How To Protect BANANA PLANTS From Cold To Grow Fruit: CHEAP and EASY!
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- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
- In this video, I show you how to protect banana plants from cold in a cheap and easy way. By protecting bananas from cold with this method, you can grow bananas for fruit in cold climates that get hard freezes. I'm growing bananas for fruit in Zone 8A successfully 3 years in a row!
Bananas are not a fruit tree. They are herbaceous pseudostems that grow from an underground corm, similar to a rhizome or bulb. While the corm itself can survive hard freezes, the pseudostems cannot. A hard freeze will kill them to the ground. Most bananas take 18-24 months to complete a fruiting cycle, so if you want to grow them in a place that sees hard freezes, they must be protected. I've been successful at fruiting dwarf banana varieties with this cheap, easy cold protection method.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 All About Banana Plants / Banana Trees
1:16 Banana Plant Fruiting Cycle Length
2:08 The #1 Mistake Made To Protect Fruit Trees From Cold
3:45 Active Heating Cold Protection
4:35 Passive Heating Cold Protection
6:34 Protecting Bananas From Cold: My Straw Method
7:43 How To Build The Protection Cages
10:29 Filling The Cages With Wheat Straw
11:24 What To Expect From A Mature Banana Tree
12:49 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about growing bananas for fruit in cold climates, protecting bananas from cold damage, want to know about the fruit trees and vegetables I am growing in my vegetable garden, are looking for any gardening tips and tricks, or have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, please ask in the Comments below!
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#gardening #bananas #banana #gardentips #viral #video
Do you grow bananas for fruit in a location that gets hard freezes? Let us know in the comments below!
That's odd, we've had very mild winter this year in Hubert. We're not far from you.
@@shekharmoona544 Winter hasn't really started yet, has it? I'm north of you in Canada, and it's late Fall here!
Greenville TX, and had little 4-5 inch bananas. The trees were dug up and stored lying down out of harm's way . Most excellent video, kicking tail bro.
yes i grow bananas where i get hard freezes in zone 4
Help! Right now (10/05/2022) I have a banana plant fruiting (potted). This is the first time I have one fruiting this late (Nashville, TN Zone 7). The plant is a dwarf Cavendish but it grew to about 10 feet. Too tall for bringing indoors. I have no idea what I am going to do with it before our first October freeze. Ideas? Will I lose the fruits?
Do you have a video on how it looks after winter with all these protections?
As one of those gardeners in Texas that lost power and lost all his vegetables starts, avocado trees, etc. I can tell you that passive insulation is the way to go.
I think combining efforts is the way to go if you want to be certain - water barrels and lights - but passive is peace-of-mind. Having something that provides protection without man's intervention is a good thing.
Did your full grown avocado trees die and not come back?
@@turtledovehill3658 The tops of the Joey Avocados we’re dead. Chopped them down to the ground and they came up again from the Lula rootstock, so they’re Lulas now and about 3-4 feet high.
What do you do with the leaves after the freeze? How does the hay affect watering and rain? Is there a problem with rotting?
Do you leave the leaves and stem on to die? When you take the cages off do you have to cut the stem at all? A prepping for spring video for your banana tress would be great!
Thanks for the helpful advice. God‘s blessings on you, your weather, the banana trees as well as Dale! Enjoy a wonderful 2022 & brilliant 2023 and beyond!
You help me so much. Thank you. When I have a garden issue I don’t have experience with, income to your channel and search. I appreciate that so much.
I have dwarf cavendish banana tree and was wondering how it will make it thru the winter. this looks easy and inexpensive thanks for the tip
This is excellent! I will try this next season for my banana plants. We can sometimes get lucky with relatively mild winters in our zone (7a). Worth a shot anyhow.
We were so grateful to find this video. Thank you for the info. Keep doing what you do
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for watching.
Great info! Thank you! Especially after the weather update through January
great tips. I live in zone 9b SW Florida. And we're expecting 36 degrees this weekend. I just planted my banana trees in the ground in a banana circle so I hope they survive.
