Banana tree harvest

Thanks,yes it is a lot of hard work,do you keep your plumerias growing thru the winter or let them go dormant?

Oh Boy! Idug my banana with 2 pups. Cut off leaves left it lay about 5 daysl My son carried it to the basement but I wrapped the root in a old tarp. Should I go to the basement and unwrap the roots? I didnt try to seperate them because I helped my daughter dig hers and we tried to get a pup off and we didnt get any thing that looked like it would grow.

I would leave the pups attached as the mass of the corm is important to get thru 4 or 5 months of dormancy.

I also think that the mass of the pseudo stem is just as important , so my small skinny bananas will stay in a cool room upstairs , in a pot just big enough. With minimum light and water I hope to keep them in a state of semi dormancy.
Only problem is my Chinese Yellow will not cooperate and is throwing pups like crazy .... da floozie

Hi Oriole,if the corm stays to moist,it will rot,but if too dry it will shreviel up to nothing.I keep mine uncovered,for air circulation,if the temps are 45* or below it will do just fine,too warm they will not go into dormancy.

Thanks all. I better check the temp. my basement is probably too warm.Any other ideas? I do have an old cave on my other property, I have no idea abt the temp in there. It was a cave that was built for canned fruit etc. It is vented. I am sure I will have a BIG promblem getting it to that locale. LOL dixie I also have a crawl space under an addition to the house. I was afraid that would get to cold.

Are there water pipes under the crawl space?
If there is and it doesn't freeze should be ok!
If not maybe you can wrap one of those heater cables they use for water pipes around the trunk of the bananas.

So what temp range would you suggest?

I put mine in a cold storage room that was made for keeping canned goods and root crops.
This room is in the basement that is way too warm for dormant plants , so this should work out.
I can prolly adjust the temps by opening the door a bit or the little window in the room.

I am so glad I found this thread!!

I had no idea you could overwinter bananas in a dormant state. I really wanted to try a Manzana (apple banana), but couldn't figure out where I had space for a 14 foot tall tree in a 15 gallon pot, LOL!

I will get a couple of banana pups, pot them up for the winter, plant them out this spring, and try overwintering them this way next year. Woohoooo!

I do not have a crawl space, so I will have to use my garage -- it's cooler than my basement, but winter temperatures will still go up to 50 or 60 degrees (last winter we had some days when it was 70' outside!)....
Do you think that will be OK, or do I need to look at finding a fridge to put in the garage to use for them? (urk)

Hi Jill ;-)

Heya, Shirley!

I had a followup question -- does anyone know if you can get actual fruit from bananas that get dug up and overwintered like this?

I'm considering Manzano (apple banana), Ice Cream banana, and the dwarf Orinocco banana... comments or suggestions? We had apple bananas in Hawaii last year, and they were awesome, but I haven't tasted either of the other ones.

I think the best temps should be 36* t0 45*,any lower than that for a long period of time might just start to freeze,remember there full of water,any higher temps,might cause them to dry completely out,thats not good either.
Even tho you have temps in the 60's and 70's,you might check the
to see it's not drying out,if they start to get real light in weight when you pick it up like about half what it weighed when you put it in the garage,you might want to spray the corm with water.

Thanks for the advice, Tropicman! I think I'll order 4 pups from Wellspring Gardens in FL (they ship up to 4 plants for the same shipping fee, 50 cents extra per plant after that, which seems more than fair to me). I've been contemplating a fridge for bulbs, seeds, etc, so who knows, maybe I'll be able to keep one or two at the "ideal" temperature for dormancy. I think I'll get a dwarf one that can overwinter inside the house, too.

I'm excited! I had no idea I could have banana trees without making room for lots of big, indoor pots!

Jill,

I have a year old Apple Banana and I think it is one of the prettiest ones I have.

The foliage is a bright medium green and the leaf stems have a pink blush to them.

I think it is possible to get fruit if you can keep one alive for 18 to 24 months.

I hope to have a Wisconsin grown banana split Party next year ;-)


btw, I got my Apple bananas from Wellspring on evilBay.

They were only seedlings but do they ever grow fast.

