans to me. My young plant doesn't remind me of itinerans at all. Can't wait to get it in the ground in the spring and see what it looks like in my yard! Frank BTW...in keeping in line with the title of this thread, my M. itinerans stems have experienced some very heavy frosts and record cold for this time of year. I've made it down to 12F so far already! Yikes. Knoxville airport (TYS) made it down to 15F, but I am in a cold hole. I haven't protected them yet, but do plan on it here in a few days. I'm hoping for a flower next year.