I grow bananas in a tropical region with weather similar to Florida. My problem is fungal infection during the monsoon season but I like how you're thinking about solutions. In my case I found a solution in Neem mulch.
great video, inspired to grow musa in the smokey mountains now!
hat ivwas looking for 🤭. Thank you for your information,very good ideas.
Awesome tip. I always wanted to grow bananas. I live in texas so I understand unpredictable weather. Thank you.
Texas weather is crazy. Some winters, it can barely freeze at all, and then others it's constant. That's the problem with wide-open, inland plains. The jet stream dictates so much. Hopefully, TX gets a break this year and gets a nice, mild winter to recover.
Just in time for the freeze tonight. Thanks again for an awesome video
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Informative and useful! Thank you 😊👍
You're welcome! Thank you for watching.
Thanks👍
Several years back, we had a long freeze. It didn't get super cold, it just lasted a long time, about a month, which drove the frost layer deep into the ground. I personally had pipes that were at least six inches deep burst. There was one fellow near here that had banana trees and the long freeze killed the corm. I suppose the only thing that would protect it in such a situation would be to extend the "cage" out maybe another foot or more, not necessarily as tall as the main one. I'm in north MS, literally on the border of 7b and 8a.
Another really informative, comprehensive video by Dale! (Susan in Greensboro here) Dahling you really should title this "overwintering fruits and vegetables " because the content applies to so much more than bananas. If I didn't already subscribe to your channel I might have overlooked this one! Anyway - your discussion of a multi-layered approach for different temps I'm sure will "enlighten" many viewers :)
I've been using hay bales for thick mulch (12-24" deep) under my fig trees and surrounding my winter brassicas (kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage). On potentially freezing nights I add a double layer of row cover plus plastic across the top with a board to hold it down. An added a.m. and p.m. chore that working people with families might oppose, but as a retired person I don't mind the 5 minutes it takes. This month I'm adding your version of the small hoop houses above the mulched plants to see if it's more convenient :)
It's tough to title these videos sometimes, because you're limited to 70 characters to get a title to fit on a single search line. The problem I run into is that I overwinter different plants differently, and there isn't one way I'd use to overwinter everything. Using straw-stuffed cages are great for bananas and figs, because if they happen to fail and die back to the ground, they grow back in no time. I wouldn't want to use this method for, say, a grafted citrus or avocado tree, because if it fails and the trees die back to the ground, they're done. This is a really good, cheap, easy method to protect plants that can recover from a to-the-ground dieback, but it isn't as bulletproof as, say, my water barrel and Christmas light method...but they cost more money and require regular attention.
Well explained. Thanks a lot
You're welcome!
It would be VERY helpful to tell us the minimum temperature inside the straw compared to air temperature. A simple temperature probe or max/min thermometer would do the trick. For example, I grow various fruiting trees like sweet cherries and peaches that won't have a chance as I get -40C in winter. However with a double wrap of insulated tarp over "tipi poles" and a dangling incandescent 100 watt lightbulb that I only plug in via an extension cord when the temperatures will drop below -25C, PLUS a max/min thermometer inside, I get 20C warmer. So at -40C the inside is a relatively balmy -20C, and sweet cherries and peaches that can take to about -28C survive and fruit. Please consider taking temperature measurements inside your shelters. Otherwise we are just guessing at how much protection the shelters provide. Plus by taking the minimum temperature data vrs. air temperature on the coldest nights, it will become obvious which method works best to keep the plants warm.
Any thoughts on using the mulch barrier also as a secondary composter? The dimension on that frame is almost perfect for that 3x3x3 cube for the Berkeley method, which could generate additional heat to protect against the seriously cold nights. Sure, it might take a little more work if you have to turn the piles, but maybe it could eke out some additional frost protection overnight?
NICE!!! Thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
Nice Thank You For The Advice Good Job
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Great video I have a question I live in CT much colder sometimes 4ft up with hay and cage as video do we have to cover the top so water does not go in travel to base let me know thanks so much for your video.
Thanks for this
You're welcome!
Hi: Just found you and found your RUclips Videos to be informative. so much so that I subscribed. I live in Holly Ridge, NC. I would like to visit your garden in person if possible. I am creating my own garden on 3 1/2 acres. I am going to try and grow a lot of tropical plants and would like to get insight from you . Thanks, Bob
Thanks
💯💯👍👍
You're welcome!
