I basically only kicked a small pile of leaves
over some I have planted,it came off a few times over the winter
and I pushed the leaves back over.

They came back-

this year I didn't do anything to cover them...
think they will come back?

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I am in zone 6 and I mine have been in the ground and coming back for probably 5 years now. I do protect mine with wood mulch piled on top and then a tarp covering to keep them dry. I also have mine planted against the foundation of my house, which also has a basement. I think this is the key, as the soil around the foundation must not freeze as deeply as the rest of the ground, if at all. My daylillies planted in the same area, against the foundation, are always the first to start popping up. I tried them away from the house, but they always died. However, that may have been a winter drainage issue, as my yard slopes away from the house. I'm trying to overwinter a new variety of banana, and I might leave a basjoo unprotected next year just to see if it's necessary to protect.

The guys above would know better than I do, since my winters are milder. But from your description, it sounds like your just letting them hit by the cold and not doing anything proactive to protect them. I do the following each year and they return bigger and with more pups than I can handle every year:

1. Let the first frost/freeze of the year get to the bananas.
2. Cut them down, flush to the ground.
3. Keep it exposed to the cold air for a few days to trigger dormancy.
4. Mulch with 3" to 6" of shredded wood mulch. Do not use compost as a mulch. You may want deeper mulch in your area.

Hope these trips help.

I planted my basjoos in the ground this past April. They did not grow well for some reason. They put out a lot of new leaves, but didnt actually get taller. I didnt protect them so this will be a test of what they can handle. I wont be too upset if they dont survive because I actually prefer the tropical bananas since they do better for me. I'll let you know what happens sometime around early May!
-Alex

I did not protect them since all the places I saw selling them said they were hardy to zone 5 or even 4! Maybe I will try a little protection next time I buy one, as long as it doesn't have to be anything elaborate. Strange though because my camellias, cacti and jasmines all do fine and I don't protect them either.

Half a g-bag of leaves should do it.

I have always just matched mine as well, however with this years rainfall being so high I did place a tarp on them this year.

Alex- My basjoos have not done well their first year either. Once they come back after this winter I bet they grow like crazy!

I basically use the method Wetsuiter describes and they come back.

When people say cold hardy banana they mean that if you cut it down and protect the stump it will likely come back rather than face complete destruction. So no, they do not happily flap in the winter breezes and brighten up the frozen landscape.

Which makes me wonder: If we have to cut it down and cover it with mulch, what are the limits? That is, can we grow nearly any type of banana if we follow this process?

I was thinking the same thing JL but most bananas are not tolerant
of cool wet soil for very long...I had some fruiting nanars
that looked like they made it through one spring but quickly rotted.

One interesting thing about Basjoo is that although very root
(corm)hardy,their leaves are one of the least frost tolerant...

Rajapuri,Lasiocarpa,Abyssinian(although not technically a banana)
and also Thai black's leaves hold up better to frost -to name a few.

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I guess that answers my question Jim. Thanks.

On a side note, after two years, I have concluded that Basjoo is more frost tolerant than Sikkim. I have one next to the other and the slightest frost affects the Sikkim while the Basjoo puts up a good fight and only starts to wither after several doses.

I have good luck with basjoo. One thing I've started doing in the last couple of years is planting them a foot deeper than they were originally growing. It takes them longer to come up in the spring but they don't need as much mulch. I don't think this would be a good idea if you planted them in a place where the ground stays wet though. As a matter of fact anywhere I've planted them here that didn't have good drainage (average) in winter wasn't a good result for coming back.
I have customers here in town that have had similar results too. Not just because I sell them!

I read stories about people struggling with basjoo and it amazes me. I've never had a problem with them coming back in many different locales, including completely unprotected in the coldest temps Pittsburgh has seen in 20 years. As long you you have well-drained fertile soil, they will grow like gangbusters. Cover the stumps with a few bags of leaves and I'm convinced they'll come back from anything.