Thanks, Shirley! How big is your 1 year old tree now? Ever since we tasted apple bananas in HI, I've been saying I want a tree, and DH has visions of them taking over the breakfast room (which is already pretty crowded with plants in winter)... that's why I was so excited about the possibility of dormant overwintering.

I'm putting in a bid now! :-)

re: Apple banana ............ So far she's one of my smaller ones ,not counting the dwarf varieties.

I only have seven in my banana collection at this time.

My Ele Ele (sometimes called "Black Hawaiian") is the tallest I have.




Ele Ele

Gorgeous!

So, you have been overwintering these in your root cellar??

If Apple banana stays smaller, I could overwinter inside in 5 gal pot, maybe. The guy at Wellspring said apple or ice cream banana would need more like 10 - 15 gal. pots! That's definitely getting too big to move easily.

Well, I did it! Put in bids on 2 apple bananas, 2 ice cream bananas, and 1 dwarf orinocco. I figured I'd better get doubles of the big ones so i could try a couple different methods of overwintering.

Does anyone leave them in their containers? My brother is going to try and cut them down - leave them in their containers and then move them to the garage. I'm not so sure he will have success, but I thought I would ask on his behalf. I've just started giving him the gardening bug.

There's a thought... Go for semi-dormancy... I'll bet it's still a good idea to put them on their side and let some of the water drain out for a few days so they don't rot from the cut trunk, just like tropicman does with the ones he digs up.

I hope somebody will post here who has tried this!

Hey.... I see LindaSC mentioned near the top of this thread that she takes her potted tree into the garage for the winter. She didn't say if she cut it back or not, or how often she watered it.

Yes I see that - she's two zones warmer than me though....I wonder if he cut it, laid it on it's side and wrapped it in blankets? Unfortunately, his basement gets very warm due to the oil burner, the nana would never go dormant. I am worried that the unheated, detached garage might get too cold. As he says, he's got nothing to lose. If they don't make it he is only out $6. He might be forced to treat it as an annual. Yet, I would be curious to know if anyone in our zone has had success.

I'm curious, too, especially since I just put in bids on several pups!

My garage is attached, so I'm more concerned that it would not be cool enough for full dormancy. Last winter, we had a lot of days in the 60's, and that could queer the deal also.

I'll keep watching this thread, and see who else weighs in with experience/opinions!

Hey All,
Iv'e tried leaving them in the pots and putting them in the garage,but everyday of opening and closing the door, cold air would rush in,and guess what,they must have freezed a little,because they all turned to mush!I even had the trunks covered with old quilts,

I winter some of mine in the warehouse at work .
Zebrina, Dwf. Cav, Super Dwf Cav, etc.
The temps are about 50, lighting pretty weak (for plants).
They don't go fully dormant but slow WAY down.
I maybe get 3 leaves all winter.
These are very weak and pale and just get cut off before we transfer the plants home.
Because of the water issues I give them a drink every two/three weeks.
I've done this for two winters now w/ no problems.
On the warmer March/April days I set them on the dock in the sun.
By mid/late May they are brought back home to the yard.

Ric

For the past 2 winters I have overwintered my banana's in the garage which is attached to
the house. I usually try and not cut them down. Last winter I cut one down and stored like the others put it in the garage in a pot and never watered it. This year when I put it back out 3 pups came up and grew to around 18 feet tall. I have a thermometer hanging on the
wall and keep track of the temps. When it gets in the thirties I run a space heater. You will get used to how cold it gets outside and when you need to run the heater.

Don,

When you have time I need some advice .

I want to bring the shorter banana plants up from the cold storage room . My thought is to pot them up , giving them a jump start on the season.


Should I .................

1. trim the roots off ?

2. soak the corm to rehydrate for a few minutes ?

3. treat with a fungicide before potting ?

