Winterizing Basjoo Banana Trees

[pecan]

I purchased basjoo banana trees last year. And while they are hardy as a die back perinnial I thought I would help them through the winter by covering them and trying to save some of the trunk.

I was diligent about researching how best to do this. I built 3' tall chicken wire cages about 3' across. I filled them with dry pine needles, wrapped with insulated fabric, then wrapped with clear plastic.

Yesterday I decided to uncover them and see what was there. I decided to take pictures of the process so I started by a taking a picture of the cover in tact. Then I gently removed the cages and vwallaa! No tree! LOL You should have seen the look on my face... I was sure I had done everything right and no banana tree... It was like they were abducted by aliens over the winter .

I guess moisture got in somehow and they turned to compost. The tuber is still there and will grow new trees this year. I will not be spending the effort and time going forward with my ubber excellent covering method. Instead I will just mulch heavily and let them die back to the ground.

Let this be a lesson to me

 

[sissy]

I had the same thing happen to my babana tree .JW has had the best luck with them .I had a cold hardy and a regular one .I got a couple of new ones from florida hill nursery.com as they were cheap and i got some cannas too

 

[taherrmann4]

I purchased basjoo banana trees last year. And while they are hardy as a die back perinnial I thought I would help them through the winter by covering them and trying to save some of the trunk.

I was diligent about researching how best to do this. I built 3' tall chicken wire cages about 3' across. I filled them with dry pine needles, wrapped with insulated fabric, then wrapped with clear plastic.

Yesterday I decided to uncover them and see what was there. I decided to take pictures of the process so I started by a taking a picture of the cover in tact. Then I gently removed the cages and vwallaa! No tree! LOL You should have seen the look on my face... I was sure I had done everything right and no banana tree... It was like they were abducted by aliens over the winter .

I guess moisture got in somehow and they turned to compost. The tuber is still there and will grow new trees this year. I will not be spending the effort and time going forward with my ubber excellent covering method. Instead I will just mulch heavily and let them die back to the ground.

Let this be a lesson to me

Where are the pics :question:

I tried one about 5 years ago, did the same thing, built a nice nest around it to keep it warmer throughout the winter, come spring I dug it out and to my amazement it was completely rotten. It was dead! Haven't tried one since.

 

[pecan]

Where are the pics :question:

I tried one about 5 years ago, did the same thing, built a nice nest around it to keep it warmer throughout the winter, come spring I dug it out and to my amazement it was completely rotten. It was dead! Haven't tried one since.

Only took one pic of the beautiful winter home I built for it, then when I removed it's winter home and nothing was there I figured I didn't need any more pictures since there was nothing to take a picture of.

I am hoping it's still alive in the ground and will grow back. We shall see.

 

[sissy]

I wished and wished but got nothing and still don't understand as my neighbor bought one last year from that nursery and you can see it peeking out of the ground .Since I bought one from them this year I am hoping it makes it like hers did .Tammy's has about 6 shoots coming up .

 

[DrCase]

I kept banana trees for years , started with one i brought back from florida
Some years i would end up wintering over 50 of them
It got to be to much work digging them up every fall
I kept them in my back room they need to be kept cool and dry no dirt , just like a elephant ears

 

[sissy]

I never take my elephant ears in and they come back every year and Tammy's banana wintered over ,but we did have a mild winter so not sure if thats why she had so many shoots coming up

 

[taherrmann4]

Sissy your elephant ears are growing already?

 

[j.w]

Right now mine has a stalk from last year about 3ft tall but don't know how much of that stalk is the alive part or dead part. Will find out when the weather warms up and see where it has died down to. I didn't wrap it w/ anything or mulch it this year. Most winters so far it has died all the way to the ground and then regrows and gets babies. Think if you wrap it you have to keep it dry or it will rot just like pecan's did but I've never done that so don't know. I have put fern leaves over mine around the base and then as the stalk dies down I cover the whole top of that w/ the fronds also. It always come back.

 

[j.w]

I found this on tips for overwintering hardy banana trees:

Winter protection

Protecting your banana plant can be as laborious as you want. Several methods have been successful. The easiest is to allow the first hard freeze to knock the plant back, then cut the trunk to the ground and mulch over. The mulch should be 6-10 inches deep and can be leaves, bark, straw, or anything else that will provide insulation. Then cover the mulch with plastic to keep the insulating material dry. In the spring, simply remove the plastic. The draw back to this method is the size of the plant, and it most likely will not flower. The most extreme method is to cut off the leaves after the first frost and build a cage around the banana clump, preferably a little taller than the plant. Fill the cage with insulating material and wrap with plastic (Read tips at end of article). Such a procedure is especially good the first winter. The cage technique is not advisable in areas where you rarely get below 20 f and most of your winter is mild. We have lost more bananas due to fungus caused by being wrapped up than we have ever lost to cold. The middle-of-the-road method ( the one we use ) is to do nothing until it is going to be below 20 f for a period of time. We then wrap with household insulation and plastic until the cold spell is over. Then we pull the wrapping, preventing heating and cooling inside the tent. We don't even cut the damaged leaves off until spring. The method you choose depends on your expected low temperatures and the age of the plant. A new banana plant should always be protected the first year. If you live in very cold areas and must leave your banana wrapped for extended periods.
We worked on some wrapped bananas last year to possibly help our friends in very cold areas:

• Remove the leaves to the top of the trunk, don't shorten the trunk is possible
• Spray the trunk with a copper based fungicide and if possible algaecide
• Wrap the trunks with burlap
• Spray the burlap with fungicide
• Try to have your cage quite allot larger than just to the edge of the trunks
• Use dry insulating material
• If you are very, cold wrap the outside of the cage with another insulating material
• Cover the project to keep it dry
• Open the top to allow air to circulate during mild periods

 

[pecan]

I wonder if it rotted because we had such a mild winter... We only got below 20 a few times and never below 10. If they come back I will just cover the base with mulch going forward.

 

[sissy]

yep elephant ears broke the ground about 2 weeks ago and the black ones started growing up about a week ago ,or at least thats when i notice them .It has been close to 70 and 80 degrees here for the last couple of weeks .We did have 2 colder days 2 weeks ago but that was because of a storm .Even my cannas are up out of the ground .

 

[j.w]

I just know that anytime something takes that much work to keep it alive then I'm done w/ it. If mine can't come back on it's own then it's bye bye time and onto the next supposed to be hardy plant to try! So I'm w/ you pecan if it makes it w/ the mulch then good and if not then goodbye!

Sissy I think I'm gonna have to try those elephant ears somewhere. Do they mind full sun? And did you say you have to bring them inside in winter or not?

 

[sissy]

I don't bring mine in and never have i just cover them with mulch when they get hit by frost and then when spring comes i rake the mulch away and the green ones are ok in sun but the black ones like shade .The green ones can't take all day hot sun but they don't seem to mind it if they get watered more and at least a little shade they like wetter roots .

 

[sissy]

They come in a large very large bulb that most growers call a potato .I have bulbs I dug up last spring and some of them are over 6 inches around and planted them in other spots because there were at least 7 or 8 of these bulbs all together .They grow more bulbs after 1 year and my plants are from 2004