Looks like our first frost is coming next week...

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 11:21 am

Well I think banana season is about over here at my place. They are forecasting low 30s next Wednesday night (10/19-10/20). And some more mid 30s following that. Being that I won't have the time mid-week, I'm undertaking the sad and depressing project of digging up all the bananas. I only have a few that are big enough to cut back for winter dormancy in the basement. Man is that hard to cut them up! Something I've fed and enjoyed all summer, watching them grow to 10 feet tall, now all cut up into a pile of mulch. And as usual I'll have about a dozen pots of wintering bananas ranging in size from 3' to 7' in the home and at work. Every year it seems they multiply more and more no matter how many pups I give away.

I suppose I'll have to pick all the remaining tomatoes and peppers, ripe or not, on Wednesday afternoon too. No sense in covering stuff this late in the season to prolong the inevitable. The first half of October was awesome though. It was nicer than June was. 70s and 80s, even a couple 90s here at my place.

And the palms... The potted palms will probably come into the 3-season porch on Wednesday (except for the trachies). The inground trachies are doing great and I think I have about a month before worrying about getting them covered. I like them to see some overnight lows in the 20s to build character and I usually cover them when the forecast shows a string of days that the highs won't get above freezing. They are still growing at a good rate. Both inground trachies put on 6-8 inches of trunk this season.

As for my large yucca thompsoniana- I posted an update in the yucca forum. Tim, are you out there? I sent you a PM with some questions...

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:30 am

I leave out the ones I will store in the basement,
their leaves are being removed anyway.

Only the ones going inside are dug up.

I really look forward to the season with just
the palms and cactus out there........
It means most of the work is done and I can enjoy the
cold hardy palms and cactus by themselves for a while
before it gets cold-without all the clutter.

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:41 pm

hardyjim wrote:

I really look forward to the season with just
the palms and cactus out there........
It means most of the work is done and I can enjoy the
cold hardy palms and cactus by themselves for a while
before it gets cold-without all the clutter.

Good point Jim. There's just something pleasing about being out there raking leaves while having nice green palms in the background. About 50% of our leaves are down now so there is a lot more sun in the yard. The bananas were loving it before being dug up yesterday...

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 3:25 pm

Yea,thats the other thing...I would imagine that my
yard gets the same amount of sun year round.

Once the leaves on the trees are gone the yard gets
full sun,so even though the days are shorter the yard is
bathed in full sun-this really helps the T.ferns get off
to a fast start in spring as they get full morning sun!

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:03 pm

Jim-

I just posted an update to the thread about my yucca thompsoniana. I know that section does not get a lot of action this time of year so I thought I'd mention it here also. I HAVE SEEDS! You are more than welcome to some!!

The specimen it was crossed with was one of Tim's, but at the moment I forgot where I wrote down the exact species of the pollen donor. I'll have to verify it with Tim if I can't find it. I know it was a cold hardy yucca though.

For anyone here on Palms North who is interested, I'd be more than happy to send them seeds as well. And no, I'd never ask for a cent from anyone here for the seeds.

And for those wondering if this yucca is suitable for your climate, I can say it doesn't mind high humidity and is very tolerant to regular rainfall. Mine grows in well-draining soil and 2/3 of the day's sun. It has flourished and grown surprisingly FAST here in MN. It is supposed to be as hardy or more hardy than y. rostrata and obviously grows much faster. It is said to be more tolerant of humid and wet conditions than rostrata. Mine does get some winter protection because it shares a planter with trachies, but it is said to be able to handle temps of -15f.

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:41 pm

Well after returning to town after 4 days away up north it seems I jumped the gun on pulling everything tender. No frost here yet afterall! Tomato and pepper plants are still green as can be even though I pulled all fruit ripe or not last Wednesday ahead of the forecast frost(s). Up north at the cabin all the leaves are down and it has frozen at least a few times (165 miles north of here). But here at home at least 1/2 of the trees are still green!

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:35 am

First official frons/freeze of the season here (my yard) Saturday morning 10/29, 31.4f. This came a couple weeks later than average! The roofs of houses in my neighborhood were actually WHITE!

How low has it been so far this fall in all your yards?

I'm just glad I don't live out east... We had something like it here back on Halloween 1991, 3 feet of snow. The storm lasted a few days!

How are you easterners doing? Tim in MA? I bet it's a real mess.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:36 pm

Tim in MA? I bet it's a real mess.

Yeah, hoping to hear from him...

So far, the coldest here has been a -3C 26F night.
Didn't freeze last night at all, but it's a comin' next week...aaaargh!

Barb

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:28 pm

We got minus 7C this morning (1000 m above sea level), friend of mine has got minus 10 at 1300 m! Many other areas up north off us didn't have so extremely lows yet.

sidpook · Post by **sidpook** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:51 am

We got a first frost last night in NJ...My bananas are cold and dark green and crackly! Waugh!!!!!!!

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:42 am

Coldest air temp here 33F-34F but it has been so dry that no frost has formed-
even on my car-the Bananas and Castor bean plants still look great!