Blog: Successful trial with Woolch mulch means no lifting or hardening off of tropical plants
I love tropical, big-leaved plants and bananas are my favourite but can bananas survive outdoors over winter? Carrying them into the greenhouse or conservatory in huge pots is a nuisance. Even worse is digging them out of a bed and potting them up to protect them from the cold.
The other recommended way is to create a chicken wire structure over the plants, packed with bracken or straw to prevent them from frost damage and/or rotting. Here are my experiences of other ways of overwintering banana plants. Obviously, in this country bananas don’t fruit and are grown primarily for their foliage – here are the best varieties to choose.
I decided on a different tack, using two young Musa basjoo plants (Japanese ‘hardy’ banana) as test subjects. Please note, these aren’t really hardy and need help to get through the winter – certainly in northern England.
Can bananas survive outdoors over winter – Woolch trial
After being sent a pack of Grazers’ Woolch to trial, I decided to use it as a thick 10cm mulch over the crowns after the foliage had died back in November. Woolch is a mulch made from raw sheep’s fleece from Cumbria that farmers could not otherwise sell, with added biochar.
Once watered in, the wool naturally felts together so the mulch remained intact despite winter gales. It also protected the plants from excess moisture and frosts, preventing them from rotting, the greatest source of failure.
At the beginning of May, I cleared away the Woolch to reveal the sprouting crowns. For such bulky plants, it’s a massive time-saver and freed up space in the greenhouse. This also cuts out the whole ‘hardening off’ palaver – the plants are grown ‘hard’ so are more resilient to inclement weather. Now by the end of June, the Musa basjoo are putting on significant growth with the recent heat followed by wet weather.
A handy mulch for all-round garden use
It’s a win-win situation – Woolch keeps moisture in the soil in dry weather and deters weeds. Slugs and snails don’t like the texture when first laid. Woolch naturally will break down over time, releasing micro-nutrients into the soil.
To buy a 50-litre container of Woolch, which is dispatched in a recyclable paper compostable bag, visit www.grazers.co.uk.
