sandercohen

Hi there, I am new to the forum. I have been growing sikkimenisis and basjoo here in zone 6 in farmington hills michigan and i would love to hear from other banana folks that have succeded in growing and overwintering them.

All the plants i tried to overwinter in the crawl space died this winter, but the cold hardy plants in the ground look great, i uncovered them and found the root ball firm. (i have covered them back up for the upcoming freeze)

I have 2 big basjoos in pots in the greenhouse and i am really hoping to get my plants over 10ft this year as last year my plants never reahed over 6 ft. I used nothing but 5-0-0 fish fertilizer on them and this year i think i will go with a 21-0-0 to try and get more growth.

i would love to hear from other northern folks about ferts, your overwintering techniques and how to speed up the process of growth this spring.

basjooman

Well, I'm not from Michigan but somewhere around the same lattitude, in Toronto Canada.

I have found that basjoos need three important things to reach their full size potential and produce a lot of pups. Plenty of water every day (in well drained soil of course) as much sunlight as possible, and tons of nitrogen. I use 21:0:0 weekly, with dose of 21:7:7 once a month, you may want to try that.

Last year they got so big in my front yard that they were stopping traffic by the end of the season. I brought three of the six pups inside for the winter and put them under lights.......just in case.

Good luck with your plants.

banana_fun

sandercohen,

It's too bad to hear that your cold storage over wintered plants didn't survive, but good to year that you have other ones that made it. If the basjoo’s in the pot are large they should get up to 10 ' this year if not more? You can buy evergreen fertilizer that is 30-10-10. I was alternating weekly between fish emulsion and the evergreen fertilizer last summer.

Basjooman,

That great to hear that you plants were stopping trafffic! I have several plants I over wintered in my storage room that have 5' of pseudostem and are pushing up huge leaves already. I am going to plant them right at the side of the road. I am hoping to scare all the neighbours this year!

Cheers!

frankthetank

I'm west, but probably colder in southwest WI. I'm a warm 4 or a cold 5 here, depending on the year. I've got 2 Basjoos that will go in the ground as soon as i can get them out there (early May? late April?). They aren't that big and are inside right now. I plan on digging them up in the fall, since are low temp usually is around -20F every few years. I've got a nice sunny spot all picked out for them I plan on journaling there growth.

man with the yellow hat

Hello from Rochester Michigan. You need lots of insurance plants up here.
I always take a couple pups in each year, just in case. My basjoos in my photos are three years old, and last year grew over twenty feet tall. [IMG][/IMG]

sandercohen

wow, that's outstanding!

i have a ton af basjoos ready to go, but the psudostems of my basjoos that i tried to protect died on me. i still have some in the ground that were cut all the way down, if they survive this last week of winter i shold get good growth out of them, i am hoping that next year i can overwinter some with no loss. my new greenhouse should help!

Patty in Wisc

Hi all, BigDog I want to thank you for starting this post & your great pics. I started reading this last yr to learn. I bought my first 2 bananas last yr ...they are Ice Cream from culture, & came in 2 - 2 1/2 in pots last June, only 2 inches high. I gradualyy potted them up & one is in a huge 30 gal pot & one in a 5 gal pot. Of course, the big potted one is much bigger. I stored them in pots in my sunroom with lows of above 40F to highs of 60F. They were semi- dormant & big one grew about 6 leaves all winter. It is over 6ft tall from soil with huge healthy leaves. It is outside on deck getting acclimated & soon to go inground. The smaller one will go in the 30 gal pot. I found that tomato food (18-18-21) is best as it has more k (potassium) which bananas need (AND, also suply!). I also add 1 Tbls of epsom salts to every gal water when I fert.
My problem is, I have an OPEN crawlspace under my sunroom which may be too cold to store it for winter here in Z 5, & my sunroom height is 12 1/2 ft tall so I dont think it will fit there by end of summer. Should I take a chance on laying styrofoam on ground & wrapping the hell out of it for winter? Crawlspace is only 18 inches high BTW, & open (except for lattice). Should I keep dark & covered laying flat in warmer sunroom? I am just hoping it doesn't start to flower before winter!
I also have a uninsulated storage shed that I'm thinking about. So sorry I don't have a garage - boo hoo.
Cutting the stem back is as good as killing it - right? I'd be cutting off the new leaf growth from stem.(?) Thanks,
Patty

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

STEELVIPER

Hi Patty. how are you citrus doing?

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the flying dutchman

patty, I added your fertilizing method to the WIKI.

Fertilizer


thanks

ron

Patty in Wisc

Steelviper, my citrus are doing better than last year. All my plants have been out for 1 week now & weather has been in 40's & rainy, but worst is over now...will be sunny & warm this wkend.
Ron, you're welcome
Sandercohen, I'm sorry I thanked BigDog for post, I thought I was responding there LOL. I'll get the hang of it yet. I'm in zone 5...close enough to Michigan banana people? LOL
Patty

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

MICHIGANANA

Any Good Way To Kill Spider Mites Other Than Expensive Sprays.egg Too? I Hate Them...i Really Hate Them!

mskitty38583

go to walmart or in your case meijers and look for the spider mite spray that is put out by EXPERT GARDNER. these kill the spider mites leaves no residue and is 5.00 - 6.00 a bottle. it workks i use it on mine.will also kill the eggs

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Last edited by mskitty38583 : 12-11-2007 at 08:32 PM. Reason: adding

D_&_T

some use soap / water mixture and mist the plants as to not worry about chemicals soaking into bananas that are to be eaten

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mskitty38583

d&t: usually when i tell people use the natural stuff, i dont like the reply. so i got down to the nitty gritty of it to start with. i did use the expert gardner, cause i didnt have any neem. however i usually use the natural stuff, even on my outside plants. also if you have aphids you can plant garlic around the plant that is infected and they will leave the area post-hast. just thought id drop that in for the good measure. dude: garlic flavored nanas!!!!!!got to love it.

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Last edited by mskitty38583 : 12-12-2007 at 12:57 AM. Reason: adding

BananaLee

I grow Musa Basjoo and am gonna grow Musa Yunnansis Musa Velutina, and 'Raja Puri' and Musa Paradisica 'Mysore'. God Bless! BananaLee

BananaLee

You don't have to dig them up, if it gets -20F you just need to rap it like crazy with straw or whatever and cover that with burlap. Hope this helps! God Bless! BananaLee

TommyMacLuckie

For our winters in SE Louisiana I get 2 pups of each plant plus a small growing plant and pot them up and store them outside in a protected area (make shift hot house usually) long term and for some I move them in and out of a studio with windows. Part of the problem with that is I'm starting to get a nice amount of banana plants, ha ha...I label them too.

So...once you get more than what you would consider to be enough banana plants of whatever kind, that's when I'd do the experiment of leaving them outside - one exposed entirely, one cut down, one cut down and covered and so on.

I brought some up to South Haven, MI once. Orinoco. I can't recall what happened to them. One went to a fire station to live in a big pot in Lansing and the others were in the ground near Lake Michigan. I think those actually died.

billlearjet

Hello Banana growers in Michigan! Living Waterford Michigan I started growing Basjoos nine years ago in the back yard. They grow well and get up to about 10 feet tall! In the late fall I cut them back to about ten inches tall and cover them with about two feet of wood chips and have been able to fool mother nature every year! Now I have a stand of about 25 pups and they all do well! Needing to separate some of these but just like the effect for they give nice privacy to the back yard where the in-ground pool is located! Another thing last spring was able to attain some blood leaf bananas and have dug them up and taken them in to house. Just placed them in a large plastic bag and then sat them in a large pot to maintain the roots! Have not water much just allowed them to go dormant! The center leafs are still green and there are about 6 of these in the bunch. Two years ago got an Himalayan banana from Logees and it did not like the sun when I first got it for it would wilt! After a couple of weeks it finally started to grow and it got about 5 feet tall last summer and at the base it is about ten inches across!

Tywarber

Nice to see I'm not alone in this banana plant hobby here in Michigan lol this is my first year taking them inside an outta the pot an into the basement to store an so far 6 outta 8 an doing fine. I also aquired some blood bananas this last summer an those are the best growers so far, my 2 Basjoo are over a yr an not over 2 ft I think the fact that they are tissue cultured an the short seasons here didn't help. I think I'm going to buy some corms from people here that way I get a plant that has some age to it that way I can get some serious height in our short growing season here. Next year I'll try overwintering outside with mulch an give it a go.

wheelman1976

I'm over in Hudsonville. Have a handful of Basjoos and a bunch of dwarf brazilians in my basement potted up. Waiting to get them back out in the ground.

Can't wait for our weather to break to open up the palm trees in the back yard as well.... it's been too long of a winter.