A friend's neighbor graciously offered me this clump of what he referred to as a Chinese banana plant. For those with musa lasiocarpa species, does this resemble them? I'm worried less with "brand" and more about how to care for it, especially overwintering.
Thanks much in advance for any help.
Well, it appears I cannot post a picture from the iPad ... Will post picture from another computer in a few minutes.
ID this banana anyone?
Here it is ... the musa lasiocarpa appears to have more pointed end leaves, and mine appear a little more rounded, thus my asking the question.
Just bumping this in the vent someone can confirm this plant's ID. Thanks much!
Hey, I'm no banana expert, but since nobody else chimed in yet . . . to me that looks like a fairly generic green plant that looks like a dwarf banana. Did you go look here http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/74470/ and enlarge all the pictures? There are some leaves that look quite a lot like your plant.
Just off the top of my head, I'd have to say you're going to need to wait until it puts out a flower to ID it for sure. That cool yellow flower is pretty distinctive.
I do know that big (fruit bearing) bananas like lots of water, loose rich organic soil, sun and high nitrogen fertilizer. They tolerate some cold weather down here, and even if the tops freeze right down to the ground, they come back from the roots when the weather warms up. You could leave it outside - in a protected area maybe the south side of a house or building? - and mulch it heavily, or pot it up and take it inside for the winter.
There's a DG member who lives in NC on the Tropical Gardens thread. He wrote a great description of what he does with his tender plants including bananas to store them for the winters. I'll see if I can find it for you.
This from homer1958 a week or so ago in answer to how to overwinter another banana hybrid:
In the fall around the time of your first freeze, E.Maurelii needs to overwinter in 6-B, unless you stop watering the end of August and mulch around the corm with 2-3 feet of shreaded leaves with a 5'x5' piece of plastic on top(to keep the rain and snow off). You can also:
Take a clean SHARP knife and cut all the leaves off but the last two or three to throw. Dig up the plant, cut about 2/3 of the roots off. Store the plant in a cool area; like a basement in a pot with no soil in it until spring. Somewhere around 40- 55 degrees. If you do not have a place this cool, place in the smallest pot you can stuff it into, with just enough soil to cover the roots. It will grow (verrrrry slowly) if above 60 degrees in a room with a window. Only water when absolutely necessary; or it WILL rot the corm! Wait for spring!!!
I have a lasiocarpa and that does look like the leaves. In my experience (and I'm not an expert at all) the lasiocarpa leaves are much thicker and more like rubber. Banana plant leaves, at least mine, are flimsy and tear in the wind. Also the lasiocarpa is bluish green with a sort of haze on the leaves. According to the plant files, it may be hardy to your zone, I'd just mulch it.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55701/
Thanks much to u both. Dizzy - the person who gave me the plant is local to me and grows it in his yard, so I don't think it needs to be pulled for the winter.
Peony - you describe mine to a "t". The ends of the leaves were throwing me off because of the difference in the tips of them (pointy vs rounded) from the pics I saw online.
I have it in the ground, in a sunny spot on the south side of the house. I will be sure to mulch it well come fall / winter. Anything special you recommend with fertilizing this one vs my basjoos?
I'm just a beginner with bananas, and I just use miracle grow, liquid seaweed and lots of compost. It is a vigorous grower so far and I love it.