I live in Charleston and have 9 hands of fruit on my banana plant. We have a couple nights coming up in about 8-10 days showing lows in the mid to upper 40s. Is there anything I should do to preserve the fruit during these nights? Thanks for all your information!
Great video. I am curious why you don't use straw around your citrus trees?
I use blankets every year and have logged temps with data loggers. Even by themselves they DO keep in heat and temps are always a few degrees warmer under the blanket. I used to use frost cloth but old blankets are way better. There is still heat stored in the tree and soil under it - same as heat stored in barrels :)
It wouldn’t help in a climate as cold as yours but thought that was worth sharing.
I think it would depend on the duration of your freeze. I have done these experiments numerous times with frost blankets and agricultural fabric, and believe it or not, it's usually *colder* underneath the fabric by 2-3 degrees consistently. Heavy fabric blankets, I'm not sure, because I've never used those. I would, in general, strongly suggest against using them without some type of thermal mass/heat source underneath.
@@TheMillennialGardener I think the difference must be that your ground freezes and must be at a lower temp than the air. It’s the only thing I can think of, how else could it be colder under the blanket? It certainly works here where even in winter the days are warm.
My freezes last 3 hours tops (usually much shorter) and I’m only protecting tropicals (I don’t bother protecting bananas for example).
I do the same when an unexpected polar event occurs. Another key factor is how much sun is out to warm things up during the day. If sunny, I take the blanket off during day and put it back on for night.
@@PracticalPrimate what about wet, I think insulation effect decreses when the material is wet
Was the straw build all you used or did you also cover with plastic and/or cut down the tops of the banana plants?
💚
In the spring do you cut off the yellowing dead leaves?
The Tx freeze was wild. Found so many frozen squirrels, migratory birds, chickens and even wild game down our block.. All my plants bit the dust too. This year, with all my new citrus, I am def going to try this. BTW, It is way more expensive to get straw here. $5 is a steal!
Yea, in Greensboro NC straw is $7.28 at Lowes right now (Dec 2021). I buy hay from a local farmer just outside of town at $3.50/bale. Hay tends to rot faster but is more nourishing for composting after winter.
The freeze killed squirrels? I find that almost hard to believe, because squirrels are all over NJ and PA where I used to live, and as bad as the Texas freeze was, that happens every winter where I used to live. That's nuts! We get a ton of rain where we live - about 65 inches a year on average - so it's easy to grow grass 45 mins inland off the coast. Depending on which store I go to, straw is anywhere from $5.50-6.50. Definitely get the water barrels. Just assume every year will be as bad as last year. If you're prepared for that, your worst case scenario is you're out $25 for a pickle barrel.
Be careful with hay. It tends to be very seedy. Generally, you want to let the hay sit out and rot before spreading to make sure the seeds are dead.
@@TheMillennialGardener I know I've seen that warning by many gardeners/farmers. I've been using hay for about 6 yrs (Ruth Stout method of gardening) and rarely have weeds come up because deep mulch blocks the sun. I get a lot MORE grass poking up when using straw which does have a lot of seed heads still on it. Depends on the source I guess.
@@TheMillennialGardener
I learned the hard way, the
diff between straw and hay! haha Straw is $11.99 a bale at Tractor Supply and $7 at our local discount farm supply. I kept finding frozen birds on mine and a neighbors porch so I would get up early in the morning and walk the two blocks trying to find any animals who made it and needed help. Yes, I was shocked as you to find two full grown squirrels frozen under the nearby apt mailbox, another in a vacant lot. Strange that they didn't find better shelter but they were looking peaceful, sitting like statues all solid. lol :(
When the freeze of 2021 hit Houston, I thought the banana trees at my job location wouldn't survive. I've seen them every day for about sixteen years. There are three large rhizomes that grow a large cluster of banana trees each year. I don't know the variety, nobody does. Just that they're edible. When the freeze happened, all the banana stalks died back and I, along with the owner, was sure the rhizomes were dead. But lo and behold, about two months later I was walking near their location and I spotted knee-high shoots growing from the ground and I immediately recognized the leaves. Within the year, they all grew back big, green and healthy. I couldn't believe it. The only explanation I could think of is that years and years of the stalks dying back had created a thick layer of mulch at the ground level which protected the rhizomes. Either that, or they were a variety that was more cold hardy than I thought.
