nucci60

I tried biggdogs method of storage on my "insurance" basjoo. It had four feet of sem and i took it out of the pot and stored it in the dark inmy basement. the basement is about 62.f. It is not even february and it looks likea dead cornstalk. the corm seems alright, so i have since potted it up and giving it light and some water so i won't lose it . Was the temp too warm? probably should have left it in the ground.

JoeS475

I have a basjoo in the basement too, and the temperature isn't nearly cold enough, between the high 50's and low 60's also. The stem which was once thick and strong is very thin and is leaning on a 30 degree angle, but the new leaf spear is still green. I guess as long as the corm makes it thats all that matters, it'll come back bigger and faster than before. I'm leaving mine alone for now and hoping for an early spring to get it back outside asap!

~Joe

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banana_fun

My basjoo looked like withered dead cornstalks as well. In fear of loosing two 4' basjoos I decided to take them out of storage and pull off the dead leaf petioles on the pseudostem. I thought for sure I would have lost a 1' of pseudostem on each plant, but to my amazement no height was lost! The two basjoos look excellent and I am looking forward to seeing new growth in the coming weeks.

I still have one 5' basjoo in my storage room that doesn't look as brown as the other ones did. I will leave this one until spring since the leaves will hit my ceiling if I plant it inside.

My storage room seems to hover around 58 degrees with no growth from the plants. Hope this will bring you some reassurence.

JoeReal

Inside the garage, where temps are between 50-60 deg F, if you place shop light (about $6 at home depot) and replace the fluorescent light bulbs rated for plant and let it turn on 6 hrs of the warmest part of the day the entire winter, and don't water at all, the leaves will not wither but stay green, the plant will be hibernating mode. One week before you take it out to plant during the spring time, increase the light hours to 16, and triple the amount of cheap lights. This would let the leaves adapt to the outside without shocking it. Then you will have a nice headstart for your banana plants in the spring.

Prolonged darkness withers away the leaves which is actually caused by leaf senescence due to lack of light, assuming that your garage doesn't fall below 40 deg F.

mrbungalow

50s and 60s are way to warm for storing basjoos. Here, they even start growing in the 40s outside.

The best bet is still, in my opinion, a leaf or hay-filled cage. If the main stem dies you will still have multiple shoots coming from the base in spring. That's better insurance than a single small plant in a crammed pot sitting in the garage. I would almost be tempted to say that bananas belong in the ground, not in pots.

Erlend

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nucci60

I think your right mr.B. The corm will be fine and will go in the ground this spring. Two are in the ground now. Two sikkis I am growing under lights will join them. The only one that will stay in a pot is my ensete maurelii which is growing FAST under lights and will be big by spring. Thanks

mrbungalow

I agree Nucci, ensete is the exception. These overwinter more easily in cool/dry storage, and start growing almost immediately. Someone said the british did this in Victorian times, pulled large ensetes with a horse into their sheds and pulled them back out in spring!

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mudcat25

This is the first year that I have dug up a basjoo (8ft) to overwinter inside along with my other banana (waxy ps is all I know about it). Bareroot in the basement. The basjoo has turned out just like everyone else has described. So do we cut it back and plant it now (in a pot until spring) or just stick it out? I have a pup growing very well right now. Could someone tell me what type of edible banana would be easiest to grow in St. Louis. Thanks for any help. May spring get here soon!!!!!!

mrbungalow

In St. Lois you are dependant on beeing able to store bananas inside during winter -if you want fruit. You plant them out in April/May and take them in at the end of September, depending on first and last frost.
This means you want a cultivar that goes into dormancy easily. You don't want a cultivar that starts growing at cool temperatures. Other members here probably have more experience on this than me, but from what I've read it seems brazilian, goldfinger, and apple are well suited to this. Offcourse, there is also the famous orinoco. Ironically, these are also said to be relatively cold hardy bananas compared to for example cavendish type bananas. But beeing able to go into dormancy is way more important than cold-hardiness in this equation.

Erlend

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bigdog

I had similar results with M. basjoo using this method. I believe I've mentioned that it doesn't work very well for Musa basjoo.
Although I lost a lot of the outer layers of leaf bases, some of the inner ones were still in tact. A thin pseudostem, but it stayed intact. Here's what it looked like last April, after cleaning up the dead stuff from the outer laters:

banana_fun

That’s what my basjoo’s look like now after being taken out of dormancy and cleaned up. Did the pups on basjoo resume growth or did they choke? I have a few pups that are smaller on mine, but are not growing.

bigdog

The pups resumed growth after a while. Had to cut them back a little more even than the first pic. Funny thing is, the main pseudostem flowered at about 5 feet last year. Here's what the poor thing looked like in the summer:

banana_fun

There is nothing poor about the look of that banana. I think it looks great. How old was the P-stem when it flowered? I know you over-winter your bananas under your house so I would expect a full size plant before a flower was produced.

bigdog

Well, by "poor," I meant that it could have been twice that size if I had left it in the ground last winter. The flower came from a second season pseudostem from a one gallon plant in 2005. Also, the only reason I had my Musa basjoo under the house last year was because I moved to Knoxville from Nashville (in December), and took my bananas with me. I leave all of my species banana outside normally. It's the fruiting cultivars that go under the house normally. Species bananas, with exceptions I'm sure (Musa itinerans is one), don't seem to store too well under the house.

nucci60

bigdog, in my haste as a newbie, after i chopped mine to the base i did find a thin pseudostem going all the way up. live and learn. I potted the corm back up under lights and hope for pups. This one is going in the groun with the oter two. Got two sikkis growing well under lights that i am going to try in the ground this spring.

bencelest

I am in zone 9 and what you guys are saying it is better to leave your bananas on the ground all year round and not haul them in in your garage for the winter. Am I correct?
I am not successful having my bananas flowered yet because the winter wilt the banana leaves. I just ordered 7 different varieties and I will be starting to grow them. 3 feet high. And IHAVE ONE THAT I just planted which is about 7 foot high and has flowers in them but I just transplant it to the ground about 2 weeks ago when I bought it. I should have winterized it in my garage. Should I? Riight now it is wrapped in burlap leaves and all and protected with Christmas lights and floor heat.
My question is: If for some reason I get one to flower, should I dig it and winterized it in my garage?

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Banana Nut

man with the yellow hat

I have a 8 foot basjoo pseudostem covered in dark material in my garage, I keep it just above the floor approx 3 feet where them temp is around 40ish. It is still very green and solid. I hope it lasts April is getting closer.

JoeS475

As an experiment I left one 4' Basjoo unprotected (except for some soil) in my garage on the coldest night of the year - 2.2 degrees! The entire pseudostem went to mush, as expected, so I'm now waiting to see if the corm survived.

My 5' Basjoo spent several nights at 16 degrees, possibly a little less, and many nights below freezing, but the pseudostem seems to be intact although soft. It has also been brought inside to see if it will survive.

In my basement, which is not cold enough, one 4' Basjoo is leaning on a 45 degree angle, but still has a thin pseudostem and a green spear.

My Lasiocarpa, also in the basement, is green and healthy and looks just like it did the day I put it there in October!

Incidently, last winter I tried growing the Lasiocarpa in a sunny room and it did so badly that I threw it away, outside straight into the snow where it sat for 2-3 months exposed to sun, rain and snow and all sorts of cold temperatures. Amazingly enough, while doing yard work in the spring I found the plant laying on its side where I threw it, and sure enough there was some green! I cleaned it up and gave it a bit of TLC and it thrived all year!

~Joe

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