BananaLee

Hey guys! OK I kinda forgot when to cut it down. lol Well, my 'Mekong's Giant' (Intinerans) is doing well. All leaves except the nearly unraveled one have a little frost damage. Should I cut it down now or what???

stevelau1911

I finally got around to protecting my musa basjoo stems. Here's my blog on it.
Steve's garden: Protecting the bananas and some of the other plants for winter

Hopefully it protects it up to 3feet of psuedostem so that they come back strong next year.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

bencelest

wow. nice

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Banana Nut

iz

Banana Gallery - banana outside

Banana Gallery - Making containers for my banana

Banana Gallery - winterized banana

Banana Gallery - winterized banana

Banana Gallery - winterized banana

So glad I just finished winterizing my last bananas. Gonna be cold tonight between 30s and 40.

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Going banana 4 bananas,
iz

Richard

Your photos are a good reminder of how much yellow hue is output by HID lamps.

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

iz

Is the 'Mekong's Giant' (Intinerans) edible? Interesting plant..no picture?

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Going banana 4 bananas,
iz

iz

These are 'enhanced spectrum' digital 400 and 250 hps lights from Hid Hut (HidHut Website). They are amazing! We have used them many times over the years.

My hubby is a software and electrical engineer, and he is building me a new LED Growlight that uses 3W leds and some custom power circuit thingy he designed for our solar system. He says it will be finished soon so I will let you know how it turns out. I may even document it lol. We are trying to cut down on the heat and electricity for all summer time vegging activities for new plants.

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Going banana 4 bananas,
iz

NeedForSeed

I have recently covered up my 1 m tall (the pseudostem) sikkimensis which I hope will survive the winter outside. I wrapped the stem with some thin fleece, which I wrapped a 2cm thick layer of coconut coir around, which I then wrapped in some rockwool. This was covered with a plastic bag to prevent water from entering. To top everything off, I covered it all in leaves with some chicken wire.

Now my concern is that I overdid the whole winterizing thing and that the plant might rot or catch some fungi. This is the first time I try overwintering a banana outside and I wonder if you guys usually have problems with rot.

Also, I have a quite large moso bamboo (~1.5m) next to it which I'm not sure of how to winterize. I was thinking of covering the whole thing with some plastic and pushing it to the ground as I read that bamboos are sensitive to wind.

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¡Totalmente loco!

nannerfunboi

winter is here in utah..no snow in valley but resorts are mostly open..yea!!
only nanner i am keeping outside(planted in ground) is basjoos..
i have some big tomato cages made of rebar..30 "across..5ft tall
put them over basjoos and fill entire thing with shredded leaves..
had after thought of wrapping plant with bubble wrap 1st..oh well
then wrap entire thing with tarp where it drapes away from base of
plant..
hope this works.. i really would love them to get bigger next yr!!
all other tropicals are inside..potted and bareroot..
so far all plants are firm so no mushy..yea..
good luck to all

blownz281

Well here in NC coast, temps are getting cooler at night so I trimmed my orinocos,saba,ice creams,yellow,basjoo. I built two greenhouse enclosures for three of them. Several sheets of bisqueen and stuffed them 5ft high with pine straw and leaves. Then put lids on them and wrapped again. Others I just had to chicken wire wrap,then stuff then bisqueen. Then wrapped them all up together. I have never tried this before,but it worked in Ohio zone 4-5 with a windmill palm for years. I never stuffed it with anything. I tried bringing the nanners inside before which we don't have room for,they grew for a fews months in the past them just all died off. Growing a cavendish,and some other type I can't remember the name. But others just didn't like coming inside,with lighting and temps.

stevelau1911

I either put leaf bags on top of or built insulation structures around my cold hardy bananas, but as far as ensete maurelii, I don't think there's a need to give it much of a dormancy. I've been taking it indoors only when it gets below freezing which hasn't happened much yet.

It has grown so much in the past 2 months so that it has consumed most of the soil in it's 5 gallon pot which should last it until spring. The soil line was originally all the way up to the top, and now it's around half full with the fat corm and roots probably taking up most of that space.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Manto

My two plants have had their leaves blackened by a -3C frost. Can I do anything to save them or are they goners. We dont get solid freezes here just occasional frosts

Illia

Hey all, I read most of this thread through, LOVE it, and in the end I've just got a few questions I'd love answered. I live in zone 8, temps here normally go freezing in the winter, rarely but at times do go down to the low 20's, and exceedingly rarely but in my lifetime have indeed hit the teens.

I'm growing some bananas in a greenhouse, that during light freezes does not freeze inside, during hard freezes (20's) can get 28-32 degrees, and the humidity at night is pretty high but during non-cloudy days is decently low. I was was wondering - Is it truly best I dig out my bananas during the winter and store them in a cool, dry room or could I just mulch and really cover up the bananas, p-stem and all, where they are in the ground in the greenhouse? I know circulation is a must, so I'm curious, how much circulation are we talking here? Can I wrap the p-stem in insulation of some kind, and cover the surrounding area with hay? (to prevent freeze and also keep moisture out)

Also if it does come down to digging them up, I've got some Ice Creams I know will exceed 9 ft, how harmful will it be to chop a bit of the top off before storing them for the winter? I know bananas are pretty tough buggers, so I was wondering if reducing some weight by lopping off the top would actually work?

I just want the best method that will ensure that the bananas survive and will fruit in the quickest time. I have a well insulated room in a building separate from our house I was thinking of maybe storing the dug up bananas in, it doesn't go below 45 degrees or above 64 degrees in there. That, or I was thinking of leaving the bananas in the ground until severe cold passes, probably March or April.

Oh and if it helps, the varieties I'm using are Ice Cream, Rajapuri, Thousand Fingers, and Dwarf Orinoco.

wheelman1976

Recommendation needed for a new grower in Michigan.

I have about 35 dwarf brazilian and red dwarf bananas currently growing. I plan on digging them out for the winter but am wondering what you all would think I need to specifically do. The questions I have are the following?

1. Dig up and remove as much dirt as possible from the corm or leave it on?
2. Do I remove leaves or not?
3. I plan on keeping in my basement garage in the same location where my cannas have kept well. Doesn't freeze, but it nice and chilly. I store my snowmobile in this garage and when I go out sledding the garage door is left open and that has not bothered the cannas at all come spring but I suspect it might not be good for the bananas? I plan on laying them out on a shelf off of the concrete, should I cover them with a tarp of some sort? I've read some things about if you're going to dig them up to keep them away from lights, when I'm out sledding, I've got the lights on in the garage of course.

4. Does anyone have experience with these two types of plants and how they will overwinter? Will I have something to put in the ground the following spring?

blownz281

I would clean all the dirt off. Pot them up in new nice draining soil. You will need to keep them atleast above 40degrees would be my guess. My Mom has kept Cavendish I gave her years ago in here greenhouse with a temp of 40degrees and they always did great. But Cavendish can take more cold. Will you have any light?

blownz281

You can trim all the leaves off except the newest one.

Abnshrek

If you take the time to put it in a pot w/ new soil and keep it from freezing there is no reason to trim all the leaves, but one.. The leaves will be an indicator of how its faring.. If you cut the leaves you mise well dry store them.. Like they say if its green don't cut it.. you might need it later.. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

wheelman1976

I'm leaning towards dry storage since I don't have near enough pots or dirt to pot them all up. What would I be looking at for proper dry storage? Tempwise? Light/no light? leaves off/leaves on? I can go either in my basement garage with these where the temps will definitely stay above freezing, I'm thinking around 40 degrees or I can go in the back room of my basement which is heated, but again, I don't have an open furnace vent as we don't sit in this room, it's for the freezer, water heater and furnace and storage of other things.

RandyGHO

Here in Georgia 8b, I am going for in-ground with insulation. I will post pictures when I build the first protective tube.

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Thinking outside the peel always.

wheelman1976

I'm in michigan, a 5b/6a on a good day. Leaving in ground for these varieties is not in the cards. Hence why I'm hoping someone will chip in some advice on what I can expect or should do.