you're lucky, I've already dug up all of mine and have them stacked on a shelf in the garage....

you're lucky, I've already dug up all of mine and have them stacked on a shelf in the garage....

BRRRRR....mine are too big to dig up at this point. I wouln't know where to begin

Mike,
Mine is only a few feet tall but and still green as ever but the frost is coming very soon. I think my next week its leaves should brown out. How do you protect yours in the winter? Do you cut trunk to only a foot or so tall before covering? How deep do you lay the much, leaves , or hey on it?

Mike,
Mine is only a few feet tall but and still green as ever but the frost is coming very soon. I think my next week its leaves should brown out. How do you protect yours in the winter? Do you cut trunk to only a foot or so tall before covering? How deep do you lay the much, leaves , or hey on it?

Hi....I cut the trees down to about hip height (3.5 feet to 4 ft)

I create a green fencing perimeter wide enough to be able to leave at least 10 inches of space between the trunks and the far outside of the fence so the cold does not penetrate.

Next I mulch first with regular brown or black licorice root mulch, then I pile straw or hay inside (all over the stores this time of year for the holidays

After that I then wrap black construction grade plastic bags around the perimeter only and make sure I create a lip at the bottom of the base that sits out about 1 foot on all sides of the fencing. Pile rocks on top of that so no moisture will seep in through the ground if it rains or snows. I seal the whole cut up pieces of plastic with duct tape.

Last year was mild so I did not seal the top tightly, Instead I threw a grill cover on top and a few logs and on warm nights and most sunny days I took off the grill cover to let air enter. Just be sure not to let it rain inside there. If you have a sunny nice day but forget to close it and it rains in the afternoon or evening, it will get moldy and destroy. If it is in 30s and 40's you can move some of the hay around and aerate the stalks.....They love it.

Banana enclosure in the backyard:

Week two in March after the enclosure has been removed:

PS For the ones in front of the house we did the same thing but wrapped the outside as a huge christmas gift box for the winter, looked cool.
Enjoy

You mean you cut this fruiting banana plant? Oh, no!

Once upon a time before our Narnia Winters arrived we too could grow Basjoo to fruiting stage. My neighbour and friend two doors up from me had massive Basjoo and he would always invite me around and make my life hell by saying one day I'll get to grow Nanas like him (never have) 🙁 Heres a pic of his Basjoo in midwinter 2009 enjoying a hoar frost.

Musa Basjoo would easily take -8C/18F without trunk damage only because the frost was short lived which it was in our long run of mild winters. Of course now we have colder Winters and lengthy sub zeros which spell disaster for the trunk. Musa Basjoo is root hardy here even without protection so maintaining a trunk and ever bigger root system will eventually pay dividends
Congratulations Mike on your effort and with that protection your Basjoo will be even bigger next year 😀

You mean you cut this fruiting banana plant? Oh, no!

No Igor, this was last year , This is the one that is now flowering, but we are getting a hurricane tomorrow into tuesday and it will probably get destroyed anyway
😐