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bcfromfl

Overwintering fruit in cooler zones

bcfromfl
17 years ago

Hey everyone --

Sorry about another question concerning overwintering, but I've got a tall "problem", and was hoping for some ideas.

I was crossing my fingers that my ice cream wouldn't bloom this late in the season, but unfortunately, it has not cooperated! The top of the trunk is at approximately ten feet (leaves to fifteen or so), and the mat is fairly large with three good-sized pups almost as tall as the mother plant.

I have other fruiting bananas at the moment, and my plan was to build a hoop-style cold-frame (using PVC pipe anchored in rebar) with an apex at eight feet, with water-filled plastic garbage cans in between the bananas to store solar heat. The other bananas are dwarfs (like my fruiting CalGold) and will fit underneath such a structure with no problem.

The ice cream is a whole other ball of wax, though. I've heard of others digging up fruiting plants and overwintering them in a garage, but that is not an option in this case. If I trim the leaves off and try to wrap it somehow, I'm afraid the plastic will be too close to the trunk and inflorescence and transfer too-cold temps to the plant. Last winter we had six or seven frosts with the worst temps down to 24F.

Using the six month rule-of-thumb, I'm looking at ripe fruit next March-April. What experiences have you had with protecting fruit through freezing temps?

Thanks!

Bruce C.