North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>]

George,
The fruit, if it ever appears, from Musa basjoo is not very good.  It's very
starchy, with little flavor. The fruit is better baked with spices and sugar
than eaten out of hand.  The trick is getting Musa basjoo to flower and
fruit in a cold climate.  This variety will survive -5F if heavily mulched,
but the plant, of course, freezes back to the roots (actually rhizomes).  So
it depends on how long your growing season is and how much heat your summer
contains--if the plant will mature to the point of flowering.  After it
flowers, and each bud is fertilized to create a banana, it takes about 4 to
5 months for fruit to fully mature, also.

A better alternative in a colder climate is to plant a good eating Musa
variety such as Dwarf Cavendish, dig up the entire plant after fall nights
are in the 40's, wrap the plant in burlap and store it in a cold basement
where it is dark and stays in the 40F range.  Moisten the root ball every
week or two to keep it alive.  When spring nights are in the upper 40F's
consistently, plant the Musa again in a full sun spot.  Bananas will not
grow until nights stay above 55F or so.

A third alternative is to grow a dwarf banana in a large pot, bring the pot
indoors for the winter and put it outside again when the spring weather
warms.  I have done this in Wisconsin, and I have a short stalk of bananas
that is maturing on my Dwarf Cavandish currently.  I just brought the pot
indoors for the winter, as a hard freeze is predicted for tomorrow night.
Doreen Howard

----- Original Message -----
From: "Georger" <georger@rogers.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 5:44 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] MUSA Basjoo Banana


> Hello Everybody,
>     I was reading about this cold hardy banana. Some reports say fruit is
edible, others say otherwise.
> Does anybody grow this banana?
> Any suggestions about growing this banana? Is it edible or only grown for
foliage?
> Any other cold hardy varities available?
>
>  Thanks
> George
>
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