Winterizing Basjoo Banana Trees

[pecan]

You can also buy the bulbs in the produce section at some grocery stores. I think mainly Latin grocery stores. We have one just down the street from us so I picked some up last year. They are called Taro or Colocasia and are a common food south of of the border. The ones I bought even had little starts already coming off of them. We had a cool spring last year so I started them indoors in pots with the growing tip just under the surface of the soil. I put a heating pad under them to keep the soil nice and warm to get them to start growing. Water very little until they start shooting up or they can rot. Worked great with the ones the Tabby cat did not eat or knock over. And very cheep getting them from the grocery store instead of the nursery. I think I paid $3.00 a lb.

A couple other grocery store favorites you can grow are ginger root (very tropical looking) and of course my ever favorite pond plant watercress. I just picked up 12 bunches of watercress for the pond at our local grocery store the other day. They lady ringing me up looked at me weird and said I have never even cooked with this, you must cook a lot with it. LOL

 

[sissy]

I bought my first package of bulbs and there was 6 in it for 5 dollars and have given tons of the bulbs away .I don't think we have any of those stores here but my neighbor did get hers from florida hill nursery online with her bananas last fall

 

[j.w]

Thanks sissy for the info on them and pecan I have grown the ones that aren't hardy and brought them in the house in the winter and then taken them back out but too much hassle for me so I would like the hardy ones. We don't get very hot here in the summers so I wonder if both the green and the black could grow here in sunshine. What does the ginger plant look like and does it have to come inside too in the winter?

 

[sissy]

I grew ginger at my house in NJ but had a problem with it being invasive there .It would come back each year with even more shoots .I bought mine at my local grocery store .It was just called a ginger root and walmart sells it .I wanted to try it here but was worried but when i went up to NJ and visited my old neighbors Mindy told me it had died and it backed her yard so guessing it did not survive when not protected .She like using it in her cooking and was sad when she saw it did not come back .She loved the roots of it and the leaves .The leaves are real hot like a hot pepper but the roots are little milder .

 

[taherrmann4]

You can also buy the bulbs in the produce section at some grocery stores. I think mainly Latin grocery stores. We have one just down the street from us so I picked some up last year. They are called Taro or Colocasia and are a common food south of of the border. The ones I bought even had little starts already coming off of them. We had a cool spring last year so I started them indoors in pots with the growing tip just under the surface of the soil. I put a heating pad under them to keep the soil nice and warm to get them to start growing. Water very little until they start shooting up or they can rot. Worked great with the ones the Tabby cat did not eat or knock over. And very cheep getting them from the grocery store instead of the nursery. I think I paid $3.00 a lb.

A couple other grocery store favorites you can grow are ginger root (very tropical looking) and of course my ever favorite pond plant watercress. I just picked up 12 bunches of watercress for the pond at our local grocery store the other day. They lady ringing me up looked at me weird and said I have never even cooked with this, you must cook a lot with it. LOL

I caution you on ginger root, I threw a piece in the ground and it spread quite a bit, then when I wanted it gone it was hard as heck to get rid of, kept leaving a small piece in the ground and it would grow back.

 

[sissy]

yeh I guess it is like bamboo .I just wonder what caused the plants at the house in NJ to suddenly die .I was thinking of planting some in a big pot here and see how it does .I know the plants I had gave a lot of shade and I need that here around the pond .They got pretty tall also .

 

[j.w]

I'm skipping the ginger as I don't want anything that's invasive..............been there, done that!