sdc updates in pa + others

18 years ago

Here is my monthly update for early Sept.

First off, here is the SDC which I planted in mid April. It survived snow and temps down to mid to low 30's. The picture was taken May first. The psuedostem is about only 3-4 inches.

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Here is the same plant today. (9-05-2005) It's about 4-5 feet tall and the psuedostem is huge and very thick. Hence the banana being a SDC, notice the thick stubby psuedostem.

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Here is the same SDC, with a Basjoo to the left of it. This winter will be my first time leaving a Basjoo out for the winter. After the first frost, I will cut the basjoo down to a height of 3-6 inches, cover with mulch, plastic and then a protective sheet. Do you think it's big enough to survive the winter? It's been in the ground since late June. When I got the Basjoo, it was very tiny, only about 3-4 inches high total.

{{gwi:420809}}

Here is another SDC in a pot. I will most likely cut 2 separate stems off and give them away. I am thinking of taking the rest of the plant, chopping the roots off of the corm, cutting all the leaves EXCEPT the top leaf and storing it cool and dry for the winter.

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AND finally, here are the rest of my bananas. The one at the far left end is a baby Basjoo. The next one to the right is a dwarf orinoco banana. The next one to the right is an ice cream banana. Notice that the ice cream is slightly bigger than the dwarf. I ordered the dwarf orinoco and ice cream at the same time. The dwarf orinoco was bigger. Now, the ice cream has begun to surpass the dwarf orinoco since the ice cream is not a dwarf plant. The last one nearest to the camera on the near right is another basjoo. This is my insurance banana in case the other basjoo doesn't make it over the winter. I don't expect this to happen, but oh well, you never know since this is my first time trying to overwinter a banana. The baby basjoo at the far left end was initially planted with the basjoo pictured above with the SDC, but since I had that patch of soil covered with too many plants earlier, the basjoo failed to get big. I repotted in a pot just for this winter. Ideas, suggestions and comments on these photos welcome!

{{gwi:420811}}

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Comments (6)

jeff__tampa
18 years ago
Gardenguy, I sent a small Basjoo to my sister and brother-in-law in PA about 4-5 years ago. Here's how he protects it for winter. He removes all the banana leaves, surrounds the pseudostem with chicken wire, fills it with leaves (that he rakes from the yard in the fall) and then covers the entire thing with plastic to keep it dry. That way in the spring, they already have some trunk to start out with. Here is a picture of their clump now. I took this picture when I visited them last month.
{{gwi:420812}}
gardenguy_
Original Author
18 years ago
That is great! Thanks for the pic. The only thing better I could think of yours, other than the chicken wire is to get a light 50 gallon, empty plastic drum. Maybe Pepsi or Coca Cola have these??? Cut off both the top and bottom of the drum, cut banana a little lower than the height of the drum and fill with leaves. The size of the drum and mulching inside should offer more protection. The only thing that one has to watch out for is moisture. That is the primary killer of psuedostems in the winter.
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jeff__tampa
18 years ago
The first and second years he did something similar. He took an old plastic garbage can and cut out the bottom of it, then filled with leaves and covered the top with plastic. It worked great! Eventually the clump got too big for the garbage can, so he started the other method.
katob Z6ish, NE Pa
18 years ago
That's impressive. Where in PA are they located? I'm just wondering if it's a zone up from me or not.... not that it matters much, for him to be able to overwinter the whole plant is awesome!
I'm back and forth on what to do with mine. There are many pups, so I definately will be taking a few in, but for the main pseudostem I'm on the fence. I may dig it up one more year and lug it into shelter. I'd hate to lose the height.
I wonder how it would do in an unheated garage? I can keep it dry, wrap it a bit, but it will surely freeze... hmmmm. Any thoughts?
jeff__tampa
18 years ago
They live in Collegeville just northwest of Philly.
fglavin
18 years ago
Looking good, gardenguy! If I may offer a bit of advice regarding the SDC in a pot that you plan to overwinter: Don't cut any pups off of it until Spring, when it starts growing again. SDC needs a large corm to sustain the pseudostem for several months in a dormant state. I've tried it both ways, and the pseudostem completely dessicates unless there is a good-sized corm with it. You'll also find that SDC tends to "choke" leaves in the Spring when awoken from its dormant state, but eventually pulls out of it and grows fine. You may have to slice the pseudostem with a sharp knife to help it a bit though. Also, I think the basjoo is large enough. You will have to mulch it VERY heavily though (maybe a foot or more?).

sdc updates in pa + others

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jeff__tampa

gardenguy_
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sdc updates in pa + others

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jeff__tampa

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gardenguy_
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