Chadec, I hope so! Mine were actually in their second year. They were in pots in their first year and were doing really well and then I planted them in the ground and they just never really took off. I think there may have been something wrong with them so I wont be too surprised or disappointed if they didnt survive the winter. I'll just plant more tropical bananas in their place and overwinter them indoors!
Some people have a really easy time with basjoos and others cant get them to grow. I think a lot of the problem has to do with where you get the basjoos from and Im not getting them from the rlight place apparently! I got my first 2 off of ebay back in 2006-2007 ish (my very early palm days) and those rotted on me in a matter of weeks. Then I tried them again in 2010 when I saw them at a local nursury being sold as an aquatic plant, and they did great but probably wont be coming back to see 2012!
-Alex
-Ale

Sounds like you got a Florida grown basjoo. My basjoo came from Lowes in a 7 gallon container. And even now I overwinter pups inside just in case. I dug up my musa sikkimensis because it didn't have good variegation. Its looking really bad, hope the rhizome pulls through. My Siam Rubys look awful too. Should of just dug up the pups and let the main plant die.

I know that the leaves will freeze and die off in winter, of course I didn't expect them to be "evergreen" here in New England! I should have mentioned that I did cut them to slightly above the ground, and mulched with about a foot of leaves and a tarp. The location was a slight slope, so water didn't settle there. I might try one again if I find one that's cheap enough. Cannas can give a similar, even though smaller, tropical effect.

{{gwi:5901}}

I wonder if they are getting big enough to come back....
How big do they get and do you have any pics....

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Jim,

No pictures. They only get maybe two feet high and the stalk will get to maybe two inches thick. I haven't been able to find larger plants to start with. I have thought about growing them in pots and bringing them indoors for winter for a year or two, but I didn't originally want to wait that long, and I wasn't sure I would have to since they are supposed to be hardy. But zone 6 (and 5) hardiness is a myth. They can be grown with special care and protection, but then almost anything will grow if you give it the right protection. The ultimate "protection" would be a heated greenhouse! With that kind if logic, African violets are hardy to zone 3! Sure........
But if I can find a larger basjoo I may try once more.

{{gwi:5901}}

Does the center of the plants, even the thick variety, really freeze down to the center in these colder zones? If they do not and the center new leaf is still green (inside trunk) then I would leave them alone. I pretty much just trim off dead leaves and leave trunk alone, they push up new leaves in warmer weather and dont need chopped back. I have two different fruiting types.Even when the new leaf in center hasnt opend and gets frost damaged, the trunk keeps the center alive. But thats here in a warmer zone that doesnt get all that cold, but does get frost 1-3x a year. I do not know if its the same over there, but I would think the thick variety should have enough insulation that the same concept should apply?

Either way, good luck :)

- US_Marine.

So Bill

They are clearly not coming back because they aren't
getting big enough,no matter how small they are they
should grow at least 4-5' of trunk in a year which is plenty.

Coming back from the corms you should get 6-12' in a season.

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Me thinks you don't have basjoo but some other less hardy strain. Your winter should be piece o cake compared to mine. I've had them come back completely unprotected in crap soil, experience below zero temps, and grow 8 feet tall. I bought a banana labeled "basjoo" once but was not. I have bought basjoo 3 times, 1 was not basjoo, and the other 2 have been rock solid hardy, have seen below zero multiple times including unprotected, and they come back strong. I hope to never buy one again as I will just take pups (although they don't always take). Next spring when it comes back, dig a pup, overwinter it, and dig it up the following fall and try to keep it going, and make sure to take a pic and post it here. I'm guessing it's probably something way less hardy like a dwarf cavendish, and that you are having tremendous success keeping a tender banana alive in your climate. Do you have any pics of your so called basjoo?

Bill, maybe you have a type of cavendish? Were there any red markings on the leaves? Thats usually a good sign of it being a young cavendish banana, but basjoos do occasionally have some red in their leaves also (but very little).
Cannas a good replacement for Basjoos. Mine get to 9 feet tall every summer, not a bad height! This year I left them in the ground, but its been a mild winter so Im hoping that they will make it. The problem is I dont plant them as deeply as I probably should and that exposes them to some bad freezes.
I dont blame you for giving up on basjoos. I am too. But like you said, if I can find them cheap (last year they were at local nursuries for 12 dollars which I consider pretty cheap), then I will try them again because at the very least they do make nice annuals.