Oh, the corms are often hardy to 0 degrees or below, especially if they're mulched! The pseudostems are frost tender, but banana corms are very hard to kill. In fact, in their native climates, when corms get infected by borers, you can dig up the corms and drop them in boiling water, then re-plant them. They often survive. Bananas are very difficult to kill, they're incredibly easy to grow, even easier to propagate, and plants are dirt cheap. If you live in a climate where they can be used as a food source, they're truly incredible and invaluable.
Do you cut off the top of the banana tree level with the hay once the hay is packed around?
Does rain and snow come threw the top leech down and rot around the base? I've had these problems
You're the reason I'm going to try and grow bananas for the first time for fruit (zone 8a) Southern Oregon next year. I've never been in the Carolina's in the winter, that being said how much rain do you get in the winter? My late falls to early springs are wet and summers are dry (mid Mayish to mid Octoberish) curious to know so I can plan accordingly for next year for over wintering.
That's awesome! Your zone 8a is quite a bit colder than mine. We have similar annual minimums, but my average December temps mid 60's (it was 77 today!), average January mid-50's, and February mid-60's. We can get cold shots overnight, but it heats up very quickly during the day. You may need thicker protection.
Our winters are semi-wet, averaging around 3 inches a month Nov-Dec and 4 inches a month Jan-Mar. We don't get atmospheric rivers like you do. I know you guys can get 8-12 inches November thru December, so you may want to consider tossing a 40 gallon trash bag over them to keep them from rotting (don't use black for heat reasons - if you can't find clear or white trash bags, get Contractor Bags from Home Depot). We are on opposite precipitation patterns. In summer, June-August, we usually get anywhere from 8-12 inches of rain a month. We get deluged in summer.
After doing this, do they still need to be watered in the winter time and how? And how often?
How do you deal with rainy cold winters? Do you worry about the hay getting moldy?
Thanks for the vidya. What variety of banana did you choose?
I have many different varieties. I grow all dwarfing types - no tall bananas. They're too much effort for Zone 8.
7:43 As someone who used to use furring strips to build decorative boxes, I can say that Lowes is the place to go rather than Home Depot. In general, HD's lumber is much worse, but their furring strips are garbage
I agree. Lowe’s has better lumber. Other things are a toss-up, but I generally prefer Lowe’s these days overall.
👍❤
Do you just leave the leaves and stem on? Or do you prune and cut some after the cages?
hi; Would really like to know the results of this method since I have started growing Bananas also from watching your Success. Is there a follow up video. please let me know how you did.
What ended up happening to these bananas after the freeze? Did they make it? I have bananas here in Texas and tried a different method last winter, but it didn’t work out very well.
So you don't cover the leaves at all with the straw technique? I'm completely new to growing bananas! I live on the central coast of CA. I planted my first banana back in September, and it still seems to be getting new leaves... but the colder nights of November have been taking their toll! Now the leaves are all starting to get brown spots, the lower leaves are really yellow, and I'm worried it might not survive the winter (even though we don't usually get very many freezing nights). I think I might try your Xmas light idea... but I think you said to cover the whole thing with a dome/cover, right?
Thanks for the video! Awesome idea with the straw!!! 🌾🍂🌱🍌 ...I guess my question is, is it more important to protect the stalk of the "tree"? Thanks! :-)
I'm trying this with my fallen leaves instead of straw this year in Atlanta,Ga. Hope it works as well as straw does this year.
I think leaves will work, but you'll need a whole lot of them. You want to make sure they're packed in there pretty densely so you have a good thermal mass. Simply pouring them in there loosely won't be enough.
