Marinemom

I am wondering if my musa basjoo's are dying or maybe just dormant. Our temps are in the middle to high 40's at night and anywhere from 60-82 during the day.

ALL are growing with new green leaves except for two. When I uncovered, these two, in different mats, were kinda rotty on the top. I cut the yucky off of them and they stumped over with a black color. I have kept a check on them to see if any growth might be coming thru. Well today I decide to head out there and check again. Nothing! No change, no green, no growth, no rotting... Both were still quite firm at the top so I decided to cut off some and see if there was anything underneith. I cut off 6-10 inches and nothing.

The same white looking center with no green color whatsoever. So I cut further and the same thing. Another thing to note is that the white center of both of them is loose and jiggly. Not firm or attached to anything, just kinda a hard center (think of a huge wooden dowel). Now I am wondering if I should keep cutting until I see green and pray OR cut the thing to the ground and not worry? If I am not mistaken I think these two were the "momma" plants, but I do have about 5-7 babies surrounding these two with heights anywhere from 6-12 feet without leaves. We covered for winter and all are growing leaves but these two. Not sure on how to load pics but I can if someone will point me in that direction!

Thanks for ANY help you fine folks can give~

Marine Mom in NC

lwabirds

I would give them some more time. They should sprout from the cormb.

__________________
May you be in heaven a half an hour before the devil knows you're dead

Dadmeister

I had a couple like that last year. The main plant didn't come back, but I had a couple pups sprout.

RobG7aChattTN

As they grow the growth point (apical meristem) moves higher up in the pseudostem. Once you cut below that (where there are no more leaves, just cells) they won't grow from that point again. Instead the corm with re-sprout...which does take longer than a re-sprouting older pseudostem. Just be patient and they should poke through. If the corm isn't soft and mushy then it is alive. That doesn't mean that it can't rot, but once things warm up there should be some nice, fast growth.

Marinemom

Thanks a bunch! I plan on leaving them alone now because they are indeed firm and seem to be healthy~just with no leaves...Everythng else is growing nicely, even the pups I separated...

So glad I found this site, so glad everyone here knows what they are doing and that you folks are so helpful for "newbies" like myself~

Have a great day!!!!!!

Marine Mom in NC

john_ny

Mom-Did you ever find out how to post picture? I have a step by step tutorial, but if you've already mastered it, there's no need o show it.

__________________
John

Marinemom

I am back with news of my poor "nanners! I have went over that "trunk" with a fine toothed comb and have found what appears to be small holes on further down the trunk...

Before you jump to any conclusions, let me tell you what are in those small holes~BB's! Yes, the bb's from an airsoft gun!!!!!!!! At some point during the fall I guess my two younger boys (11 and 13) were playing and shot the bananas...didn't bother to let mom know either!

So now what? Do I need to cut them off completely below the bb holes? One banana has maybe 5 in it and the other has 8 or so... The holes are black looking and do feel kinda mushy, but only a little above and a little below~
Shame on them!

I have been so busy that I have not even thought of posting a pic~Baseball season is in full swing here~middle school ball for the one that goes to Charter school (the 11 year old is still homeschooled) , LL and travel ball.

Now that I seem to have figured out why only those two aren't growing, does anyone have any great suggestions? Or is there no hope for them to recover?
Marine Mom in NC~

RobG7aChattTN

...a lot of my bananas were savagely cut to the ground (by me, on purpose) and I expect them to return. Don't worry about the pseudostem, it was probably going to rot anyway and the corm should be fine and re-sprout.

nanner

Next year, you might try a combination of wrapping the ones you want to save in cardboard topped with a bucket, and covering with two layers of plastic and weight it down with rocks...worked wonders for me, I wrapped a whole mat (7 pseudostems) and they are proceeding as if nothing had happened. I have a tip, though..there is a plywood store that throws away whole rolls of 4 mil and cardboard, too...so I don't have to buy anything. But next year for sure I will wrap everything in time for the freeze. I'm in Zone 6B Nashville.
Musa Basjoo is almost as reliable and tough as Johnson Grass. Feed them mulch such as old leaf litter, some sand, other compost. Sit back and watch!