Musa basjoo

Here is one of our basjoo clumps. This is one of my favorite bananas. i got this from Brian a 2 years ago and its beautifull.

that is gorgeous...just love the bananas and yours looks very healthy

do you just cut the stalk down in the winter and overwinter it in the ground? What do you do, if anything, to help protect it?

Jerry don't you have any wind in Louisville? I see all the pretty leaves at the top without any tears in them at all. This is the hardy one for our zone or am I thinking of another Musa.

we cut them down to about 6 inches and just mulch them. there is alot of wind but theese are verry tough and dont get as beat up as all my other ones..

that clump has about 25 trunks in it and im digging about 20 out this week so it won overtake the spot next year and so i can do like i did with the colocasia pink china and start farming them lol...


thats for the complements

That's one impressive clump of bananas you got there... I have 4 M. basjoo I planted this year, myself, but none of them are anywhere near that big. As a matter of fact, I had to move one because the soil where I planted it originally turned out to be too dry. I can't wait to see what mine look like next year, though, if yours got that big in just 3 years.

well i was a baby 2 years ago this is its second full season and in verry fertile soil and water helps alot.

i own a small farm not far from here and im putting a clump down there next year and just letting it go. i want to see what one of theese looks like at 10 years without digging up pups. I have the room down there to let it go wild.

p.s theese are huge clumpers it is my biggest banana and i put out 100 plants of about 20 different kinds some alredy 8 feet tall and theese are bigger by far from the ground. most of my bananas give me 3 or 4 pups per year but this one gave me 10 in year one and i left the with the clump and mulched them. this year a total of 25 in the clump of different sizes..


i also have an orinoco with nanners on it so ill send a pic of that as well. check back in the morning.

Mine are planted in the woods behind my house (a.k.a. my experimental test garden), so they also have plenty of room to spread... Especially since I planted them where I evicted about a dozen HUGE multiflora rose bushes earlier this year.... I'm hoping that they will fill in the space where the rose bushes were. Where they're planted is on a slope just above a wet area where a natural seep comes up, so they get plenty of water. The one I had to move was planted in a different part of the woods that I though stayed moist all year, but it didn't, and it was dry as a bone once this dry spell we're going through hit, so I moved it to the edge of the swampy spot as well.

I've also got some palms and other hardy tropicals in this same woods, and if I can remember to , I'll take some pics and post a thread here to show off my hardy tropicals in the woods behind my house.

OK guys it is almost noon where are the pictures you two were going to post.

Those are absoluletly gorgeous.
What kind of soil and what fertilizer do you use.

Thanks for sharing.

Beck

looking good all of mine have wind damage on all the leaves.

Backyard Oasis, you said that you had put out about 20 kinds of bananas...are you leaving them all in the ground over the winter, and if so, what kinds do you have? I would be really interested to hear, thanks

i only leave out my musella and basjoo everything else gets dug up for winter. but dont remind me lol its getting to close to that time of year.

Don't I know!!! Alot of work....I am trying about 13-15 outside that I will leave outside just for that reason. I'm just really hoping hard for a mild winter...

Brent and Becky's says that M.sumatrana, "Rojo", etc. is hardy for them with deep mulching. I'm leaving mine in the ground this year (maybe I'll be digging out a pup to keep) and hoping as you are, tigerlily, for a mild winter.

The others are Musella lasiocarpa (and one that is hardy and may be someting else) and of course they're staying put. I'll mulch them anyway, but with lasiocarpa here, it wasn't necessary when I've had them in the ground. I'd just like to keep as much trunk length as possible.

Robert.

Here is another pic with my niece is front. She's 1/2" shy of 5', so that will give a better perspective of the height.

Backyard~

Oh, that is just gorgeous! Such a lush tropical thing!

Well done!!

Robert

Uh oh, planted two of these on our Isle of Dreams this season, they are about 2' in height. They are supposed to be hardy here, but didn't realize they are such clumpers. Will have to nip them in the buds as I sure can't use anything the size of your whoppers! They do look terrific at your place though!
Candee

that's a perfect banana plant!

Haighr, Hi! Nice to see some local folks around here! I'm guessing you got yours at the Home Depot (where I got two of mine, the other two come from Tony Avent's place in NC). These bananas are truly amazing, and hardy.....

I was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan for 3 years (which clocks in at Zone 9a), and I saw several people's gardens with clumps of M. basjoo in them, and they didn't die back, even during the 3 straight weeks of freezing weather that they usually get during January (which, beleive it or not freezes the ground and any puddles or standing water in the area). Most tropical bananas, on the other hand, die back if they're exposed to a heavy frost....