4. Trim off the dead foliage __ How much ?

We are gaining 2 minutes of daylight every morning and evening now and I am getting so antsy to do something besides seed starting ;-D

TIA

This message was edited Feb 23, 2006 10:32 AM

Yes!
If you can:
Give them as much as 8 hours of sunlight.
Cut all dead roots off
Soak only if root ball is completely dried out,they will still rot easily
Soil temperature must be 57* or higher for growth to begin
Cut off all dead foliage

I would pot up if you can meet those requirements,water once,and wait
to water again,until you see leaf growth,and then only keep soil even moist,still can rot very easy at early stage,fertilze lightly after a couple new leaves have emerged.
I'm thinking the same thing,in a couple weeks,getting ansy here too

(((Don)))

scooter..are you putting them outside? Or are you keeping them but hoping that this will allow you to plant a 'plant' rather than a stalk?

I was thinking of doing this with my EE's

Anita,
They will be potted up and kept inside to hopefully get a jump start on our short growing season.
They can not be planted out until mid-May.
Until then they will get shuffled from residing near the picture window to out on the front porch on warm sunny days.
Some of my EE's have overwintered in the plant room and the others stored as tubers have just been potted.

thanks Scooter - I might plant a few too!

I got a Banana on sale this spring it's leaves have burgandyish red in them. The label says "locally grown", I am in 7a(b), and see plenty of regular banana trees in yards...so should I plant this (it has grown = now has about 5 pups), or bring inside for the winter and plant in the spring???

My Musa are locally grown too.... by me in a greenhouse.
You'd need to either get a definitive ID on the plant or contact the grower and see under what conditions they are grown.
Do you have any pictures?

The regular bananas are probably Musa basjoo or iterans... green and hardy to Zone 6 w/ care.
The hardiest 'Red' I know is 'Bordelon'. It's hardy to Louisianna....
I have though been out of the 'Hardy' banana talks for a while.

When in doubt... tote it in......

Ric

Great advice Ric!

Can I just keep the pot in the Lv Rm to enjoy over the winter like any other tropical?? It is soo happy , with neew tiny babies coming up around it.

yes,give it as much sun light as possible,mist as often as possible,do not overwater.

thank you so very much Tropic. I feel like my green thumb whithered a few years ago after losing most everything in a house fire. Finally trying again, now. ;-)

Your welcome
remember if the soil temp drops below 53* the banana will stop growing,and if the soil is too wet the banana corm will start to rot,so go easy on the water,and if all possible a little wind from a fan will help as well with the spider mites on the underside of the leaves,so don't forget to mist there too!

Tropicman, those are enormous bananas! Do they fruit for you?
Glad I found this topic! This is my second year with bananas and I overwinter in a GH but could use advice on growing in pots. Mine are only in 7 gallon, sounds like they need bigger! Course then they would be too heavy to move and I would be in trouble again.
I'm jealous of everyone's bananas planted in the full sun. It's so hot and dry here everything has to be in partial shade or it burns right up. I was surprised my bananas couldn't take the sun.

I always have ceiling fans on and set the winter thermostat at 65, so hopefully the soil wouldn't get below 53.
How cold does it have to get for the soil to be 53F deg?

LSC,
Here's bananas now in fruit,sad that is just not enough time to ripen before thew first frost or freeze.
The bananas are about 12ft up in the air,I cut the flower off with more banana's on it,thinking maybe I could send all the plants energy into 30 bananas,instead of 60,and get them to ripen early,but I don't think my idea is going to work.
I did have 3 bananas with fruit in the greenhouse and only one did ripen,the rest turned black.
I have a dwarf cavendish with fruit in another greenhouse,but I think these will abort too!
It's been a month since any of the fruit has gotten any bigger,still green so there is still hope.

Birdie blue,I think if the is at 63* for a week or more,I think the soil will drop to the 53* mark in time.

I have a question on this too. While I could opt to leave all of my bananas in the ground, including my Dwarf Cavendish bananas, I plan to dig them up like last year so that they don't get killed to the ground. They grow so slowly for me I want to keep them going. Last year I toted them in the garage under the halides, but that really stunted their growth. So since I'm using two portable greenhouses this year, I was thinking of actually putting them IN the ground inside the GH itself, and then digging them back up in Spring to move back to the regular spots. They should go dormant in the GH since it will likely be below 50F in there most of the time (except in the day). But would I be better off just keeping them in a pot?