bananas again

Hi all, I was in my local Focu* store yesterday[ No BT, line fault 4 days] when I spotted this, 4ft, high plant all alone, very dry and, reduced, red sticker �£7.50, impossible to resist really. the label doesn't say much about it, no type or anything. It looks a bit sad - it will live in the conservatory for the winter[outside for photo]Was it a good buy, thoughts, any comments welcome.



I go away 10th evening so if I don't reply for a couple of weeks bear with me.

 

looks like a good buy to me

 

Musa Basjoo

Hardy japanese banana

Focus had these on sale earlier in the year

Hardy meaning in the same way as like hostas...all the top growth will die off but it should sprout again from the roots next year (root hardy) or you can go to the trouble of providing some protection to try and get the top growth through the winter....just re-read your post and noticed you said it will go in the conservatory over winter, in which case it should keep its leaves

 

Looks like a good buy to me Hans.
We dont seem to have focus around here, are you sure its basjoo Steve? It seems to have red markings on the leaves, not seen that on basjoo, more like sikkimiensis.
Either way it'll probably grow like the clappers next summer, I see its even got some suckers coming at the bottom.

 

Brilliant, a good purchase, thanks all. Would I be able to remove the suckers and grow 2 more plants, [in the spring]

 

The suckers can be removed, but they do look a bit small for removing, they might have grown a bit more by spring

I tried it with small offsets and they hadn't developed any roots and so popped their clogs

normally once a banana flowers the flowering stem dies off and the offsets are there to take over after

 

Two final questions. What hight can I expect it to grow to and how far towards actual fruit will it get to in a good summer. Thanks.

 

Final height in the wild is about 18 foot (how high is your conservatory )

If you can keep it from dieing back through the winter there is a good chance of fruit next summer, however fruit is hard and inedible (its different to the commercially grown bananas) but the fruits will contain seeds

Like Pete says if its not labelled its not certain of the variety, could possibly be sikkimiensis, what guided me was Focus have been selling large quantities of Basjoo and I haven't seen sikkimiensis for sale there (I visit about once a week) but fruits and height is similar in both species and my own basjoo does have some red colouring albeit on the leaf undersides...also DIY stores have been known to make mistakes on species

 

Up to 18 foot, well, that is a supprise, I will have to move it early spring [and change my name to jack.] It is for show and it looks absolutely great indoors. I will repost in the spring and you fellows can have a final check to see whether it is a Basjoo or sikkimiensis, I don't mind either but part of the fun is knowing.