@@TheMillennialGardener yep I have packed it as tight as I can and continue to pile on more. The rain seems to also help pack it down more 🤞. If this doesn't work this year I'll switch to the wheat straw next year. Thanks for making these videos and giving us all these great ideas for protection! 👍
@@getupgrow9902 did you consider putting a cover on to stop the leaves getting wet and maybe decreasing the insulative effect?
I'm in south Texas and it got down to 9° here back in February. We also had temps below freezing for 3 days along with about ten inches of snow. Very rare.
A 100' roll of 48" or 60" welded wire is less than a hundred bucks and will make a lot of hoops. No stakes, zip ties, saws or mallets needed. Cut them to length to make the desired diameter hoops that will stand on their own. They double as composting bins and/or cages for tomatoes, beans, melons, etc. during the warm months.
The one thing that's for sure about last winter's freeze is that it'll happen again. There are long-range forecasts that are predicting a very cold first half of January that could harbor another severe outbreak, so stay vigilant.
The poultry netting is half the cost of the welded wire, strong enough to do the job, easier to work with and easier to cut. I bought a 150' reel off of Lowe's for around $60 shipped.
Racoons will pull that down, in Texas.
@@Speeglelookingglass
They haven't bothered mine. In fact, I never see coons around here. Armadillos, coyotes, foxs, feral hogs, yep, but no coons.
@@rickdavis2235 my neighbors and I have trapped over 20 raccoons in our backyards in San Antonio. They ruin everything. They pull plants out of the ground and toss them out of their way.
@@Speeglelookingglass
We have two large dogs and too many predators for them to be a nuisance. I'm 8 miles north of Hondo.
That's a shame you're having that problem. I know people in SA that are growing bananas successfully. Have you tried electric fence tape?
I’m in California 9b so I don’t have to do this to my bananas but this is such a great idea.
You think like an engineer. And you explain like a teacher. I really appreciate you sharing all your ideas. I always learn a lot from you!
I'm an electrical engineer, actually 😂 Well, EE by degree, but I practice Civil Transportation.
@@TheMillennialGardener That doesn’t surprise me at all!
How cold does it get there? I'm in TX 9b, and I've prepared my banana trees for this weekend's freeze to mid 20s.
Can you keep the straws in the summer too?
I’m wondering, if it’s freezing rain or rain soaks the straw and freeze. Would that hurt it ?
So what do you do with the straw when spring comes around?
Hi really interested about the bananas plant. For your experience the Florida Hill Nursery should be the trusted website to buy the banana plants ? Thank you
Hello ,can I use leaf’s instead of the hay to protect the tree
Do you think this will work in Virginia zone 7B?
Is this gonna work in Missouri?
Am I silly for considering putting my washable electric blanket to use as a mild heat source in winter that will keep my banana plants warm enough to continue growing uninterrupted until they flower? 2021 winter frost killed 45% of my banana plants from the crown to almost half down. Regrettably necessitating me in cutting them down just above ground. I don't wanna do that again in 2022. I have the plans for caging them with chicken wire, etc. Of course it won't be powered up during rain to protect the cord. But I do expect to have it on for maintaining a temperature of 60°. Just warm enough that my banana plants continue to mature into Spring. Could this idea work just as well as the passive insulation method?
I am in zone 8B in South Carolina. I have purchased my first Dwarf Cavendish banana plant which is currently in a large self-watering container that is made of black plastic. I was wondering if I could use burlap instead of chicken wire and cedar mulch instead of straw to help my plant make it through the winter? I also wanted to know if the straw is better at repelling water than cedar mulch?
What about putting a cover on to stop the installation getting wet?
Nice! I wonder if this will work for mangoes 🤔.
Mangoes are evergreen and need sun all year long. You can’t keep them buried in straw for months. Bananas have the ability to slip into dormancy and overwinter, but a mango won’t. It needs sun year round.
Question....after your wrap them do you cut the leaves off and the stem down at all? I see allot of videos online where others say to do so. And cover it totally with the straw.... thank you.
I would assume he does. If he doesn't in the spring after unwrapping he would have to go down the trunk to see where it's still alive. And he also said he had dwarf bananas. I winterize a musa basjoo
Elliot Colman has winter temperature results
Outside temperature to internal temperature
The book is
Four Season Harvest
The temperature comparison is chapter 10 page 110
Where do u find thoughs barrels lol
How low do your temps get? I’m in San Antonio will be trying this this winter for my blue Javas
I’m 8a, so every winter it typically falls into the teens a couple times.
