Yes, and this year has been particularly bad, June was so cold and wet that the plants have been very slow to get growing this year, hopefully July and August bring some hotter weather.
Why not try covering the pseudostem of the bananas with a cage & straw/leaves? In my personal experience it works well in my location. I've got a large potted Musa, all I to in Autumn is put 4 garden canes round the edge of the pot, with the banana in the centre. Then cable tie some chicken wire or similar around the canes to form a cage, pack some straw or leaves into the cage & then tie a waterproof tarp over the top, sorted 👍 managed to keep the full height of the stem from last year over winter, just need to remember to cut the leaves off once they become frosted & brown before covering the stem. Hope this helps 👍👌
I'd like to try this at some point, I'll just need to find a cheap source of straw and chicken wire. My insulation towers and mulch worked well in my first year of growing the bananas outside, we had -8c and all the stems survived. But the last two years the cold was prolonged and down to -15C which meant the cold had time to work its way through all the insulation. Its fine if the temperature is cold at night but above freezing in the day, but when its two weeks of below freezing temperatures the cold really penetrates. Hopefully with extra insulation and a milder winter I can keep some height in my banana trees.
Glad you’re back . I’m in Ayrshire so things happen more slowly for us .
Yes, and this year has been particularly bad, June was so cold and wet that the plants have been very slow to get growing this year, hopefully July and August bring some hotter weather.
Why not try covering the pseudostem of the bananas with a cage & straw/leaves? In my personal experience it works well in my location. I've got a large potted Musa, all I to in Autumn is put 4 garden canes round the edge of the pot, with the banana in the centre. Then cable tie some chicken wire or similar around the canes to form a cage, pack some straw or leaves into the cage & then tie a waterproof tarp over the top, sorted 👍 managed to keep the full height of the stem from last year over winter, just need to remember to cut the leaves off once they become frosted & brown before covering the stem. Hope this helps 👍👌
I'd like to try this at some point, I'll just need to find a cheap source of straw and chicken wire. My insulation towers and mulch worked well in my first year of growing the bananas outside, we had -8c and all the stems survived. But the last two years the cold was prolonged and down to -15C which meant the cold had time to work its way through all the insulation. Its fine if the temperature is cold at night but above freezing in the day, but when its two weeks of below freezing temperatures the cold really penetrates. Hopefully with extra insulation and a milder winter I can keep some height in my banana trees.
Shame about the cold weather damage. 🥲
Yes, hopefully we'll get some hot weather later this summer for the plants to regain some size before winter comes back again.