When are these supposed to emerge? Same as the cannas? - late in the season? I overwintered ours in ground and right now it's just a brown (kinda mushy on top) ball. Think its a goner? Thanks for any tips for this zone 8 banana newbie!
And just to share, below is Tulip 'Fancy Frills'
I thought that was the weirdest nana I ever saw.....
Lol, sorry CC, I didn't intend to mislead! Just wanted to share the pretty photo.
LOL! You got me too!
Ack, looks like I had a lapse in judgement posting that photo!
So any one have any nana advice for me? :-D
lol!!
I was confused too, but, hey....you made us all look!!
Sorry I don't have any advice to offer on the nanner.
Had me fooled as well... but.. here is some advice for your nanner that I've seen done to frozen babies down here..
Take a sharp knife and *ring* the banana halfway down the stalk until you hit green.. Strip all the dead stuff away leaving the central green shoot. If you can't find the central green shoot.. don't give up hope, it might yet come back from below the ground.
Do you mean the long way?
Ok, thank you mzMunchken! I will do this.
Sue, I wrap my basjoos for winter leaving as much of the peristem as possible then unwrap in early spring. The stem stays green. Has yours survived other winters?
Hi Liz! No, I've only had it 1 year. Do you mean wrap all the way to the ground? I'm trying to visualize this. What do you use?
CC, she's talking about the pseudostem(the trunk thingie). If it's frozen to the ground, you will need to clean all that rotten stuff away and new will grow from the roots hopefully. Basjoo is pretty tough.
Ok here is what I did. I used a new razor blade, and cut down to solid stem. There was about 1" of "mush". The stem is about 1 - 1 1/2 inches above ground now. Fingers crossed!
I'll get a picture of the ringing method and post here... a picture is worth a thousands words...
Do you mean to run the knife around the trunk just cutting through one layer at a time?
Sue, I basically make a cage for it. I cut off most of the leaves near the trunk then drive a few stakes into the ground around the plant. Then I wrap the outside of the stakes with bubble wrap. The stem is now enclosed but open. Then I drop in styrofoam peanuts into it. From the ground right up to the top of the trunk. Then I put a styrofoam "hat" on the top to keep the winter rains out. It's now insulated for winter winds and rain which you and I get so much of. Then I wrap the whole thing in burlap because I don't want to look at bubblewrap all winter. Somehow the burlap looks better.
Liz that is a great way to use peanuts! I always feel so guilty about tossing them away. I will copy your info into my journal for next winter. If this basjoo doesn't make it, I will get another. :)
This is all great information, I really appreciate eveyone's help!
It works Sue. When you unwrap in the spring it looks a bit grotty for a week or so but then it sends up new leaves pretty quickly. By doing it this way your plant will get taller every year rather than starting from the base.
I said styrofoam "hat" ~ but I meant that I make a bubblewrap "hat". The idea is to not have the winter rains pouring down and filling up the crown.
Badseed... yes.. exactly!
Score one for the blonde! LOL
What if you are taking the layers off one by one like that, and when you finally get to a good piece it is only about an inch thick, dead in the center? Then you run and grab your camera and run down to take a pic so your good friends at DG can help you and when you get back, it crimped and fell over? LOL Mine looks exactly like Sue's. :(
Do I have to do that?
(I get the ringing method now,It takes a blond to explain it to one...LOL)
I have some that look dead on the outside but if I wait a few weeks new leaves come out
Should I be ringing them???
Badseed I had two very large Dwarf Cavendish that got hit bad at Christmas. I trimmed off the frozen leaves, but it didn't grow, so I trimmed off some of the outside layers(this trunk was at least 8" diameter) and some were rotten and some were green, but the center was rotten. After about 2 months of nothing growing, I cut the whole trunk down to about 18" tall(machetes are great for whacking brug trunks but not for brugs that get in the way, lol). It now has babies coming out around the bottom but nothing ever grew from the center of the stem.
Dwarf Cavendish is the only one I had this much trouble with, the Basjoo didn't even loose all it's leaves to the frost and Orinoco, Pisang Ceylon and the others recovered as soon as it warmed up.
I trimmed a Zebrina that was frozen pretty badly and the trunk was too skinny to hold up the leaf and it fell over. I cut it at ground level and now it has a new leaf.
LOL CC!
Susie, that does make me feel better! Some of my bananas did that last year too. I thought they were goners but I found little nubs sticking off the sides of the dead trunk. I left them be and watered them and did get some babies.
My big Orinoco had to black spots with white fur in two places. I think I could have done that moving it to the garage or it could have just been keeping it in the garage. Rootdoc had said I could just lop it at the ground last year and store the root but I couldn't do it. Mother Nature forced me to. I'll have to see if I can find that pic so I can get some "told ya so's". LOL
Don't know anything about nanas but that is a very pretty tulip.
Funny just today I was cleaning up some pots of "unknowns" I had left out over the winter. I found buried in some leaves a large pot with 4 baby nanas up about 4 inches, all in a ring. The middle momma plant was mushy as you said, but the roots are fine - I repotted the whole thing til the babies get bigger. Guess I am supposed to clean out the middle too. I have renewed faith in the Bajoo!
