Musa itinerans 'Indian Form'

[shusui]

Musa itinerans 'Indian Form':

Has anyone here overwintered this one outside?
It's an itinerans so he could make a chance i think?

I have this plant a few years now, but never tried them overwinter outside yet.
Now i have a few young plants as reserve and i wanna plant the big one in full ground this year.
Good idea ?

[flounder]

We struggle with the supposed 'hardy' bananas that can take x amount of - something degrees, even in the south of the uk. Day time temps don't get high enough in winter plus too damp...........but if you have spares go for it, will be interesting to see the result

[grub]

I've never got Itinerans through here Shusui, I never protect though. I currently have a small clump planted near to my front door that are still looking good but this winter has been exceptionally mild.

[shusui]

I was thinking of it, after I've seen this: http://pflanzen.plusboard.de/viewtopic. ... highlight=
The result is not bad after a tough winter.
And i like the idea of a rampant growing banana

This i my big plant last summer, and now he's making his first pups, growing long and horizontal and even downwards in the pot.



Musa itinerans 'Indian Form'

[mushtaq86]

As Grub says you might get one through a mild winter in Belgium
if its a large plant. no chance in harsh winters.

[Palmer]

Hi Sven
I over wintered a M. Itinerans “Indian form” in my unheated greenhouse once and apart from the leaves getting frosted off the stem remained firm all winter, I think the lowest temp was -4c.
When I planted it out in the spring though it collapsed and died.
It was only a one year old plant and I do wonder… if my results would have been better with a more mature plant!

The problem with half-hardy nanas in this country is if the main Ptem doesn’t survive the winter but corm does, our summers are not warm enough for the pups that come up in the spring to do well, unlike central Europe and North America, they have very predictable hot summers.

Tony

[shusui]

Ok, Thanks for the reply.
I' ll take the risk and try it this year, with protection of pine needles and straw in the winter.

[shusui]

I've planted the M. itinerans 'Indian Form' (the one on the photo in my previous post) in full ground this spring.
The plant has quite short leaves (for that size of pseudostem) in comparison to other species,
this makes him good wind resistend (it's a quite unsheltered place there).

He's making (running) pups for the moment, there are 6 pups above the ground right now.


He gonna overwinter in full ground this year (for the first time), protected with much straw and a plastic foil to keep it dry.

Let's keep fingers crossed for next spring...

[Dave Brown]

That's great Shusui I like the look of the overall shape.

I don't have one to try, but it looks worth a go in milder parts. It may need a sunny site to warm the soil earlier and use of a cloche for an extra kick start. Alternatively how well does it tolerate being dug out for winter if planted out

[grub]

An update on mine... Despite being planted next to the front door, south facing and a small amount of overhead protection from the porch, when the cold finally came the Itinerans went

[Dave Brown]

An update on mine... Despite being planted next to the front door, south facing and a small amount of overhead protection from the porch, when the cold finally came the Itinerans went

the whole plant or just above ground Grub

[shusui]

Dave: When you plant them in full ground and dig them up, that's not a problem for the plant itself. But it's not easy to dig them up without damaging the rhizomes (and they go deep and wide ! )
Thats the reason why I kept this plant in pot till this year.

Grub: how cold was it in your place, and for how long ?
And have you protected the plant ?
And how old / big was the plant , and had he already pups or was it a single stem ?

Kind regards,
Sven

[grub]

The whole plant went and if it's coming back it's taking it's time . We went down to -13C but only very briefly, it was a couple of years old and was a clump a couple of feet across with about 6 pups. I don't do protection of any kind but it had the most favourable spot I have so I'll stick with my 'itinerans doesn't grow here' opinion.