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First shot at Bananas for me and a BIG thank u to all of u! :)

Posted by agirlsgirl 6 SW-PA (My Page) on
Thu, Nov 19, 09 at 14:30

Hi all! I have done alot of reading at this forum concerning my musa basjoo plants. I wanted to thank everyone who answered questions here so thoroughly ,I didn't have a need to post a single question while growing and winterizing my plants this past year! I got all the info I needed and some awesome links via a search that I needed to guide me through! Very impressive! :)

So here is what I did with my babies!
I bought a total of 5 plants from Brent and Becky's,I received them in April.I traded one,gifted one to my sister for her house warming and kept 3 for myself,all 3 were potted up into larger pots with good soil until I got them in the ground. 1 of them got to be at least 7 feet with full leaves (planted out the beginning of June),2 of them stayed small because I didn't get them in the ground as quickly(They made it in towards the end of June). I dug their holes really big and back filled with manure,compost,leaves and some bagged garden soil. The smaller ones only got to be about 2 1/2',but are healthy.The larger one started putting off pups in September!:) I adore this plant and only hope I can get them through the winter without rotting! I decided the big one was staying in the ground,I bought them because I didnt want to have to dig them up. I prepared it with a cage filled with oak leaves,I tossed some very dry peat moss towards the bottom hoping it will keep the leaves from touching the ground,(is there any validity to this I don't know...lol...),I then decided I was going to use horse feed bags to cover it. I figure they are designed to keep moisture out and let air in so it was worth a shot! I created a box at the bottom of the "structure" with styro foam back filled it with oak leaves and plan on covering the box with another bag once I retrieve it from my friend and it dries out over the weekend. Musa #2 went to be stored as I would a canna in a box of peat,Musa #3 is potted up to be grown as a house plant over winter. The plan for the two smaller ones is to get them in early next year and pray they get big enough to stay in the ground over next winter!
So this is where I am at with my first shot at growing Banana,if anyone has any tips or advice for me or something I mentioned I have all wrong,it would be most appreciated if you shared it! :)

Thanks for letting me share this with you all and thanks most of all for sharing your knowledge with people that are clueless,I am sure there are many happy banana trees out there due to this bunch!:)
~Angie...that hopes she will be here in the spring reporting they made it!:)


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: First shot at Bananas for me and a BIG thank u to all of u! :

agirlsgirl, Glad to see you so excited about growing bananas. I got hooked on them about 4 years ago and keep dividing my clumps. I now have 3 good sized clumps and they get close to 14 feet. I'm in a little warmer zone than yours, but the basjoo's that I grow are really cold hardy so you shouldn't worry much about them. I cut them down to about a foot tall and cover them with leaves. Come spring, they are poking up through the leaves. This year I grew one of the pups in a pot and have it in the garage now. It stands about 3 feet tall and all the leaves are cut off. I don't water it any more and plan to place it in the ground come summer. Thought I'd share a photo of my last standing clump that I'm sure will be mush tomorrow as lows tonight are predicted to be in the 20's. Happy growing.
From Garden 2009


 
 

 

 


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