I'm trimming back my EE's to the ground, as I always do. I usually don't do anything else to them, after I put a little mulch on them. They're so thick, though, and some of the biggest ones are so high on top of the ground. Do you guys pull those up and store them? And, if so, how? Do you pull a bunch of them up? Mine always do pretty good considering the north Texas sun, but I'm just wondering if they would do better if I really thinned them out. Please advise.
Need Elephant Ear Advice
In the north here we have to dig them up and store the bulbs. At that time I do separate them. In the south, when I lived there and had Cannas, I left them in the ground but did thin them out every now and then. So I would say yes you could thin out your EE's. Store the bulb in a dry cool place, or plant them again.
Thin, and replant in the Spring and they should all do better. I am in 7-B and do the same as far as overwintering. Marie's plan is sound also.
i also plant the small babies separate, until they get to a mature size. they pull away from the mother bulb easily.
Thanks, guys. I decided to leave most of them in the ground until around March. Then I will thin them out. I did take out the huge ones that were so above ground. I've got them in boxes, separated by hay. Will that do?
It is soo warm here still. It'll be in the 70s again this coming week.
How lucky you are to have those temps. We got so cold here ( almost freezing) and now we are going to be back in the low 60s again. I finally got my Banana trees in the ground and covered. My regular EE I did not worry about, but the large tropical ones I had to order I did get dug, cleaned and stored in a box. The smaller tropical one I brought in the house, but the cold got to some of the leaves. So I will cut them back and let the smaller ones take over.
Sounds like you're on top of it, Marie. We'll see how mine fare. I've stored them in a box, separated by hay. They are on my front porch now, but I'll put them in my storage room in the workshop. It gets really cold in there, but we'll see.