Chadec, Your right, Maybe I did have a florida grown basjoo. Wouldnt be the first time considering that the sabal minor I got from Lowes was greenhouse grown and also lacks cold tolerance (but it did make seeds last summer and it grows well so I guess its a keeper!)

-Alex

They were definitely Musa basjoo. The grower has several on display outside the greenhouses, and this company is extremely reputable. They've been around for well over 100 years. I had M. cavendishii and it's quite different. I just don't think they got off to a good start in the ground. If I find them fairly cheap, I'll get another one and grow it up in a pot for at least one winter. Then maybe give it a different location with better soil etc. Funny though that my fig tree is nearby and it does OK without protection. So do the camellias and jasmine. But I had some major landscape work done last year and I now have a 70+ foot long stone wall that should provide some thermal mass so I may try one up against that wall.

Thanks for all the comments. It's always a bit of a crap shoot isn't it? But that's what makes it all interesting.

{{gwi:5901}}

I'm surprised that basjoo wouldn't be a piece o cake there, esp. if you can grow a fig unprotected. Do you have really sandy soil that drains too fast maybe? My soil is very rich in organics, well drained for a clay based soil (because of the organics). The only other thing I can think of is that maybe your summers are too cool? But I think you guy are probably considerably warmer than, say Maine. I know at least along the coast in Maine, it always seems cold to me. Then again my basjoos are usually 5 feet high by May when it is still in the 50's, 60's and 70's typically, maybe an occasional 80.

Hey Bill

I think you are still better off planting in the ground,
there is some other issue if a Banana plant in the ground
doesn't get bigger in one summer than one ever will in a pot.

I was at the NJ Flower Show yesterday. No palms for sale, but I did buy a Musa itinerans "Mekong Giant". Supposedly, this one is hardy to zone 6 and is faster and taller growing than basjoo--we'll see. I almost passed it by--thinking it was basjoo--which I already have. Regarding the basjoo, I have never tried them in the ground but have left them (in a previous year), to overwinter in the garage, in a container. It might have gotten down to freezing at the coldest. Anyway, the plant was all mush come the Spring--to the roots. Currently, overwintering the basjoos and a Bordelon in another garage where the winter temps range from 60 to 35 and they are fully green (or maroon in the case of the Bordelon). All this talk of bananas has encouged me to check out the status of the tubers for the other varieties (most Sikkimensis/Himalayans). Getting Spring fever bad now!

Bananas need food, water, direct sunlight, and warmth to grow. They need lots of all of these to see significant growth. Your soil might be the issue if you're watering and feeding them enough. Maybe too sandy or not sure if you have clay in your area??? We have pretty dense clay in this part of the state, so I have to really amend and break up the clay with good soil and compost here. I get pretty good results, from zero to at minimum 6 feet tall with bananas that are in full sun.

I have 2 Mekong Giants, the bananas stated above, both came to my house as the same size. One reached over 8 feet tall from a 4"pot in 1 summer, while the other only reached about 4 feet. The difference was the taller one was planted in a full-sun location with improved soil. The 4 footer was thrown into the ground on the side of the house, where it only got about 2 hours of full sun a day. Both received the same amount of food and water. So in my case, it was soil quality and sunlight.

I am going back to Plant Delights nursery this weekend and have been looking at buying a Mekong Giant. Their website shows the color of the trunk and talks about the possible growth rate. But how do these compare to other bananas? Would they just get lost in the mix and not be recognized?

They do grow faster than Basjoo, and the leaves don't seem as wide. The undersides have some red. I'm interested to see if they'll flower here. The fruit is supposedly edible.

I hear these are hardy to zone 6, but who knows. I cannot wait to see how mine grows. It already shows a bronze color on the trunk.