frustrated by winter, musa bajoo

ponytale7 · 11-06-2013, 06:08 PM

hello all...this is my scnd yr growing musa bajoo, and ive seen some 20 miles up the road that are 10 ft tall...i left them in the ground last yr and the main stem died, but 6 or 7 pups came back...but only reached about 4 ft...i live near kansas city ks...30 miles s. actually and i was wondering if i should dig them up, knock the dirt off and just put them in the gar. without cutting them down...would reall appreciate the help...thank u all and looking forward to sharing w u

pony

kubali · 11-06-2013, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponytale7

hello all...this is my scnd yr growing musa bajoo, and ive seen some 20 miles up the road that are 10 ft tall...i left them in the ground last yr and the main stem died, but 6 or 7 pups came back...but only reached about 4 ft...i live near kansas city ks...30 miles s. actually and i was wondering if i should dig them up, knock the dirt off and just put them in the gar. without cutting them down...would reall appreciate the help...thank u all and looking forward to sharing w u

pony

Welcome aboard,If you got it,grow it....
YES,I would dig them up and put in pots with soil till spring,be nice if you had some grow lights in your garage...

Abnshrek · 11-06-2013, 06:21 PM

Hello, Welcome & Happy Growing.. did you mulch them, fertilize them? I'd dig them up as well.. so I 2nd that motion.. :^)

ponytale7 · 11-06-2013, 08:02 PM

i read the post where the guy dug them up, knocked the dirt off them and laid them in the crawlspace under his house for the winter...my garage isnt heated, and does get below freezing although not much below...i do have one in a whiskey barrel in my garage, (which i did last yr, and it ddnt come back at all...it rotted)...just wondering if i should dig them up and just store them unpotted in my garage...

ponytale7 · 11-06-2013, 08:04 PM

btw...i do have a grow light,(a cheap walmart flor. above my whiskey barrel banana this year...see what happens

Olafhenny · 11-07-2013, 07:09 PM

Hi Pony,

as a fellow HZ6 grower, who is going into the fifth winter leaving the basjoo outside, I would
strongly recommend, that you leave them outdoors and protect them there. I have done a fair
amount of experimenting with various approaches.

If you dig them up, it will involve transplanting twice, if you winter them in a pot. Bare root
storage will lose you most of your leaves, if not all of them. There are other problems with
that too, if they come into direct contact with concrete etc. Left in the ground,the roots
and corm are firmly embedded in the soil and ready to deliver the goods immediately as soon
as they get the signal from above.

Based on that my advice is : Do not dig them out. The reason why your bananas did
not grow sufficiently is, I assume, that you believed the claim, that basjoos are hardy to HZ5.
That applies only to the corm and only then, when it was planted deeply enough. It led to you
to letting the pseudo stem (PS) completely freeze off. If the plant has to recover without any of
the PS left above ground, it takes a loooong time and cuts off a huge part of your growing season.
You can avoid that by preserving some of your PS. Even 6 inches gives your plant a huge leg up.

I could talk a lot more about this, but I am rushed for time right now.

Meanwhile do the following:
• Cut you PS down to the height you can and want to protect by slicing them off at an
angle, so that any moisture can drain off.
• Create some air space around the stub by either placing a piece of pipe with a lid or an
upturned bucket over it
• Build an 18 to 24 inches fence 3 to 4 feet diameter around it and fill that up with leaves,
making sure that there is plenty of (leaf) insulation on your top cover
• Lastly cover all up
with some plastic sheeting, securing that against wind blow.

Do not let any plastic come in direct contact with the PS. As soon as it is safe in your
area to plant tomatoes outside, uncover the stub and you will see growth within 2 or 3 days.

There is much more to talk about, but the above will give you a good start.

Good luck,
Olaf

scottu · 11-07-2013, 07:58 PM

I agee with Olaf unless you have ****ty soil! If you do drag the little suckers into a pot so they survive the winter and then in the early spring, dig out a volkswagon sized hole, width and depth dispose of crap dirt, then fill with a premium soil and plant. You will thank yourself for years!!

cincinnana · 11-07-2013, 10:03 PM

These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago by ME on my way home from work to demonstrate that Basjoos thrive in my area.
This mat is five years old and encompasses over an acre of a tropical garden which is open to the public.

I took them for a number of members whom had never seen a mature mat of Basjoos, and that are consistently grown in zone 6.
Girth, height, weight, is determined by mature corm size for the next seasons growth.
The corms for these plants are the size of a large basket ball.
The growing conditions for these plants are kept perfect .

These plants are cut to the ground ......that's it.
However they are planted eight to twelve inches deeper than you would plant
a normal bananas in good soil.
No B.S.>>>> Just good gardening!!!!
Edit: I will post a photo once the grounds crew cuts them down.

.
These are a few miles from my home across the river in Northren Kentucky....zone 6.

