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Hi all! Anyone have any experience over-wintering these two types of Musa? Mine are potted and were cut and brought inside after they got frosted. I have them in a greenhouse that i keep at about 55F. The trunks of these two look really dried out and look nothing like my Bajoo which is just waiting for warmer temps to explode. Is this normal for over-wintered Bordelon and Williams?

Musa Bordelon ... dead as a door nail after one frost.
Sorry, I haven't tried the other.

Cheers, Barrie.

FUDGE! Didn't want to hear that! Oh well, I got them from a local grower who thought they would be cold hardy here, with heavy mulching. Maybe I can talk him into getting some big needle palms this year.

Craig your problem is that your ground freezes. Most Bananas will come back from the roots, but with the roots frozen most will die.

Todd

My Musa pots never had a chance to freeze. We had one of our typical mid October frost with temps of 32 for a short time and all the foliage fried. Since then the coldest temps they have experienced is around 40F. You are correct though, unless we get snow cover first our soil will freeze, unless the soil is mulched very well.

Laaz; Are you sure???

That would be great. If I insulated around the growing area down 2' and put in a heat tape, I would be able to keep the soil from freezing. Then all I would have to do is cut the stalk off at ground level after the first freeze, cover and insulate.

Do you know which bananas regrow from the roots?

Allen

I have Williams, Ice Cream and DC in the ground. All have come back from the roots. The Ice cream I just let the frost kill the leaves & then leave them on the plant until spring. Then I cut the leaves off & the plant continues to grow right where it left off the year before. The DC & Williams get knocked down to the ground many winters, but come right back in the spring. We get freezes every year for a few days (20 - 30 F), but our ground never freezes. I get nice sweet bananas from my Ice cream almost every year... Have a look.

Todd, sweet nanas!

Maybe that is why the Basjoo and the williams are looking so different. The Basjoo never really went dormant and the williams did. Just a thought.

Laaz; Another question for you.

How long does it take for your Ice Cream to produce ripe fruit? If you could estimate the time from the first leaf in the spring until the earliest that you could pick them as this would give me a rough idea if I could get edible fruit here.

Thanks

Allen

Hey Allen the Ice cream bananas take about two years from pup to fruit. They get between 15 -18 Ft tall before they fruit. Then they take 3 - 4 months for the fruit to ripen in our high heat & humidity. In your zone you would have to dig the plants up & store them in a cool place through winter & replant in the spring. Doing this I would guess it would take many years to get to fruiting size. You would have to be very lucky to get then to fruit very early in the spring to have a chance at them ripening the fruit.

Thanks Laaz:

I had hoped to build up a large root system over 4 or 5 years so that the Banana would recover well in the spring and have a hope of fruiting. It obviously will not work with the Ice Cream variety.

Allen