Randy4ut

OKay folks,
Need some feedback from anyone that has had any experience with M.zebrina. This is my first year to grow this and have had, what I think, some excellent results... The best clump I have has 5 pstems that range from about 6'6" to 3'. I dug it up today for winter storage. Washed off the extra dirt from the corm and have it out drying out. I have heard some negative results from people in the northern part of the country. (Z7-5) From my understanding, zebrina does not overwinter well storing this way. I was thinking with the size of the corm and the sheer size of it, I may have some luck with it. I about broke my back trying to remove it out of the ground. I can appreciate what BigDog was talking about in his most excellent thread on overwintering nanners...
Is there ANYONE out there that has any success in overwintering this nanner? Any input would be greatly appreciated... BTW, I will be storing it in my unheated garage. I successly overwintered E. ventricosum in there last year...

Thanks in advance for anyone's input...
Randy

I am 6'4" for scale...

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harveyc

Gosh, you poor souls in the colder zones. I thought it was cold last night when I brought my Ae Ae in for the night a bit late, it was already down to 60F. It's 82F right now at 4:30pm, so I'm a long ways off from bringing in my potted young ones inside for the winter.

Looks like you've done well and got quite a bit of exercise doing all that digging!

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Randy4ut

Harvey,
It is not that bad here, yet, but I have so much going on that I wanted to get a jump on some of it. Temps here in SE TN, is low 60s at night and mid 80s in day. NO RAIN since Friday, 14th, and about 16+" short for the year... Never seen anything like it in my life.... DROUGHTS stink!!!!

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sandy0225

I'd say get a few big pots and some good potting soil ready. Then if it starts looking bad, pot it up and set it in the house on top of a heat vent or hot pad and hope for the best.
I've had zero luck in storing zebrina dormant, but its a lot longer winter here in Indiana.
Good luck!

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
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Lagniappe

Those are some nice plants ! Nice dog too !

Harvey , it won't be long till' you're taking that plant along on trips and to the ball game or the movies lol! I'm about to start bringing my SR , coccinea, Mannii and dwarf ninos in at night . There is no help for us banana fiends !

saturn

I have only stored basjoos dormant. Well, I tried a 1 gallon zebrina and that sure didn't work. Otherwise, I keep my zebrinas as houseplants. I would suggest that you take a few of those pups off for insurance and grow them as houseplants over the winter. Then try the big corm in your garage, or perhaps a basement?

satrun

Randy4ut

Thanks Saturn...
I will try the "house plant" approach with another smaller clump that I have. They were in a more shaded location and did not get nearly as big as the ones I have pictured... The tallest pstem in that clump is only about 3', so it will be an excellent canidate for the house...

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Bananaman88

Randy,

Zebrina is definitely notorius for being difficult to overwinter. I leave mine in the ground here in Zone 9 TX, but when I was in St. Louis, that was not the case (obviously). I tried to leave some in their 1 gallon pots once and let them go mostly dormant in our basement. I was new to banana growing back then and when the stems shriveled and died back completely, I thought they were gonners. I tossed them, soil and all, into my compost pile only to discover them growing about 2-3 months later in the summer. I first thought they were cannas (the leaves were emerging totally green as this was a very shady area) but for the life of me, I couldn't remember tossing any cannas. Plus, I didn't think the leaf shape looked exactly right either. Finally, it dawned on me that it was my zebrinas that I thought had kicked the bucket. The next winter, I grew one in about 3 gallon pot inside as house plant and it did well that way. They are definitely tender and don't take cool weather well. I think all I had to do to that one was to cut back the growth some because I knew that the leaves that had emerged during the winter wouldn't be tough enough to stand up to the sun or the wind.

I'd definitely go the house plant route with at least a couple. I think if you pot up those larger stalks and keep them slightly moist you might have a lot of luck, given the size of the corm. I think you should definitely expect some stem die-back though. Good luck!

Randy4ut

Thanks for you input, Brent... Always good to get first hand experience...

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JoeS475

I never tried mine dormant, but let it grow very slowly potted indoors overwinter (actually about 8 months). The plant just made it, and it had a very large quick growing pup as a result.

Good luck!

~Joe

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