Hello!
I have a banana tree. I think it is a basjoo but I am not sure.It has reached the ceiling so I will plant it in ground this summer. Most of the winter the temperatures are above 0C, but sometimes it can reach -14C(very rare). Would it be able to survive even if it wasn't a basjoo?Here is a picture of it.
If nobody here knows which banana you have, you might try posting it in the Plant ID forum and find out what it is so you know how much cold it can take. Many of the other bananas could handle 0C, but -14 would be pushing it for some and would almost for sure kill some others, so I think you really need to get an ID on it if you want to be confident that it would survive a rough winter. (a quick scan through Plant Files hardiness listings shows hardiness going anywhere from -1C down to -12C for the non-basjoo species; if yours is one of the ones that's good to -12 then you should be fine in all but the absolute worst winter, but if it's one of the -1C ones then you may have trouble with it)
Wow... I just had to jump in here and tell you your banana tree looks great! I am jealous! Mine is about 1 1/2 feet tall.
Can I ask how old it is?
Sorry I dont know about planting it in the ground. I am new to the tropicals.
good luck!
Bre
If you don't get an ID on your banana, I would wait until you have an offset before leaving the entire plant outside year round. I don't know what those temps. you listed are since we use farenheit (shame on me), but my basjoo bananas get between 20 and 25 feet tall here in St. Louis (Zone 6a) and I never bring them in. However, I had a number of tropical bananas a few years ago that I would bring in every year until they got too big to handle - so I decided to keep them outside. Not a one made it through the winter even though they were heavily mulched and near a south facing foundation. So if they are hardy, they are very hardy and if they are tropical they can't take temp.s under about 35 degrees F. I will make a note of learning how to convert C to F temps.
My husband just read your question and said that your banana should make it through your winter as long you mulch it heavily - he knows how to convert the temps! It looks to him like a basjoo, as our tropical bananas had a tinge of red to the leaves and yours appear not to. Once in the ground, you will surely see babies sprout up around the base towards the middle of summer. You can always remove them from the mother and keep them going indoors, just in case you have a particulary cold winter. By the way, I now know 0C=32F!!!! Glad I read your thread - I learned something!
Chris
Hello!
My banana tree is 1 year old. It grows like mad outside in the summer. I have had some offsets, but they died really quickly. Musa basjoo has grown inland here were the temps. reach -27C!I have a Canary Island Date palm that survives winters even with no protection! It was badly damaged though. I will ask on the ID forum what type it is. Thank you for all the help!
I have bananas outside here in UK, we get very cold snaps in winter and I give the top of the plants protection as do the roots, they get a good mulch so the roots dont get frozen underground, the best thing to protect them with is either to cut off all the long green leaves, them wrap the stems with a blanket of straw made by tying soft horticultural string/twine around the pot, and s you wined it up the stem, you stuff straw around the stem as you go, this allows air to circulate the plant but also acts as an insulation for the stems, another way is to lay chimney pot liners over the stem, fill this with the straw, then add the next bit of liner and fill with more straw, till you have covered the whole stem, this way helps in warmer sunny spring days to remove the chimney liners to let light and more air into the plant till all dangers of frost have passed when you can remove this covering all together for warm summer days, your Banana will then send out new leaves for another great show of something tropical looking, always protect the roots from winter as if the large plant dies off, then the protected roots will send up new plants to regrow. Good Luck. WeeNel.
HELP!,
Last October I started a Double Ballerina Purple Datura from seed and it's been growing on the window sill on the south side of the house. At the present I'm having problems with the leaves developing brown spots and eventually dropping off. The flower buds drop off without opening. I also have a white variety that's doing the same thing. Both plants are 18" tall. What am I doing wrong? Too much water?? Fertilizer?? I'm in zone 5a. Did I start the plants too early? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!
Paul
Hi Paul, you will have better luck if you start a new thread with your question. Since this thread is about bananas the Datura experts may not be watching it (a picture of the plants showing the spots would also be helpful).
Hi Paul, look for Red Spider Mite, you should see very fine webs and this is a sure sign you have this mite, also try misting the plants as they prob too dry around the foliage indoors, they will also need more water as they are flowering now, Good luck. WeeNel.
