kuma119

I dug up a total of 54 orinicos and bajoos and stored them in a heated garage for the winter. I rarely look in on things but when I went in the other nite to check I found the thermostat on the heater stuck in the on position. Must have been 80 degrees in there. I don't know how long it was like that, possibly a few days but I've noticed the tips of the stems are rotting about 8 inches or so. Should I cut this off or let them go? Any advice would be helpful, put too much time and money into these to watch them go this way. Thanks, Mark

Chironex

I remember reading something that I believe was from pitangdiego about browing or rotting of the pstems. It must be removed or it will spread. I would therefore deduce that this should be incrementally cut off until you eliminate the rot and see green tissue in the core of the pstems. I would further try to prevent further rot by dusting the fresh cuts with cinnamon, a natural fungicide.
I am certain that there are other products that work on rot, too, but this one I know has no toxicity.
Best of luck!

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Scot

Tog Tan

Hi Mark,
I had this happen many times when I receive 'naners shipped to me. Due to the fluids from the pstem and the heat, it kind of 'cooks' up the tip of the pstem. As long as it is not fungal or bacterial, they can recover once it stabilizes. You can cut off the rot but sometimes it may continue until it reaches the corm. With strong plants, the corm is very resilient and will grow again. You shouldn't worry too much. All should be fine in due time.
Cheers

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

CookieCows

kuma119, we dug up two d.orinocos, one saba and a couple bronze lateritas to bring into the house for the winter. We chopped the do's and the saba down shorter to fit into the bedroom that we transformed into an indoor green house. All three are rotting and I have to get in there and peel back the outter layers asap. There are new leaves coming out the middle of them all. I'm assuming that's a good sign. All the pups I took off them outside and put in pots are in the room also, growing and doing fine. It's just the ones we chopped the tops off of.

I'm interested in knowing outcomes on yours since I'm having similar problems also.

Deb

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kuma119

Thanks everyone I appreciate it. I am going to try the cinnamon and I will be out there today and cut back the p stems. I had some dessication last year and you're right the corms were fine. The smaller trees seem to suffer more than the larger ones. Last winter all the small ones died to the corm but my big 15 footers had no rot at all, in fact the solitary leaves I feft on them were still green when I planted it in the spring. Always learning.

snc

read posts below but, my problem is we had a freeze a month ago and have had a lot of rain lately. now last week temps in the 70s and this week cold again. mysore and saba have started rotting and the additon of fruit fly larvae have expedited the rot. actually have maggots under the dead leaves. I have tried the cinnamon and cut back the rot however the more i cut back and with the warm temps/rain the rot is progressing downward. on a good note my basjoos are still putting out new leaves. anybody have some advice? thanks

Taylor

If they are bare root, you need them about 50 degrees, which actually slows rotting unless it is too far already.

snc

they are in the ground

Lagniappe

Stop worrying !
I have 'rotting' p-stems all over my property. I just whack em' down and forget about it . Last year, I only cut the leaves off the p-stem after they browned, and had some p-stems to remain green until spring. Most turned to mush in late Feb.-Mar.. Many of the smaller ones fell over at the soil line .
Many of my p-stems get the 'maggots', I leave them too. They're eating dead tissue so I figured they would clean everything up.
This year, I cut all of my p-stems low to the ground because my wife didn't want the place to look like a "telephone pole graveyard". Most have turned to mush. I'm not concerned because I know that the new leaves will grow through the center when it warms up. If the P-stem has dried up and sealed itself off in the center, the new leaves will burst out of the side....doesn't matter. In fact, if I didn't think that the old P-stems provided a little protection from frost/freeze, I would just cut them to ground level.
In my experience (and in my zone 8 climate), the p-stems are goners if they are cut into. They may survive if only the brown leaves are removed at the p-stem. Either way, the plants growing back from ground level always catch up with the ones who's p-stem I managed to save.
The same goes for indoor bananas...imo...stop chopping on them and leave em' be. They'll do their thing in due time. When you cut, you just create a new area to rot or desiccate. In most cases,as Tog Tan pointed out, it's not rot but just drying out of that area.
I'm no expert....just sharing my experiences...but I can tell you that I enjoy the hobby a great deal more now that I've learned to stop worrying and let things run their course.

snc

alright, i guess my main concern is that they are not drying out. there is actually water "standing" on the tops of them and running down the stems. it has been really wet here this fall with rain and being in between the river and the ocean we have very heavy dews and fog. will just keep on with the cinnamon and watch for anymore white fungus growing on them

kuma119

I lowered the temp in the garage to around 50. Hopefully this slows down the rot. I know they will come back next year, just hoping to replant larger specimans in the spring. Last year I had a 8 footer make it through the winter. It looked wonderful in june at around 10 feet. No waiting until september to see the fruits of my labors. Good luck everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!