Unless you have critters that might nibble on them, outside air temperature will be your only concern. After last frost has passed,plant.

After being inside for a while, they'll be used to lower light, so it is necessary to gradually aclimate them to sunlight.

Thank you for the tips! I will be putting them in a sunny window to start...so they'll receive sunlight in the house. The fun is deciding which of my spots I want to put them when the time is right!

I believe I will plan on protecting them in the ground over the winter, rather than digging them up. I've read so many old posts on here on what people do...so I have some ideas, and some time, to make my plan.

And I see a typo in my first post...they'll be in 3.5 pots, not 2.5.

I'm hoping I have good luck with my own!
Angie

hope you dont mind me asking. what are some good reputable places to order musa and other bananas. I grow many citrus and I want to add some tropicals to my collection. I dont ever see lowes or homedepot carry any here.

thanks
mike

I buy my tropical plants from Plants Delight Nursery. They tend to be a little pricey but I have been there and seen their gardens. They plant what they sell so that they get a good idea of what the cold hardiness is and not a guess. They are in zone 7b in N.C. with 42" annual rain fall.

thanks chad! I think Ive stumble upon there site, Ill check em out.

I had been reading posts on here, and saw how some said there were reputable sellers on Ebay...so I checked there. I ordered two, they came from CA (to WI) and were only in shipment two days. They arrived well packaged and bigger than I expected for the size pots I knew they were coming in. I have them in a window just waiting for the weather to warm up to start acclimating them to being outside! And...if my chance I screw this up...I'm not out a lot of money. I saved money going there. It's a risk...so I didn't want to pay a lot if I didn't have to...

Grull,
My first basjoo came in a two inch pot with one teeny tiny curled leaf. That was generations of basjoo ago. Outside here in WV mine get six foot easily without any special care.

My first basjoo was six foot when I bought it from Lowes. It grows to 15ft. Strange how things grow differently, and we are not that far apart. I know where I lived before only 30 minutes south we had large pindo palms and American agaves with no protection. Here I lost my agave last winter. But all of my bananas are growing like weeds.

Awesome that you got your Basjoos. Have you guys had your last frost yet? If so, I wouldn't wait too much longer before putting them outside. For a couple reasons.

1) Bananas tend to be high maintenance when they're inside, at least for me. They are known to get spider mites because of lack of humidity inside.

2) The sooner you put them outside, the quicker they will start to put on size. They could feasibly get quite large being outside all summer. Feed them with a lot of nitrogen!

Let us know how it goes. I'm excited for my bananas to get going down here in the San Diego area, they still haven't taked off; I just got them last month.

They are still inside, and seem to be doing ok. I've been putting them outside on nice days (when we have sun, which has been scarce lately!) to help them get used to it, not long....

We have still had some freezing nighttime temps, we just had sleet/snow a couple days ago, now it's been a cold rain all day today. I'm eager to put them outside myself... I see our lowest low forecasted for the next 10 days is 35, with a couple 38's, the rest in the 40's. So I'm hoping we're done with freezing temps now...but those lows in the 30's could still dip lower than they forecast...so I want to wait that out I think.

Overall, the basjoos look good, I had repotted them in larger pots, and both of them sprouted a new leaf quickly, one is wide open, the other has some curl to it yet but will be fully open in the next day or so? The only issue is the bottom leaf on both of them has gone yellow, then brown on the tip....this happened before, too, I just peeled the leaf off of each plant. But now the newest bottom leaf is doing the very same thing. I will be eager to get them outside where they can really grow! I have already noticed a difference just in the house...both in height, and with each of them getting a new leaf! This is pretty fun for me, but will be moreso when they are out where they belong!

Angie

Here's a pic.

You can see the curled up leaf just ready to unfold...and part of what I'm talking about with the bottom leaf (on both plants though) yellowing. I'm giving them a drink only when the soil gets dry...I read overwatering is not good, so I actually stick my finger in there, and give them a good drink then. Maybe I'm watering too little? They're right on my kitchen counter, so cannot be forgotten about! (I'm sure my husband and son will be glad when they're outside, and not taking up space on the counter anymore!)

Here is a link that might be useful: basjoo pic

Angie,

It looks great, Bananas leave grow according to their light levels. What I mean is that if you put a banana in the sun that was previously grown in shade, its leaves will yellow, also if it was grown in sun and them moved to shade, it will do the same. It'll be great when you can finally put it outside for the summer!

If you are up in the north like me, I would suggest growing new musa basjoo plug plants in pots until they reach 3ft or more, then plant them in the ground.

But here's the catch. The deeper you plant them, the better protected the corm is. I succeeded on my 2 that I purchased last spring, and have the whole story documented on my blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: musa basjoo over-wintering results