Musa basjoo 'Japanese Fiber Banana'

Product Details:

Ships bare rooted. 4 inch pot size

Musa basjoo 'Japanese Fiber Banana'- Our most exciting banana. The basjoo is the worlds cold hardiest banana. It is hardy planted in the ground to -3F and with protective mulching, down to -24F. Have long, slender, bright green leaves. Grows 8 to 9 feet in containers and up to 18 feet in the ground. Its inflorescence is one of the most beautiful of all bananas. Now literally every U.S. state can grow a banana outside in certain microclimates. Prices have been drastically reduced because of numbers we have been able to build up. Leaves and pseudostem will freeze if not protected but underground rhizome survives. Our #1 best seller in bananas.

Banana leaves, pseudostem (trunk) and fruiting stem (raceme) grow from the underground rhizome (or pseudobulb's) top surface and the roots grow from the lower surface of the rhizome. The fleshy stems sheathed with huge broad leaves can grow from 2 to 35 feet in as little as 1 year, depending on variety and growing environment. Each pseudostem produces one flower cluster, which develops fruit, then dies. In addition each parent banana plant during its life cycle, will produce as many as 10 suckers which grow into new plants. New pseudostems then grow from the rhizome.

Bananas grow best in a uniformly warm environment and need 9 to 15 months of frost-free conditions to produce a flower stalk. In the subtropics, fruit ripens in 2-3 months. In cooler climates it may take several weeks longer to ripen. Plant growth stops when temperatures drop to 57°F. Stokes Tropicals' Banana Blend (6-2-12) is the best fertilizer source for these fascinating tropical giants.