Re: Winter!
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:50 am
LOL! I love that shot of Pufferpunk and Kalvin inside the curve of the banana bed! Too bad she did not have her bike with her...
Only the rhizome with some of the mature roots make it through the winter. All of above-ground pseudostems (a.k.a.trunks) freeze and rot. They are all cut off even with the ground before the composted manure and the new mulch are mounded up over the bed in preparation for their winter nap. That was just before all the bad weather (below zero F) hit. Luckily Sam was available to get it done in time. As with many landscape folks, in winter he does snow removal for local churches and businesses and was not at that time backed up. The cut pseudostem sections are quite heavy, but compost fairly quickly, despite their strong cellulose fibers. the cut-off foliage is piled over the stem sections to retain heat and speed composting. The stem sections are quite heavy, but the mass is more water than cellulose. The pseudostem with the leaf blades still attached are what are use for making mats in the Far East. They are quite strong. But we are lazy types, we buy our doormats .
When the pseudostems emerge in the spring, they look like rather like weird cypress knees. They emerge rather quickly while it is still pretty cool. the composted manure and the old mulch provide the extra heat they need for spouting and early growth. The ones which will be the largest get fairly tall before the foliage opens with the first leaves. To get flowers and fruit I would have to carry over a dormant pseudostem in the garage for the winter, but I have never done that with these bananas, as the fruit is not really edible. These pseudostems are to big to carry over easily and the fruit has full-sized seeds. In my climate it usually takes 3 growing seasons to get fruit to maturity. The tiny seeds in edible bananas are all sterile. Viable seeds are much, much larger.
Only the rhizome with some of the mature roots make it through the winter. All of above-ground pseudostems (a.k.a.trunks) freeze and rot. They are all cut off even with the ground before the composted manure and the new mulch are mounded up over the bed in preparation for their winter nap. That was just before all the bad weather (below zero F) hit. Luckily Sam was available to get it done in time. As with many landscape folks, in winter he does snow removal for local churches and businesses and was not at that time backed up. The cut pseudostem sections are quite heavy, but compost fairly quickly, despite their strong cellulose fibers. the cut-off foliage is piled over the stem sections to retain heat and speed composting. The stem sections are quite heavy, but the mass is more water than cellulose. The pseudostem with the leaf blades still attached are what are use for making mats in the Far East. They are quite strong. But we are lazy types, we buy our doormats .
When the pseudostems emerge in the spring, they look like rather like weird cypress knees. They emerge rather quickly while it is still pretty cool. the composted manure and the old mulch provide the extra heat they need for spouting and early growth. The ones which will be the largest get fairly tall before the foliage opens with the first leaves. To get flowers and fruit I would have to carry over a dormant pseudostem in the garage for the winter, but I have never done that with these bananas, as the fruit is not really edible. These pseudostems are to big to carry over easily and the fruit has full-sized seeds. In my climate it usually takes 3 growing seasons to get fruit to maturity. The tiny seeds in edible bananas are all sterile. Viable seeds are much, much larger.
