Exotic Plant Frost Protection

 


Hi, This summer i dicided to have a change and bought a few exotic
plants and
was wondering how to protect them from frost they are
planted in the garden at
the moment.

The plants include a few species of Banana (African) and a few Olive
Trees, also
i would like to know how to protect my Gunnera Manicata
plant from frost as this
is to large for the house.

I live in the North West in Lancashire if this helps.




--
Reptile1234

 

Reptile1234 wrote:

Hi Reptile??

I put bananas in a cool greenhouse (not less than 0 C) as mine are in
pots - if they're planted out you can either dig and pot them up and do
the same or protect them in the ground.
I think the 2 options are
a) cut leaves off and protect the trunk or

b)cut the trunk down to the ground and just protect the ?corm

Someone will have more idea than me :-)

For Gunnera, when the plant starts to die back, I cut the leaves off and
  cover the crown with them (weighted down with bricks to stop them
blowing away).
I'm in NE England so probably colder than where you are and it's
survived 10 years now.

Good luck,

Jeff

 



Jeff's advice is spot on. I am not certain which particular variety of
Banana you are growing but the two that stand a good chance of survival
outside are Musa basjoo and M.sikkimensis. Apart from protecting with fleece
you can add warming cables (if you are as daft as me).
http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/HardwareOrders/enter.html

As far as Gunnera is concerned I use the leaf method but take them off
occasionally to let the crown have a bit of air. If the crown receives frost
you may end up with the first few leaves disfigured. Slugs can be a problem
as the crown starts to emerge.

BTW Living in Lancashire is of no help:-)