Finally, a channel that puts Celsius and metric onscreen! :)
40% of my viewers are not based in my home country, so it makes sense to include everyone. Thanks for watching!
I appreciate that too!
Viva Christo Rey
do you leave the banana tree leaves on just like seen in video in winter or do you cover them or chop them back and cover ?
Thanks for always showing metric units 👏
You're welcome! Around 1/3 of my viewers are outside the US, and I try to make my videos to help everyone in the world!
@@TheMillennialGardener One from Spain here, un saludo.
What if it rains and then freezes that night ? Wont the wet straw freeze ?
Great Video! My Banana trees started coming up beautifully. Then the price drops into the twenty's while I was traveling. They have turned brown. Are they dead? Anything I can do?
Thank you,
LK
They will probably die back and have to start all over again, unfortunately. The corm won't be dead. It'll sprout new pups.
Where did you purchase these trees?
Is the Xmas lights method more effective than the hay method if you can do either?
Tricky question. Incandescent Christmas lights are fantastic if you combine them with a plant jacket. If you don't hold in the heat with a jacket, the lights won't do much on their own. Combined, they work great. The downside is they can bleed heat on windy nights and not work too well. Passive protection methods are more consistent, but they need to heat up during the day. If you have a cold, cloudy day, they may not heat up as well. The real way to be sure is to combine both. You could run Christmas lights on these straw cages and *really* hedge your bets, since the lights will warm them up. If you want the best protection, that's what you can do.
Do you think moving cardboard boxes can be used to store the straw in? Or does it need some ventilation and hence chicken wire?
Cardboard boxes would rot in no time. You need something that is going to hold up all winter long to the elements, and it has to be strong enough to hold the weight of the straw when the straw gets damp. Otherwise, the cages will burst.
HI! I have Ice cream banana trees around my pool and am located in Weatherford, Texas. Last year I saw a video like this but using leaves so we insulated with that. It DID protect the mother tree but it molded it so badly many did die anyways while others were pure nasty molded mush when we uncovered it in spring. Some grew pups which are now about 12 feet tall. My question is how do I prevent the molding? Guessing straw/hay is better than leaves? Also if the parts of the tree that are exposed die off each year and have to regrow in height, how will I ever get bananas off these trees if they start over every year? Should I do the Christmas lights PLUS the straw insulation? How do you water thru winter? We have underground root watering bc summers are brutal here, and read to cut that back in winter to 1 watering maybe 1x a week vs daily. Thanks so much for your video!
I noticed he used solid flakes of straw. He did not break them up or fluff them.. The more solid the barrier the higher theinsulation effect. Also coverthe final top with thick plastic to prevent saturation of plant.
My temperature only gets down to -8.7 Celsius, but we get at least twice as many freeze nights as you. I’m not sure what climate zone that equates as. I’m not sure if bananas would do as well here because of the number of freeze nights that we get. So I might need to try it to find out 🤔
Hardiness zones only track the annual minimum temperature, so it isn't a good indicator of climate. There are places in Ireland that are milder hardiness zones than my zone, but my average temperature is much warmer. All these things matter. Zone 8 Washington state or Oregon state in the US will be much more challenging than my Zone 8, because our cold shots can be severe, but they're very short. It's almost never "cold" here for more than 2-3 days in a row, but the cold lingers there for months.
Australia's climate is much milder at the equivalent degree latitude than in the US, because Canada acts as a land bridge for cold air, which can funnel Arctic air directly into my location. This won't happen in Australia, because the air has to travel over the ocean for thousands of miles, which warms it up. I'm at the same latitude as Sydney, but Syndey's summers are 10 degrees cooler in the daytime, while Sydney's winters are 10 degrees warmer in the nighttime (in Fahrenheit, on average).
In short, I think you can have a lot of success with this method. We get around 30 freezes a year, here. I already recorded 7, and it isn't technically winter for another 15 days.