11-06-2013, 06:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
ponytale7 ponytale7 Location: edgerton ks Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Name: pony Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 4 BananaBucks : 5,425 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 10 Times Was Thanked 7 Times in 4 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	frustrated by winter, musa bajoo hello all...this is my scnd yr growing musa bajoo, and ive seen some 20 miles up the road that are 10 ft tall...i left them in the ground last yr and the main stem died, but 6 or 7 pups came back...but only reached about 4 ft...i live near kansas city ks...30 miles s. actually and i was wondering if i should dig them up, knock the dirt off and just put them in the gar. without cutting them down...would reall appreciate the help...thank u all and looking forward to sharing w u pony

11-06-2013, 06:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
Abnshrek Happy Growing Abnshrek 's Photo Gallery Location: Beaumont Texas Find me on the map! Zone: 8b, but 9b weather.. Name: Migael / Michael Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 9,493 BananaBucks : 213,702 Feedback: 45 / 100% Said "Thanks" 10,447 Times Was Thanked 16,443 Times in 5,238 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 2,318 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo Hello, Welcome & Happy Growing.. did you mulch them, fertilize them? I'd dig them up as well.. so I 2nd that motion.. :^) __________________ I'm a Nannerhead :^)

11-06-2013, 08:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
ponytale7 ponytale7 Location: edgerton ks Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Name: pony Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 4 BananaBucks : 5,425 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 10 Times Was Thanked 7 Times in 4 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo i read the post where the guy dug them up, knocked the dirt off them and laid them in the crawlspace under his house for the winter...my garage isnt heated, and does get below freezing although not much below...i do have one in a whiskey barrel in my garage, (which i did last yr, and it ddnt come back at all...it rotted)...just wondering if i should dig them up and just store them unpotted in my garage...

11-06-2013, 08:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
ponytale7 ponytale7 Location: edgerton ks Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Name: pony Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 4 BananaBucks : 5,425 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 10 Times Was Thanked 7 Times in 4 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo btw...i do have a grow light,(a cheap walmart flor. above my whiskey barrel banana this year...see what happens

11-07-2013, 07:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 251,347 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo Hi Pony, as a fellow HZ6 grower, who is going into the fifth winter leaving the basjoo outside, I would strongly recommend, that you leave them outdoors and protect them there. I have done a fair amount of experimenting with various approaches. If you dig them up, it will involve transplanting twice, if you winter them in a pot. Bare root storage will lose you most of your leaves, if not all of them. There are other problems with that too, if they come into direct contact with concrete etc. Left in the ground,the roots and corm are firmly embedded in the soil and ready to deliver the goods immediately as soon as they get the signal from above. Based on that my advice is : Do not dig them out. The reason why your bananas did not grow sufficiently is, I assume, that you believed the claim, that basjoos are hardy to HZ5. That applies only to the corm and only then, when it was planted deeply enough. It led to you to letting the pseudo stem (PS) completely freeze off. If the plant has to recover without any of the PS left above ground, it takes a loooong time and cuts off a huge part of your growing season. You can avoid that by preserving some of your PS. Even 6 inches gives your plant a huge leg up. I could talk a lot more about this, but I am rushed for time right now. Meanwhile do the following: • Cut you PS down to the height you can and want to protect by slicing them off at an angle, so that any moisture can drain off. • Create some air space around the stub by either placing a piece of pipe with a lid or an upturned bucket over it • Build an 18 to 24 inches fence 3 to 4 feet diameter around it and fill that up with leaves, making sure that there is plenty of (leaf) insulation on your top cover • Lastly cover all up with some plastic sheeting, securing that against wind blow. Do not let any plastic come in direct contact with the PS. As soon as it is safe in your area to plant tomatoes outside, uncover the stub and you will see growth within 2 or 3 days. There is much more to talk about, but the above will give you a good start. Good luck, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

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11-07-2013, 07:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
scottu <div style="font-weight: bold;"><div style="font-weight: bold;">&lt;div style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&amp;lt;di v style=&amp;quot;font-weight: bold;&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&a mp;amp;lt;di v sty scottu 's Photo Gallery Location: Bethlehem,Pa. Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Name: scott Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,192 BananaBucks : 8,437 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,595 Times Was Thanked 857 Times in 368 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,323 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo I agee with Olaf unless you have ****ty soil! If you do drag the little suckers into a pot so they survive the winter and then in the early spring, dig out a volkswagon sized hole, width and depth dispose of crap dirt, then fill with a premium soil and plant. You will thank yourself for years!! __________________ Viva La Banana

11-07-2013, 10:03 PM	#8 (permalink)
cincinnana container grower Location: Southwest Ohio U.S.A.🇺🇸 Find me on the map! Zone: HZ 6/5 Microclimate - Elevation 750 feet- 228.60 meters Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 8,826 BananaBucks : 104 Feedback: 7 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,884 Times Was Thanked 11,741 Times in 4,890 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 1,949 Times	Re: frustrated by winter, musa bajoo These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago by ME on my way home from work to demonstrate that Basjoos thrive in my area. This mat is five years old and encompasses over an acre of a tropical garden which is open to the public. I took them for a number of members whom had never seen a mature mat of Basjoos, and that are consistently grown in zone 6. Girth, height, weight, is determined by mature corm size for the next seasons growth. The corms for these plants are the size of a large basket ball. The growing conditions for these plants are kept perfect . These plants are cut to the ground ......that's it. However they are planted eight to twelve inches deeper than you would plant a normal bananas in good soil. No B.S.>>>> Just good gardening!!!! Edit: I will post a photo once the grounds crew cuts them down. . These are a few miles from my home across the river in Northren Kentucky....zone 6. __________________ Cincinnana/Hostafarians Photo Gallery 🌴 Last edited by cincinnana : 11-08-2013 at 12:26 PM. Reason: photo

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