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Friday, April 30, 2010

Banana Butchery (Musa basjoo)

Unfortunately there was no way my Musa basjoo would fit in the car untouched.  I removed it from it's old pot.  The root ball was actually relatively small but the large pot gives the plant stability in the wind.  It's huge leaves act like giant sails.  Those are James' mom's geese.  :)
 I removed most of the dirt and cut off the extra roots.  I wrapped the root ball with some old newspaper and made sure it was slightly/moderately moist.  Then I double garbage bagged it.  The roots will just sit in the bag, relatively open to the air during the drive.  Mould hopefully won't be a problem but I'll make sure to check.

Well it was still to tall and didn't fit in the car.  So I got out the knife and chopped the top off.  As the tip bled in front of me I could hear the painful screams of thousands of souls.  That may be a little dramatic but cutting off the top of one of my more prized plants was a bit difficult.  Cutting them down is very common for shipping and many times they are cut down just above the roots.  It couldn't go sideways or at and angle because it might get bruised and there is still a lot more to place in the car!

5 comments:

  1. Ohhhh Jeezzz, that must have been really difficult. I would have felt the same way. Hopefully it will rebound really quickly in your new place.

    Have a safe trip!

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  2. Oh man...hard to do...but for the best. Goodness.

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  3. Don't worry, I'm sure it will return in no time! Have a safe trip.

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  4. @Thomas It should rebound quickly. It's been one day and the remaining part of the new leaf that was in the stem has pushed out about 2cm.

    @Julie Difficult but I got to bring it, so definitely worth it!

    @Phllip As long as I don't have any mould problems it should just jump on back. We alternate driving so we don't get too tired.

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  5. Wow, this is quite an operation!

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