Frankallen

Took me 2 days to dig up my nanners!! WHEW!! That was some work!! But I'm sure it's worth it. Yesterday, I worked from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and didn't stop but a couple of times. Then today, I dug for about 2 more hours.My Wife helped me some too!! We have been having alot of rain so they were super H E A V Y !! Got them all neatly stacked, in my outside Bldg. Some of them were HUGE!! This Bunch is mostly Orinicos,but there is also about 16 other Varieties.


I dug them a little early this year because next week, my Brother and I are going to Virginia for 6 days, to some Civil War battlefields to Metal Detect for Artifacts, on Private Property. I didn't want to get caught up there and a early sudden freeze come!!

So, if the cold weather comes, I am ready now!!


Good Luck to Everyone,be sure and protect them Plants!!

Frank from Bama

momoese

How's your back? That looks like some serious work!

halo

Neat pictures; I never knew what banana roots looked like. So now, do they just stay there like that until spring? Do they just pick up where they left off? That sure looks like a lot of work to me. Id say you deserve 6 days off doing some fun stuff!

Zac in NC

Damn thats a ton of bananas. They look great and good luck on the Battle field front as well.

Zac

uncrichie

Hey Frank that looks like a serious amount of work. I'm very new to all this and have a question for you. The roots that are showing is that it? Or have they been cut off some? Wow and I thought raking leaves and pruning some trees back was alot of work!

Good luck on your relic hunting. I have an older model Whites machine and have done alittle searching. Sounds like you have found a nice area to hunt if your spending 6 days there. Most of my detecting has been in older parks for silver coins. The best place I have found was Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, the oldest city park in the US. Unfortunately they won't let us in there anymore with detectors.

I also have a soft spot for the CW. I belong to the N-SSA an organization primarily for those interested in competative black powder shooting of CW original and replica firearms and keeping the history alive, lots of fun. If your interested www.n-ssa.org

I hope to plant some Musa Basjoo next spring along with other tropicals right now I'm working on the soil. Good luck next week, hopefully the yellow jackets and hornets are resting. Kurt in SE PA...

D'Andra

Great pics! Are you sure searching the fields is a vacation? One thing I still don't get is why remove the leaves? I'm gonna GH most of mine but want to try dormant storing also. Just in case.

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D'.

mikevan

Jeepers but aren't you super neat - those are so organized looking and just... neat! Not even clumps of dirt and whatnot! They look very happy - looks like those rains gave them a last bit of hydration to hold them over the winter.

Be well,
Mike

bigdog

Frank, I know how you feel! I dug three large clumps today, and have a lot more to go. My Raja Puri, at about 6'5"-7' of pseudostem, was HEAVY! I'm pretty sure it weighed more than Orinocos of similar size. I just hope it flowers early enough next year. I'll have to get some pics next week after all of my digging is complete. The stacks of banana "logs" are pretty neat when they are all done. Thanks for the pics!

austinl01

Wow, Frank! I know you worked very hard digging all those. I dug up my 8 foot dwarf orinoco that I had planted in the front yard yesterday and it was super heavy. I had to drag it across the yard. I now have it laying on the driveway drying out a bit before I bring it in the garage. The rest of my bananas will be dug later this month or in early November. Great work and it looks nice and neat the way you stacked them. It will pay off next year for sure.

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Austin
Arkansas River Valley

Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F
Extreme Winter Lows: 5-15°F, Extreme Summer Highs: 100-112°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

STEELVIPER

WOW!!!! great job. a true banana lover.

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MediaHound

Do you trash the leaves or compost them?

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

Frankallen

momoese...My Back is not too bad but my feet (using a shovel and not using Boots) are killing me and also my right hip!!!

halo....The roots will turn black and when I plant them next year they will grow a brand new set!!!

Zac in NC.....Zac it is a bunch of Bananas my bldg. is half full LOL!!

uncrichie.....Most of the roots break off when you dig them up, but really it doesn't make any difference because they will grow a new set next year when I plant them!!!

D' Andra....The reason for me cutting the leaves is 1.Saving lots of room when you store them...2. They surely don't weigh as much!! 3. Most leaves if left on will turn yellow and die anyway. This is the main reason I cut off the leaves.

Mikevan....Thanks so much for the kind comments Mike!!!

bigdog....I know you know what I am talking about!! Thanks to you for Teaching all of us how to store Bananas to get fruit the next year!! I should have several that will fruit next year hopefully!! Again thanks for all you do here to help us Beginners!!

austinl01...Thanks so much Austin for all the kind comments!! Good luck on digging yours up!!!

STEELVIPER...Thanks for the comments and yes I am a true Banana Lover even though I really don't live in "Banana Country"..LOL!!

MediaHound...Yes!!! I compost everthing I can get my hands on. The one Banana Plant that fruited this year,I chopped the whole tree up with my axe and put in the mulch pile. You should see the pile of leaves that is in the mulch pile!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments!! I hope everyone, who lives in cold areas, will keep an eye on the Weather!! Good Luck!!

Frank from Bama

















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Exotic Life

Very nice job !! Little question, do you leave the banana's the hole winter at that place ? I'v have heard the room to keep that like you must be dark ?

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Steenbergen , The Netherlands
Europe
Lowest minium winter 2006/2007: -2,8C/28.4F
Lowest minium winter 2005/2006: -6,1C / 21F
Lowest minium winter 2004/2005: -6C / 21F

AnnaJW

That is definitely true dedication!

Hope you find lots of neat artifacts on your trip!

__________________
-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

devildog805

Wow that looks like alot of work. So how many bananas did you dig out?

NANAMAN

My hats off to you Frank!!

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Frankallen

I dug out about 50 Banana Plants, this is including Pups!! Yes it was very hard work!!

Frank from Bama

wim

Frank,

Impressive!

You said it was raining. Do you do anything special to let them dry out before storing them. How about rot?

So that's the way to label them! I couldn't tell a basjoo from an Ae Ae if I would find them like that.

Could you take a picture of how they look just before you plant them up again next spring? May be interesting to see the differences: Before and After

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With kind regards
Wim

Frankallen

WIM.....I just dug them up,washed all the soil off the roots, and cut the leaves and top out and laid them down on my floor. I put down one of those cheap blue tarpaulins first! Willl take photos before I plant next Spring! Hope this helps!



Frank

BackyardBananaCA

Frank,

I dug up a few pups last year for winter storage. Mostly the more cold sensative ones, like Cavendish. Some Goldfinger, and some D. Brazilian. Most were good sized pups like yours with 2 to 4 ft of pseudostem. I stored them in a large dark cabnet in my garage for the winter. By spring time I noticed some of them had mushy pseudostems but the corms were still full of life with new growth emerging from the sides. I cut off the dead pseudostem and planted the corms. The only thing I did different from your storage techniques was to bag the roots with a plastic bag. I poked holes in the bags for air to circulate. Would this make a difference? What temperature do you store yours at? I'm wondering if my N. CA garage stays cool enough? Do you have a % which don't make it through storage? Thanks and great work. Your dedication is commendable.