NotherNana

Hi all,
A damp and rainy morning...ie: coldfront pushing through. Looked up temps predicted and says lows of 45. Can cavendish handle this? Poor thing already screwed up from last front, even though I covered the young plant (about 3 foot high) I lost all leaves except dead center. Now it's finally recovering and beginning to grow, and this front comes through...argh! Should I cover for safety purposes? Last time I used sheets. I've also thought about next time as low as last time, I might surround the entire plant in pine needles and then the sheet.
Thanks ahead of time guys,
Gino

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Abnshrek

If its not going to frost you'll be fine.

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ewitte

Watching my own bananas I do not think its the actual cold that kills them (besides the leaves). Its the water freezing and bursting in the stem. If you don't get the liquid out they start to rot and turn to mush. That being said I still have some holding on that were outside at 18F albeit they were wrapped up.

chumleyrobert

My variegated cavendish was covered, 23 degrees for 5 hours made it crispy brown. I was hoping for pups.

NotherNana

Robert, mine is managing to make two pups at her feet right now. The center made it, but she's so beat up I can barely go out there. If you keep my email, or send me yours, I'll send you a pup when they're big enough to seperate. That is, if you're stateside. I can't see your post now as I'm making mine, and I forgot to look and see where you are,
Gino
ginodiavonti@gmail.com
edit part: You're not that far away And mine is not variegated, but still cavendish

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chumleyrobert

Thank you, it was nice to view your web site. I used to do oil painting over 50 years ago (landscapes and portraits). Now I grow some of the rarest plants in the world. My new web site is Chumley Cycads Specializing In Artificially Propagated Cycads .......about 2 hrs away. Robert Chumley

Woods

I have dwarf Cavendish here in Tallahassee and we've the "worst cold in 100 years"! Awful. My cavendish lost their leaves but the stem is solid. I wrapped them in big plastic bags. Someone else told me to wrap them in newspaper and then bags. I wouldn't worry in Ft. Meyers (except for foreclosures) about your bananas-they'll be fine if mine survived colder temperatures up here.

Abnshrek

I have 2 dwarf Cav. that I'm using as test dummies out in the elements to see what they can take.. If it starts growing next month they take 15F :^) w/ 0F windchill but we'll see..lol Not like the bottom of the corm saw that those temps. One is bigger cormed than the other so we'll see.

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NotherNana

Thanks for the website comment Robert. Yours is very nice as well. What a nice life, to have travelled and learned so much about cycads. I love the miniature with your name attached. Are cycads fussy? I see some down here where the owner doesn't know how to take care of them, and the heads die. A lady up the street (I think) lost hers in the freeze. When I drive by it looks more and more like it's dying. She did nothing to protect it.
Woods, thanks for that too. I hadn't thought of paper. Good idea. Lol, we own our property free and clear so not worried about foreclosures. My wife refuses to go into any enormous debt, so we usually have VERY small payments (by making a large down payment) or none at all. Taxes are our big payout. You're right though, I see the foreclosure signs everywhere.
Abnshrek, I'm VERY interested in your experiment, and hope you post your results.
Gino

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Abnshrek

I will definately post any information I have..

Gino your artistry is very nice (you know saying, "beautiful" isn't manly) lol :^)

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enigma99a

If it is going to rain, and it has already frosted, you are done. It dies.

If you do frost/freeze, you must bring the temps up immediately (bring it in) and it will recover fine. This has been my experience with cavendish specimens

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

NotherNana

Enigma,
(By the way, I love their music)
She's in the ground, solid. I think if it happens again I've got a huge, tall parrot cage that I can place over it after thoroughly mulching and then put heavy visquine over, remove quickly in morn. I've moved her once this summer, and she has 2 tiny pups I don't want to disturb. But I definitely agree about the wet/freeze. I spent a lot of the summer really babying this plant so don't want to lose
EDit: Thanks Abnshrek for the NICE comment. It'll do fine

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enigma99a

We had some frost in early December, and since then it has stayed in the 45-55 range day/night with rain. Well.... Bad thing is it is just shy of growing temps and rot is seeping down on a lot of them. Some varieties are just tough! We haven't had any sun, no 60s/70s Hoping the pattern changes soon

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches