geissene

Finally spring has fully arrived in Pennsylvania! My outdoor basjoo and velutina are starting to move with soil temps around 55F.

Lets hope for a good growing season!

Erik

edwmax

Thanks for including the soil temperature. It shows the cold hardy varieties come out of dormancy when the soil temperatures are in the low 50°s.

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geissene

Thanks. Yeah i bought a soil ph meter and temperature meter and it has been helpful indoors to stop overwatering and keeping proper ph with my tap water.

HMelendez

Looking good Erik!......

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Island Brah

That's a great feeling!

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Growing: Basjoo, Blue Java (The Real One), FHIA-01 American Goldfinger, Manzano, Tall Orinoco, Raja Puri (USDA TARS), Veinte Cohol (USDA TARS), Patupi, & SH-3640 High Noon (USDA TARS)

MBindy2000

I'm going to uncover mine today to see if I have any new growth. Here in Indy spring arrived late. Very frustrating. A year ago by now mine Musa Basju would be about three feet tall by now.

Denverian

Very nice! I'll be starting with a new basjoo... probably planting in a week. I have one small one that was indoors all winter, so that one will go back out too.

We're in the 80s most of this week, but I'm keeping my eye on Saturday. Forecast says rain, high of 49 and low of 39. Being Denver, this may or may not mean a little snow. But at a minimum, it'll be a raw, wet day. Then we should be Summer-safe.

SixtySix

Don't be angry, but here in zone 8a mine are pushing four feet!

MBindy2000

Lucky, I am fearful that mine did not make it through the winter. I uncovered everyone(all four of them last sunday) all I found was a slimy mess. Today(still no new growth) its probably in the mid 80s today. If the plants are going to rebound it should be this week, otherwise its time to find replacements. I'll take any advice from anyone. Otherwise I'm a little bummed.

geissene

I have one basjoo pushing 3 feet now! It is finally looking like a plant with leaves opening up!

I dug up a second basjoo and it was mostly mush, but I noticed that it is starting to produce small pups. I took my shovel and cut away the rotting portion of the corm. I don't think you would do any harm by digging up the corms to see if anything survived. The old root system is probably rotted so any small pups you have will be starting to grow new roots.

Erik

MBindy2000

Thanks Erik
I'll do some investigating this this weekend and see what I can figure out.

MBindy2000

Well I lost all of my bananas. I had four of them. I'm truly am disappointed. I don't know what the cause could've been. They were protected, but we had a crappy early spring where temps would get warm and then drastically drop and get snow. I never uncovered them knowing the inconsistency of the spring.. Once I determined it was warm enough to uncover all that was there is moosh that now is like a scab. I think maybe if it dries out and rain water might help sooth it into a rebound. Doesn't seem to be happening. I am cutting my loss and taking it hard. My local place doesn't seem to have any bananas which is weird. They usually have them in April. I'm going to look on line. Surely I cant go wrong. I hope. Not sure if I learned a lesson, because I don't know exactly what went wrong.............................

geissene

Gee I am sorry to hear that.

You know, I once had basjoo sprout from a mushy (presumed dead) corm in July. So anything is possible! This was a really cold winter and then a cold spring.

My basjoo and velutina survived outside and also I saved 2 plants in my cool basement as a backup. My plants have just started to make pups.

Good luck in finding replacements.

MBindy2000

I'm thinking Wet and Cold spring hurt mine. I'm going to leave the assumed dead corms in the ground to see what happens. I will keep you posted.

Denverian

That's too bad!

I couldn't find any basjoo at the nursery where I've bought them before. I ended up getting a red banana, which isn't cold hardy at all to my knowledge. But it was only $39 for one that was already 6' tall with huge leaves. So that's what I've got and I'm excited to see how big it gets. We built a greenhouse in our back yard that has a heater, so I my just cut it back, put it in a pot, and let it winter in there.

geissene

A greenhouse should work ok. Since basjoo produce lots of pups, it should be possible to keep smaller plants alive indoors, dry store large corms in a cool dark basement, and cover some corms outdoors. Not putting all your corms in one basket (haha) might guarantee success!

If you have that much rot, I would suspect that too much water got into the soil. Are you using amended soil or just the typical clay? I cover my plants with leaves about 1 foot beyond where the corm ends to keep water away. I do have plastic coverings that stay on until early spring. I remove them once I start to fear overheating more than deep freezes.

This spring is still cold and wet but I have a velutina in bloom and a slow moving basjoo...


erik

MBindy2000

[quote=geissene;315427]A greenhouse should work ok. Since basjoo produce lots of pups, it should be possible to keep smaller plants alive indoors, dry store large corms in a cool dark basement, and cover some corms outdoors. Not putting all your corms in one basket (haha) might guarantee success!

If you have that much rot, I would suspect that too much water got into the soil. Are you using amended soil or just the typical clay? I cover my plants with leaves about 1 foot beyond where the corm ends to keep water away. I do have plastic coverings that stay on until early spring. I remove them once I start to fear overheating more than deep freezes.

This spring is still cold and wet but I have a velutina in bloom and a slow moving basjoo...


erik


Erik,
Your plants look awesome! My soil is mostly clay, but when I have planted my plants I have worked that clay out and have added compost, dirt and sand to the mix. I didnt consider that the corm expands so maybe that was the cause. Heck as depressing as it is to lose four plants I am taking it as a learning experience. We did have a crappy spring where temps went back and fourth that probably messed up the cycle. Plus, I wonder if I just assumed the plants would rebound when I cut them to the ground and mulched them with about a foot piled. Again, I'm and WE all are learning. Thats the best thing about having a green thumb, but this one has been a bit of a bummer. I did get three babies from online nursery in Tennessee, so happy days have returned.

geissene

Thanks for all the comments!

Here is a picture from today, 1.5 months later. When one banana leaf opens, a new cigar leaf is inside already pushing up. I never had such consistency in growth, so it may be due to our cool / wet weather or perhaps the fact that I am using urea/potash fertilizers on a routine basis.

I now hope it flowers later this year! We'll see!

Erik

Denverian

I think part of why I love growing bananas is because I'm so impatient. They grow fast and a new leave is always popping up!

steve03602

nice..... cant wait for my babies to grow up