I lost alllll of my plants in last years freeze down here in South Texas. :( I was surprised that my bananas came back, tho!
Banana corms can survive below zero temperatures. There is almost no chance of banana corms being killed in South Texas from cold. It can't physically get cold enough long enough to really be a threat.
@@TheMillennialGardener We had four days of freezing temps and rain. It got down to 19 degrees each night. I think it was the flood of really cold rain that froze. We had several inches of ice. It did kill off half the corms, I'm afraid. And the ones that come back this spring looks sad even with lots of water and fertilizer. Everyone in this area had a horrible growing season this year with everything from beans, tomatoes, peppers, to our tropicals.
Has anyone had any experience with deer and how they treat this plant?
So do you lose the tops during the frosts, or does the heat in the straw help keep the whole plant pretty much in good health and minimal die back??
You're trying to protect the "spear" in the center of the pseudostems. The top leaves dying are of no consequence. As long as the central spear remains alive, it'll push new leaves out of the top. I've had many instances when in March, the pseudostems look like rotting mush, but out pushes a brand new, green spear. By May, they all look like new again. They're very resilient plants. I left the leaves on this time, because I want the old, dead leaves to droop over the banana pseudostems and act as a frost blanket of sorts.
@@TheMillennialGardener Can you cut the tops back and then cover with straw as well though?
@@TheMillennialGardener do you need to remove the mush? My banana froze and started developing white mold on the outside of the stem, so I peeled the mush back
Have you tried other short cycle bananas, or just the Dwarf Orinoco?
I have a video on bananas coming this afternoon that showcases the banana varieties I'm growing. I am growing several kinds.
I used this technique last winter zone 9 in Northern California, unfortunately the straw got very wet from rain and rotted the stems of my plants. I wound up cutting them back at the base, now back to square one🤨
If you're in Northern California where you can get deluged, you can throw a 40 gallon trash bag over the cages. You may want to use a white bag, since black bags get hot. If you cannot find a white bag, you can buy clear Contractor Bags at Home Depot. That will prevent rot.
Do you leave this up all winter long, even in the rain? When do you take them down?
Yes. I take them down after last frost, which is usually last week of March thru first week of April, depending on the year.
is it straw or hay?
Did it work?
Do you think this would work in zone 7b in NC, closer to Winston-Salem, if I put them against a south facing wall?
It's possible. The bananas will definitely survive and grow back every year, but whether the pseudostems make it through the winter so you actually get ripe fruit is another story. We're having a rough winter this year, so I'm pessimistic that any of my pseudostems will survive this non-stop barrage of freezing temps (with another 18 degree low forecast Saturday!). On milder winters like we got the winter of 2020/2021, they may make it.
@@TheMillennialGardenerCan't hurt to try I guess! Hopefully we can both get a few mild winters soon. Thanks for the reply! I hope your psuedostems make it through the worst of this
What month do you do this? I live in southern Mississippi and want to do this!
Before frost. Usually early November.
Thank you for the quick reply!
I have beetles eating the leaves. I live in South Florida…they start coming in the evening fly all over my yard. I need help. I tried Dawn with water, neem and bug insecticide… nothing works! I planted in the ground 6 months ago… it was throwing leaves every three days or so now it has stopped growing… 😮💨
what state you at want to buy your baby banana tree ( i in ga )
can you protect them by adding like alot of mulch then straw
You can. I bought as many bales of straw and as much fencing as I could afford. At $6-7 a bale and $50 a roll of fencing, it starts adding up. Cover them as much as you believe is reasonable. Obviously the more you use, the more they'll be insulated.
Good afternoon I'm a first year gardener my question is do you cut off the tops of the bananas or leave them like that through the winter
I was wondering the same thing. I did cages and straw around my bananas but I cut them back and covered the top with another foot or more of straw.
I am not removing any of the tops. The freeze will cause the banana leaves to die around the plants and actually cause a bit of a roof/frost barrier. I will allow them to protect the rest of the pseudostem all winter long. I will remove the dead growth in the spring when the frosts stop.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks I live in so cal 8b and I will be planting 2 hardy bananas next year so I'm just trying to get as much Information as I can
So you don’t cut any them? And when do you usually want to get them ready for winter?
