I'm showing page 2, but there are no messages or pictures.
???
So no, I haven't received any messages, although there are 3 separate emails of the same thing (showing nothing on page 2) in my inbox.

Not sure what happened with my other messages......

Whinewine, I was wondering if that was $65.00 canadian. What time of the year would you place an order with them. I'm hoping to add some Bamboo's next spring. Should I order early next Spring? Or in the Feb or March? By the way are around Niagara (zone 6?) I check out the bamboos you have they are nice unfortunatly for me they are not my zone.

Thanks again for all the info.

Tropicaleye,

I love the Grass (miscanthus floridulus). I'v had added a variety of grasses this year and will definetely add this one next year. I have heard that Needle Palms do well in a Zone 5 but now it's to find them. I did not realize that Humber Nurseries sold Musa Basjoo. I will try and post my pics on this site if not you can send me your pics to giogio17@rogers.com What kind of Musa's does your brother have? a Basjoo or Silk? Can't remember the full name of the Silk banana.

Thanks for the catalogue, I have checked it out I do not see the type of Bambo I'm after but i'll check and see what Humber has available.

Ones again thanks everyone for your info. I have posted another discussion on Palms in Zone 5. When I get some info I'll pass it on to you guys

I am new to the banana family and have a few questions. One of the women I did some yard work for last year gave me a start of a banana plant. I do not even know what kind it is. Hers were very tall and very beautiful. She said that they die back every year and then come up again in spring. Mine at this point has not started to come up yet. Does anyone know when it is supposed to start coming up? I trimmed it back last year to the ground, and the stump is still above ground about a 1/2 inch. I covered it with plastic for the winter since I am in Oregon. The stump looks to be dead, but I was not sure if I should did the root to see if it has survived or not. Help

---

Michelle

My banana plant that I had planted in the corner of the garden did not survive the winter (which was 2 winters ago). I have not planted a replacement. I have an indoor potted banana (actually 2 together) that I take outside in the nice weather & bring in when the weather turns colder- it's a Cavendish, I believe, & wouldn't survive in my zone. [This year, I put Christmas lights on it instead of going out & getting a pine tree.]
My basjoo, however, should have survived outside, but didn't. I don't know why- maybe because I didn't mulch it enough???
Sorry I can't help you with this one. If I decide to do another one outside, I would make sure to take some of the babies inside to winter over, just to be sure...

Hi Michelle,

Do not give up hope yet. Im not sure when things start to bloom for you in Oregon. For us here I'm not expecting my Banana to break ground until Late May early June. I planted my Musa Basjoo Banana's not 4 years ago and so far so good. As long as you keep the ground dry, I don't think you will have a problem.

When I winterize (November) my Banana's I would first cut the stalk then I would place a sheet of Plastic large enought to cover the stalks and the ground around the stalks. Last, I add a layer of straws on top of the plastic. The plastic keeps the ground from getting wet so the the root system stays dry. The root system can rot if the ground stays wet for a long period of time.

My banana's have done so well that I went and purchased more two years ago for another part of my garden.

Hope that helps

My stem seems really soggy. I will wait and see what happens though like you say. Worse case I may have to dig it up, I sure hope not. I was so excited about having it. We will see what May-June brings. I will let you know how it all works out. Thanks for the added info about weatherizing it. We start blooming now with daffodills, tulips, now the lillies are breaking ground.
Thanks again

---

Michelle

Hi guys,

New to this forum and to growing in general. I too live in Toronto ( College and Bathurst) and have bought some Musa and Bamboo's. I brought them back from Vancouver from a guy that has a home business in his back yard www.tropic.ca . Ray, the guy is awesome and knows tons, not that great with E-mail but answers the phone well (old school). Great prices and ships without having to cross the border. I got Musa, Nuda bamboo, rubro bamboo and one other that I forgot the name of. highly recommend him.

Would love to get any tips from you experienced Toronto exotic plant growers!

---

I like good dirt!

Hello,
Its posible that if have covered it with plastic it may have some rot problem. Plastic does not breath as I found out a few years ago after wrapping one of my palms up. Your banana or part of what was sticking up in the ground could have sweated and because it was not able to breath. How soggy is the stem base. If its really mushi then its probably rotting. If this is the case you may try to chop to ground level and see what happens. We have several musa's in our garden and we just cut them right through (at base of lowest leaf). We rap them with some fleece and and when there ready they just grow out from the cut the following spring. It leaves them with a nice looking trunk effect. We are hoping to make 15 feet this year.
Hope this may have been some help.

P.S hello to all as we are also new to this forums and we are from London UK...
Edited by Banana_Shack on May 7, 2008 at 02:57 PM

Hey martanzio,

I've been growing basjoos since 2004 just north of Toronto. Every year they come back. Most years from the ground however some years I've managed to save some pseudostem. Ask any questions that you want.. You may find it helpful to go other sites like,
Hardy palms and more for the northeast @ http://members3.boardhost.com/joe02917/
or
http://www.bananas.org/

Here's a pic from July 2007,

---

Regards

Wow that is gorgeous. Mine has started to come up now, i have 3 leaves. I think it will take a while for it to grow larger for our winter has been very long. I have 2 stalks, one with two leaves and one just starting it's first one. Do they grow this large every year?

Thank you!
Michelle

---

Michelle

Hi Michelle.

Yes they get this big every year. Just remember that you really can't over water and feed them.

---

Regards

I've always left the trunk, let the leaves group down around it. I've experimented - some come back where they froze at at height and some die to the ground. And then some are halfway - they are usually too weak and when they get a decent top on them, like one recently, and a nice storm comes along - SNAP - they break at that weak point.

That rotten one - dig it out and lay it down on some dirt and just watch it. I've got one that's growing a pup and it's just sitting on the ground. Any that look dead I'll just dig out and throw on the ground and ignore them. It seems more than not they do something.

The best thing to do? Have a back up. Even though I live in SE LA I had all 18 kinds of bananas potted up in a make-shift warm house just for the sake of having them. Get you another banana plant and pot it up in Miracle Gro potting soil, the really good stuff, and let it grow. Wait for the pups to come up, let them get a little on them, take it outside and cut the biggest pup off and pot it up and plant the rest.

Phil,
Thanks for the websites, they are great. Those are huge Bananas growing well and definitely recognize the red brick from the developments around T.O.

I am curious, you posted to another that you can't over water and feed them. Does that mean not to over water them or that it is impossible to do so if they are planted in the ground? All three of my bananas now have new leaves coming out. I think that I was under watering them as I thought that they weren't supposed to get too wet. But then I started watering them and they grew more. I was wondering if I just wasn't patient enough as they have started to stagnate a little, could also be the cold weather lately.

How much water do you give them?

Thanks

---

I like good dirt!

martanzio,

Sorry I wasn't clear, I was trying to say was,

give them as much water and food that you can when they are growing.



In regards to your question about stagnated growth, it is definitely the cool weather that is slowing them down. But don't worry by August you won't believe the growth that has taken place.

---

Regards

The warmer the better. 70 degrees or higher at night will give you the best growth (I know that's probably not something that happens often there but they will grow at a decent rate in the high 50s low 60s). If you can find a southern facing brick wall it might hold more heat...

---

"Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there’s a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain’t nobody got to know what I done"
- Drive-By Truckers "Heathens"