Hearty Banana Plant Winter Care - Beyond Tiki

S Swanky Tiki Socialite Hapa Haole Hideaway, Knoxville, TN Joined: Apr 03, 2002 Posts: 5398	S Swanky Posted posted on Sun, Nov 17, 2013 7:24 AM On 2013-11-17 05:43, woody wrote: We have prepped our banana plants for winter storage. I was told to wait for the first frost and the leaves wilt before cutting. We had our first dip below 32 on Tuesday. The leaves have turned brown but the stalk is spongy. My question to the forum is does that spongy look mean the plant did not survive? Or is the root ball still okay. I am planning on using bubble wrap, blanket, and mulch. We cut them approximately 2 ft from the ground. Thanks for the response and the help. The plants were the main point of conversation when folks came over. We have them growing out by the pool. Hope they survive and come back next year. The leaves will brown, depending on temps, hard freezes will make the trunks become mush. But the roots are the important thing. They will survive even if all the plant above ground is gone. That is not a given, but mushy trunk does not mean dead. I cut ours back and then it warmed up and they started growing again already. Another 10 inches came out of the stump. Depends on where you are. Sometimes plastic can be too much. I am in TN, Zone 7ish. For the Musa Basjoo, I do nothing. We didn't even cut down the trunks last year, just the leaves.

On 2013-11-17 05:43, woody wrote:
We have prepped our banana plants for winter storage. I was told to wait for the first frost and the leaves wilt before cutting. We had our first dip below 32 on Tuesday. The leaves have turned brown but the stalk is spongy. My question to the forum is does that spongy look mean the plant did not survive? Or is the root ball still okay. I am planning on using bubble wrap, blanket, and mulch. We cut them approximately 2 ft from the ground. Thanks for the response and the help. The plants were the main point of conversation when folks came over. We have them growing out by the pool. Hope they survive and come back next year.

The leaves will brown, depending on temps, hard freezes will make the trunks become mush. But the roots are the important thing. They will survive even if all the plant above ground is gone. That is not a given, but mushy trunk does not mean dead.

I cut ours back and then it warmed up and they started growing again already. Another 10 inches came out of the stump.

Depends on where you are. Sometimes plastic can be too much. I am in TN, Zone 7ish. For the Musa Basjoo, I do nothing. We didn't even cut down the trunks last year, just the leaves.

Post #699675 by Swanky on Sun, Nov 17, 2013 7:24 AM