What a gorgeous clump of bananas. Wow, and wow again. Congratulations!

Erick

Hikaro you are right up the road a piece there in greencastle. Got mine through mail order forget which one but something tropical with lots of musas. Perhaps I will just cut one back and leave the other and see how they do. I have two other musa in pots which I bring in along with the vigna, pineapples, etc just wanted to try to leave something out this year. I did overwinter the majestic palms one year, but was a lot of work covering and wrapping, lost 2 last year and brought the last one inside. They get too big for inside so though I would replace this one last palm with the basjoo. Now thinking the basjoo may be too large even for outside!
At any rate it is a lovely group of bananas there Backyard and perhaps my diligence will keep mine in check.
Candee

Haighr,

One way you can slow down the growth and pup production of any banana is to not water or feed it as often..... Or plant it in the shade.

I'm not sure about the shade part, cause I have 4 bananas in my greenhouse with the shade cloth on and they are producting babies like crazy. I do water them a bunch and feed them about every other week. Here they are right after I first put them in the GH. This picture was taken on 5/30/06.

I see you have a topsy turvy planter... Have you had any good results with it?

Please excuse the mess in the first picture.

Then here is a picture of them on 07/15/06

Hi all,

I have recently aquired banan's and I have asked several times but never got an answer but fertilize. What to feed my nana's??
There are about a million different fertilizers.....lol

Thanks
Beck

Then here they are as of today.

I got a fertilizer off of EBay last summer that was called "Banana Fuel". I checked the other day to see if they had it listed again and there wasn't a listing. As you can see by my plants they love whatever they are getting, with plenty of water.

Those are beauties. Can't put them in shade now, I need them for on the island so already planted 2 of them.

I only have 1 musa basjoo, 1 that is a tropical musa, a brian williams hybrid, and a ice cream.

2pugdogs.....Wow just looked at you name guess I should be 4minpinDogs......LOL

Anyway, I will have to just find my new babies some food. They are the special babies right now. I am so excited about my ice cream banana it got a new leaf yesterday and I was so shock when I came home this morning I had to kodac moment it. LOL
Are we crazy people or what.....I just got my naners from cyberageous on Aug. 11 and I was affraid of killing them due to yellow leafs. I now know they were just in shock from the transfer. I would like to get a Musa that they say is hardy to all states. I think it is the Musa Bajoo not sure I would have to check again. Was waiting to see how I do with the 2 dwarfs and the ice cream. Now I know I can get one....lol

BTW you naners are absolutely beautiful. Hope mine will be like that next year.


Beck

Beck,

I have one min pin.... he is the love of my life... 12 years old...

Awww. I use to have Rotties the both died 3-4 years ago went 3 months with out a dog and went nuts.....lol so did my husband. We wanted a little dog this time. I wanted a taco bell dog( i cant spell it) or a weinner dog he said icky so we got min pins. Momma, Papa and 2 of their daughters. Sparky got of fence this morning, I was real tired this morning came in with hand full and forgot to shut the fence, I was going crazy trying to find him. He came home my sister-in-law was pulling in driveway when he did and she said he was across the highway (5 lanes) I got real lucky.

Well enough of that.

My Ice Cream naner's new leaf is starting to open this afternoon. I cant wait.....reminding shelf that patients is the name of the game. Who came up with that word anyway.......LOL

Beck

The M. basjoo is the one that's supposed to be hardy in all states... There are even some crazies in Canada growing them in Zone 3... They have to dump about 2-3 ft of mulch on them during the winter, but they make it..... In zone 5, 6-12" of mulch should be sufficient. Where I live, they shouldn't need more than 6, and last year, a local wholesale nursery had some in their display beds without any protection that came up this spring.

I'm gonna have to think about getting a min pin pup soon. Mine isn't going to last that much longer...

Kikaro thanks for the info.. I plan on getting a M. basjoo (guess i spelled it wrong earlier..LOL). I am glad to know how much mulch. I do want some by the new pond that I dont have to dig up every year. So that info is very helpful.


I use to breed min pins. But momma was always happiest while pregnant, But it was so hard on her so we quite. Not to mention that everyone kept falling in love with the pups. Now I have 4 instead of mom and pop. Ofcourse I wouldnt trade them for anything in the world right now not even 1 of them. Dont know what my life would be like with out the 2 daughters.....LOL

Have a good evening all,
Beck

Does the min pins shed very much? Years ago we had a reg. sized one and can't remember if she shedded or not.

mine is red and doesn't shed much at all.

Karo, if you had been here in Hagerstown about 3 weeks ago, I had one extra I gave away.
Think I'll try mine without the mulch and just see what they do. Should I cut them back or just let them go do you think?