just my 2 cents but anytime above freezing for Basjoo should be just fine. i cut mine down to the ground level last fall and covered them with just leaf litter. They saw many nights below freezing and a few times in the 20's. I just uncovered them the other day and they are pushing out from the middle.

Yesterday I decided to uncover them and see what was there. I decided to take pictures of the process so I started by a taking a picture of the cover in tact. Then I gently removed the cages and vwallaa! No tree! LOL You should have seen the look on my face... I was sure I had done everything right and no banana tree... It was like they were abducted by aliens over the winter.

I will just let them die back to the ground and mulch heavily going foward.

I left mine uncovered all winter (a mild one where the low temp was 9F). The subsidiary trunks look green and I expect new growth in the next few weeks (the main trunk rotted back to the ground).

Here's a pick of my Musa Bajoos from today. They got a good start from the warm March. I didn't even uncover them they just poked themselves out of the mulch they were covered in.

{{gwi:1302037}}