You cannot cut the pseudostems, since it's the central stem inside that you're trying to preserve during the winter. You can remove the leaves if you wish. That's a personal choice.
@@TheMillennialGardener I’ll just remove the dead ones as they die off, when do you suggest doing the cage with straw?
If you get a forecasted low in the teens, will you add heat to those or just leave them be and see how they fare?
No. They'll be on their own. Chances are, something will survive, which is why I grow multiple varieties. I have a lot of other things I need to protect if we get a forecast low in the teens. Since bananas will grow back from the corm no matter how cold we get, it's an acceptable risk for me. If a banana is the only thing you need to protect, it may be worth the effort.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks, and another question - Have you noticed if the amount of the pseudostem that you save from freezing affects the length of time the plant takes to bloom and fruit? Like freezing down to the corm versus saving 3 or 4 feet of pseudostem?
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks, and another question - Have you noticed if the amount of the pseudostem that you save from freezing affects the length of time the plant takes to bloom and fruit? Like freezing down to the corm versus saving 3 or 4 feet of pseudostem?
What are the benefits of maintaining a banana tree through the winter as opposed to just restarting after winter
If it dies down every year, it won't have enough time to fruit in almost all cases, so you'll be growing them purely as ornamentals. If you want fruit from your bananas, you need to overwinter the pseudostems.
can we use pune straw instead?
You could try. It may not compact as well.
You can use also bubble wrap in zone 8b to 9
Bubble wrap will not work to protect against a hard freeze. It'll provide frost protection, but bubble wrap won't have enough thermal mass to hold heat all night, unless you used some crazy amount. As soon as the temp dips below freezing, it'll just freeze through. Damp straw works to insulate the pseudostems, because they have high thermal mass. They absorb the heat of the sun all day and radiate it back all night to insulate the plant. Bubble wrap can also have an unintended consequence: it heats up during the day in direct sunlight too much, which can spur unwanted growth at the wrong time due to the greenhouse effect. This won't happen as much with the straw, because it will actually stay cooler than the rays of the sun during the day.
@@TheMillennialGardener talking about the crazy aumont, told by bananajissi(not sure if I write wrong)
@@TheMillennialGardener not in our climate
Our Tractor Supply has "bermuda" hay. Is this the same stuff?
Hay is typically tall field grass cut as a whole, so it tends to contain more seed since you're often getting the seed tops. Hay is often used for cattle feed. Straw, on the other hand, is a byproduct. It is the bottom stalks of cereal grains after the tops have been harvested, so it has much less seed than hay since it is the seed part of the grain that we eat (although not weed-seed-free). If you use hay, you are going to want to let it sit somewhere and rot for a long time, or it may cause a lot of grass germination if it's full of seeds.
@@TheMillennialGardener I found some "straw", but it is chopped up and kept coming out of the sides of the chicken wire around my banana trees. Most of it stayed in, so I'm going with it. We've got our first freeze coming this weekend. Fingers crossed!
How did your trees do? Have you uncovered them yet?
It's still too early to tell and too early to uncover.
I'll bet when you moved here from Jersey you thought you'd died and gone to heaven - little did you know that zone 8a on the coast can still require unpredictable freeze/frost management. With your love for tropical plants you shoulda gone to Miami, lol
I'm a weather nerd, so I was pretty aware of what I was going to get. The thing that was funny was that I moved here on September 30, 2017, and about 95 days later, the Wilmington area got hit with that 4 inch snow storm and spent the longest duration below freezing on record. *That* wasn't expected. And then, the following September, we got the heaviest rainfall on record in one shot from Florence, with nearly 30 inches dumped. And 2018 wound up being the wettest year on record at 102.40 inches! So, within 365 days of me moving here, we had the coldest period and wettest year. Maybe it's me? *That* truly was unexpected.
@@TheMillennialGardener Awww, I know Wilmington's been hit hard lately. I used to think I'd like to retire to live aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean. Now I'm glad I'm high and dry in Greensboro but still with 4 seasons and a few random tornadoes just outside of town for excitement, tehe.