Hello, this is my first post. Musa Basjoo planted last fall and did well until the first freeze. This spring came back fast and has been starting a new leaf about once a week. But the leafs turn brown and eventually fall apart. One of the six plants has dissapered above the ground, but still has a healthy looking root. Gets water regularly and fertilizer ever 2 weeks. I'm in North Texas and it is very windy. Thanks Image link:

I'm new to bananas, just trying to grow my first, so I don't have "the" answer. Hopefully someone else will. That said, I think I read somewhere, probably on this forum, that when a banana suddenly starts putting out smaller leaves, it's about ready to flower. Don't take my word for it though, I may be wrong. :)

Pyrates & blond guys, From trying to get my pups established, it seems that the main factor keeping them from growing like the weeds we all know they are is the establishment of a good root system with a large surface area. Until that happens, they can't take up water and will look droopy. While you can't preserve all those little microscopic root hairs when you transplant them, the more root structure you can keep with a pup the better and faster it will start growing. Sometimes when I get little or no real roots, I know it'll take a month to get going [I should probably just pitch'em since in Ohio we only have 5 months outside for bananas]. When I pull them out of the garage in the spring with no [=zero=null=zip] roots, I know they'll spend the first month just growing roots - if I plant them in May, they don't really start growing until the 4th of July. If they're in a pot with some roots, they start much faster. Good Luck!! Donn

Yes I think that it is likely still alive. You might want to spray a copper based anti-fungicide onto the white root stump and the surrounding soil to discourage rot. Look for new shoots coming up from the surrounding soil. I would suggest trying to keep the soil moderately dry - avoid soaking. Some of the Musa B's that I brought indoors last November died. But several months later new shoots emerged from the roots in the pots. The plant that I kept outdoors this winter was cut to about 1 1/2 feet in height and was located against the foundation of my home in a courtyard well protected from the dominant winds (W, N, NE). I covered it with straw and then insulating bubble pack snuggled up against the concrete foundation. On Easter weekend, I uncovered it. The main stalk was half rotted, and white mould was growing around the base. So I cut it back by about 1/2 and sprayed it with anti-fungicide. Younger shoots from the soil have actually out-performed the main stalk and are already showing leaves. This is my first year of overwintering a M.B. here in Montreal. Good luck and let us know if something comes up. /David. Good luck.