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Pack your Banana plant for Winter!

Carreglefn Nurseries

Pack Your Banana Plant For Winter

A lot of people shy away from purchasing Banana plants especially the more tender varieties due to the over wintering of them if they do not have a heated conservatory or Greenhouse in the UK.

BUT.. READ ON…

This is a brilliant way of protecting your Banana plant each year, tried and tested!

This works as it is the roots that die and go brown when left in cold wet soil during the winter and this can be the what kills  your Banana plant.

Dig up the plant before temperatures dip and frosts make their appearance. Moisten the root ball and pack it with shredded newspaper, then wrap with several whole sections of newspaper. Slip the root ball into a plastic bag, tie the bag at one end, poke a few holes in it and store the plant in the garage/shed or in the house. If your garage/shed gets colder than 32 degrees, you might also want to wrap the root ball in a few layers of plastic bubble wrap. In a few weeks, the foliage and trunk or stem will turn brown, and the plant will look dead, but don’t panic. Just wait until late spring or early summer next year, remove the bag and paper from the root ball and replant the plant in a sunny spot. With any luck, you’ll either get the same plant to grow back or a new plant or both. They bloom after growing around 45 leaves. We recommend adding a little seaweed mulch or a fertiliser with seaweed content to feed your Banana plants.

We have used this method with all of our Banana plant varieties and works well even with the more tender Ensette’s such as Tandara Red and the Dwarf Cavendish varieties.