Dedicated to covering tropical and sub-tropical outdoor plants in cold environments as well as patio and indoor tropical plants in any zone that will give your home and yard a tropical vibe no matter where you are. We share tips on how to grow and how to care for cold weather palm trees, bananas, bamboo, and many other types of plants.
We live south of Seattle, WA in the USA zone 8. While this is where we are, many tips and tricks will work in colder zones as well.
You don't need tons of land (we have about 1/4 acre) and you don't need a green thumb to get started.
As the other comment said, green and color guard Yuccas are the same plant, just with and without variegation. Variegation is a forced genetic mutation and is often not passed on in offshoots or rhizome divisions which have the "healthy" chromosomes, but only in stem or leaf cuttings with mutated chromosomes. My guess is that the first two are growing from the remaining stem and are basically still the original variegated plant, and the green one appears to be an offshoot.
I live in Pike county GA not sure what zone it is but this is My first year with banana trees I have three of them just trying to find out the best way to winterize mine
Looks like 7a or 7b depending on where you are. The cage method would probably work best. You might try wrapping one outside the cage at some point and see what kind of results you get.
Hi, I watched a few videos and I think they mean the whole leaf. (Single leaf cutting, not cutting the leaf into pieces.) << I would think that leaf cuttings: meaning leaf pieces would just turn to mush.. However, it appears to me that stem cuttings work the best! I dont want to risk even attempting to do a single leaf cutting. Your plants seem to do quite well, and so do mine using the stem cutting method! ❤❤❤❤
I've gotten it to work with other types of begonias in dirt. You might be right in that I'm cutting pieces too small and more of a leaf would give better results. Stems with a node has been the easiest for me. I'm about a 95% success rate just sticking them in dirt.
Yeah thanks for the video I got a lot of information this summer I cut a pup from main plant and missed no roots at all so I decided put it in a jar water changing the water once or twice a week today I check and roots have started to grow this took about three or four weeks I have no ideal what variety of banana plant we have but I started growing in 2012 just water and full sun.
Hello, watching the wintering video. I hope you can help me establish which plant I have. Is it possible to send you a picture? Also, how large of a root system do they have? Do the roots go deep or are they a root system that goes out and more on the top of the ground? Asking because we have a well and septic system. Also, my plant is potted. How do I winterize this if it a plant I can keep outdoors? The pot enough or still put things in and around the pot? I would place it out of direct weather by placing it under our patio against the wall, but making sure to winterize it properly. I may blow up your phone with questions for a while. Lol. Thank you!
You can send photos to the channel email or on Instagram. I'll try to help but understand there are so many varieties of bananas that it can be hard to tell from a photo or two. The roots are substantial and strong. I would not plant bananas next to a septic or drain field. How cold does it get where you are? Bananas in pots are less hardy. You'll need to either put them in a micro climate that stays warmer or add additional protection around the pot depending on your temps.
Good morning! I just a adopted a banana plant from a friend. It is about 8 ft. Tall. How do I know what kind I have? It looks like the one you are videoing in front of. I live in New Columbia Pa. I beleive we are zone 6-7. Since I just received this, should I bring it in the house this year? They would bring it in In the winter and out for the summer.
It's likely a basjoo given the size and your location but can be hard to tell even from pics. You can still put it in the ground if you like. You'll need to provide some additional protection to keep it alive over winter.
Does this fertilizer work for red abyssinian banana tree ?? And by any chance do you also know if the same fertilizer would work for the giant bird of paradise as well?
hi have learned so much from your channel i have three musa basjoo trees that i ordered and there doing great in pots because i rent and they go with me i ordered the plant food you use great stuff but pricey but would probabally last a couple of years thanks for that tip! my question is i live in prescott az similar wheather as washington i am going to bring them in for the winter will they do better under a grow light or just by a window and second when do they start growing suckers and or clones next to the main body and to clarify would you want your light on veg or bloom hope to here from you thanks!! sorry wanted to ad the plants seem to thrive in smaller pots being root bound is that accurate? came back to ad again sorry the window i have is the sunset side only so i wanted to ad a grow light for added light only not as the primary light
Extra light will help, but might not make a material difference depending on other conditions. Personally I don't give plants extra light when they're indoors for the winter. Grown inside, the leaves will be weak in comparison to it being outdoors. It's not a problem as long as the plant stays indoors, but expect the leaves to suffer when you move them back outside. It's not a big deal other than the plants will look rough until a few new leaves pop out. On the pups, I've seen it after 6 months and I've seen it take 2 years. Continue to treat the plant well to improve your chances of it happening sooner rather than later.
