spongebobsq1

The other night it got to -24 below zero with out the wind chill my bananas are in the ground under about 2 ft of leaves what do you guys think will they come back?

Chironex

I don't know, but I will be interested to hear what you find out this spring. If they do, I would encourage you to post this in the Wiki, including details of your winterizing technique.

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Scot

spongebobsq1

Well i made boxs out of plywood 3 ft long bye 2 ft high filled it with leafs and put a piece of ply wood over the top to keep it dry then at the top of one the sides i have a vent incase it gets wet

buzzwinder

Spongebobsq1, where are you located, zone etc. update your profile with this info using the "User CP" left side of the blue tool bar on this page, do you have any photos of our protection method? All my Banana plants are in pots that I bring inside for the winter, however I plan on putting 2 Bajoos in the ground this spring and overwinter them outside, This has been the coldest winter we've had here for about 35 years, we spent 3 days where it never got above -11 degrees and as low as -27, I would really like to hear how your plants handle -24. there are some of our members in zone 4 that overwinter them outside, and have great success. As long as your corm doesn't freeze solid it should be OK,Keep us updated as to how it's going!

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Bill for my friend

buffy

You should probably expect some leaf burn at that temperature.

spongebobsq1

Hi buzz i live close to you im in belvidere .The last 3 years i left them in the ground and had good luck but afraid this year will be bad ill take a pic and try posting it for ya

buzzwinder

Well hey Bob, I lived in Belvidere for 6 years on Biester Dr. If your Bajoos have been in the ground for two years you should be OK. The extra 2 plus feet of snow we've had will act as an insulator for the ground, heck of a last several days with temps though, as long you were successful in the last two years, you must be doing something right.

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Bill for my friend

Bob

Bob, I'm very interested how your plants do this year. Please make sure to keep us posted. I'm hoping that since the corms were a few years old they'll be that much hardier and you might be ok. Good luck, Bob

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Chironex

Wow, spongebob. I worked for Jack Wolf for nearly 5 years. I am so glad to be out of the cold! I like it here in Las Vegas quite a bit, but I do miss Rockford/Belvidere and the fertile soil we have there. The stuff they call soil here is gravel. Highly alkaline, too. It is awful for growing just about anything except cactus. Wish I had known you guys before I left Rockford, as i would like to have seen your banana plants. I will look you up next time I am back in town. We can all meet at Casey's pub for a cold one!

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Scot

island cassie

Buffy - you are bad!!

chrisltropical

Mine came back from -9F two years. Which was the lowest its been here since I've been growing Musa basjoo.

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Banana Country

martanzio

I am afraid of this winter too. Living in Toronto Canada it gets really cold. I built a banubble for them(banana bubble). Just a few 2*4s and some 6 mil poly sheet wraped around. Also put a 100watt light bulb in the bubble and turned it on when the temp got below -10c. Hoping it worked.
Anyone else winter them in canada? any tricks?
Can't wait for spring!

bepah

How much wind was there at 2 feet underground?

Wind chill should not be a factor, I think.

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John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker

Ueberwinden

Bob,

That will be quite an accomplishment, I hope they do well. Basjoo are rated for -20 with protection, although I have never heard exactly what the definition for protection is. (IE: mulch, barriers/windbreaks etc) So with the ideas of many brilliant growers from within this group being implimented that min temp may be able to be quite lower. A break throughmaybe!! Best wishes to you.

Michael

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White Horticulture
Rare, Tropical, Unique

dablo93

we had this winter also temperatures lower then -21 (not here, bit more to the east) but they will come back. it also depends a little how deep the corms are in the ground, deeper in the ground they are safer for frost.

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austinl01

Our winter low was 12 degrees F on two nights. The basjoos just had some of their old leaves thrown over them. They are sprouting and starting to grow now here.

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Austin
Arkansas River Valley

Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F
Extreme Winter Lows: 5-15°F, Extreme Summer Highs: 100-112°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

basjooman

The only success I have had here in Toronto is by cutting the mother plant down to the ground, piling a foot of soil over the stump, and building a cage (looks like one of those giant heat pump units) filled with straw and covered to keep the moisture out. Even then, it took until mid-June to see any signs of life.
Nowadays, I leave one or two out in a sheltered spot piled with a few feet of leaves, soil and covered with a tarp...and I'm not optimistic about their chances after this winter....
For rest of them I cut the pseudostems down to about three feet and keep them in the basement for the winter. After a couple of weeks they start shooting up new leaves from the centre of the bare stalk.

It's pretty tough and a lot of hard work growing basjoos up here.

martanzio

Basjooman,

Thanks for that tip, So you treat them like a Canna or any other tubor and take off the soil putting them in a dark place? Also the ones that you have covered, when do you take off the covering? Mine are still standing in the bubble but that might just be because they are propped up with the bags of leaves around them. On the upside my Bamboo seems to have survived!

M

basjooman

martanzio

Yes I treat them like my cannas although rather than bare-root them, I pot both the banana and cannas up in pro-mix before putting them in the basement and keep them relatively dry. The cannas get cut back to about four inches and I leave most of the banana psuedostems as tall as I can get away with depending on the amount of space I have. All the plants, (as well as a pile of Colocasia gigantea that also get the same treatment) try to start growing around mid-February. The whole lot goes out in spring after the danger of frost has passed and I divide them into pots or put them in the ground.

As for the basjoos left in the ground through winter....it depends on the spring weather, but I usually uncover those during a warm stretch in late March or early April to get some sunlight on the soil. If a late freeze comes I recover to protect them.