Hi there! Thank you for this helpful video. I’m moving to a townhome with a small yard in September. I’ve always dreamed of having a small section of my yard with a garden bed to grow musa basjoo. Right now the entire yard is just laid in with sod with a concrete pad. I’m hoping to put in a small garden bed by my back fence but that could take sometime to get installed. Very excited nonetheless though. I only have experience growing musa in pots and none with ground planting. It worries me that you mention that the roots could find a way into my neighbours yard if I don’t keep it under control. Is it quite easy to keep them contained? Or would it be better to keep them in a raised garden bed with a defined bottom to limit them reaching beyond my property? Greatly appreciate your help and time. I live just north of you on Vancouver Island so my climate is nearly identical to yours in Seattle. Thank you!
I would be careful about putting them directly in the ground near a fence or neighbor. I have seen them pop up as far as 2 feet away from the main plants - about 60cm away. Having them raised will help - mine are raised and it helps you keep an eye on them. I've grown them in pots and they do ok, but will not get nearly as big.
@@vibonitatropics thank you for your insight here. Does your raised bed have a bottom or are they bottomless so the roots can go deeper into the ground? My knowledge with raised garden beds is very limited as I have never had my own greenspace before.
@@vibonitatropics Very helpful and will do. Thank you so much. Are your bananas enjoying the hot weather this last week or so? I just picked a mule palm last week. I have it in a 20 gal pot currently. I see you have a couple too. They definitely add a tropical flare to the yard.
I have a the same banana plant you have. The new leaves randomly started becoming white to a very light green. Is it something I should be worried about? I’m in zone 6a.
@@vibonitatropics I give them fertilizer from Miracle-Gro all purpose plant food once every week on saturday and I water them every once every 2 days for about an hour or two.
I’m in Zone 5b and just received some small hardy bananas, am I ok to plant these now and they’ll come back next year if I follow the over wintering process?
Interesting, my Musa basjoo didn’t come back either. Second winter outside and it was very mild this year. It was just my experimental banana, but that so many various folks had that happen is odd. My plants I overwintered inside are thriving. Hoping for a flower on some this year 🤞🏽 I need to acquire a double mahoi for the collection. I’m also trying to prop some red banana seeds from fruits I bought to eat. Apparently, they are notoriously hard to sprout. Months if ever…..we’ll see😂
It's bizarre. We had it colder last winter and they all came back fine but this year for whatever reason, they didn't and as mentioned, I've seen stories all over the place that people didn't have their larger stems come back.
It's on the list, but have been swamped trying to get things done. The short update is the quarter grew and one of the 1/8 pieces grew. None of the rest grew. Based off that, I'd only quarter them in the future.
Thank you for this so much! I’m buying banana fuel now! I was wondering if you experience much burning? Ours are new and I’m concerned about burning I’m seeing in full sun.
Burning from the sun or fertilizer? They should adapt to full sun. You might see issues if you had them indoors and recently moved them outside, but they should be fine in full sun. If you're seeing leaf damage, it's more likely not enough or too much water. They'll take a ton of water (mine get watered every day) but can't tolerate standing water. I've not had issues of root burn with the fertilizer. Use it to the instructions and you'll be fine.
They just moved from partial shade to full sun. Unfortunately we are expecting high heat now, so they got burned from the sun. I bought some spray that might help- IV organics. It’s supposed to shield from sunburned 🤞I have hope they will adapt in time!
My first answer is whatever kind you can get 😂. If you can get blue java(ice cream), namwah, or orinoco, those should do well in 9b in the ground. I keep double mahoi, Manzano, dwarf cavendish, super dwarf Cavendish, and Puerto Rican Plantains in pots that all do well inside for the winter.
@@vibonitatropics thank you very muchhhhh, the thing here is even tho the hardiness zone is 9b we don't have warm summers because of oceanic wind (no more than 20°C in summer)
Understood. We have similar conditions on the Washington State coast near me. If you can find somebody local that is already doing it, that's going to be your best advice. Otherwise, it's up to you to carve a path with trial and error.
Hey I have a blue Java banana it isn’t doing the greatest I had been over watering it and not realizing but basically the bottom of the stock got all soft and brown Ifbi cut it down to the base will it re grow? This is a indoor plant just want him to live
It depends on the condition of the corm, just under the soil. I would leave it alone at this point and just wait and see. If the corm is all the way rotten, it's not going to grow back. If there's even a piece of "good" corm left, it will grow back.
Thank you!! I've been watching my bananas like a hawk and I am now more confident after your explanation that I'll know when they're about to flower. 💜 Happy growing 💜
Hi can you do a video of photos how the Musa banjoo grow from when you bought it to now. I would like to to know how fast they grow as I have just bought mine
Unfortunately I don't have video from when I first bought them. They were about 8 inches tall when I got them - ordered off Amazon 7 years ago. I kept them in pots the first winter and they didn't grow much at all. The next summer I put them in the ground and they got to about 3 feet tall that first summer. The second summer, they got to about 8 feet tall. The third summer they got to "full size" for me in my spot is about 16 feet tall.
I don't fertilize the bamboo at all. I'm sure it would help get it even bigger, but it does well on its own. I do let the leaves it sheds sit, so that helps it some, and there are loads of little birds that spend hours in it hiding from predators which I'm sure also contributes.
