I am assuming zone 9b for long term? Although, I have seen a video of someone growing a banana plant unprotected and never chopped down in zone 8b, he left the dead fronds on for frost protection and got about 1 - 4 frosts a winter. It was a video on YouTube, if I ever find it I will post it. But what do you think? 

A hard freeze will knock them back to the ground, but they'll come back fast. I'm not sure what it would take to actually kill them... I know they're as far north as St. Simmons Is., GA. 

7 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

A hard freeze will knock them back to the ground, but they'll come back fast. I'm not sure what it would take to actually kill them... I know they're as far north as St. Simmons Is., GA. 

That being said, I am going to stick with warmer areas of 9a being their limit, I just recalled on Hilton Head Island, S.C. There was a massive clump  of Banana plants, the island is mainly 9a, and the things did not at all loot like they were protected, or maintained. A few had huge 20 foot trunks. 

This last year our local zone 8a had a close to 10a winter and most bananas kept several feet of stalk.  My bananas always come back and they have seen 15 degrees before.

I live in 9B and am growing edible bananas. Mine are close to the house, (unprotected) but I never lost a single leaf last year, and it looks to be very close to flowering

It depends very much on what type of banana you're talking about as some are hardier than others. Musa basjoo survives in many areas of the UK without any protection and these areas see many frosts and would probably be something like an 8b climate.

Bananas grow here no problem. The leaves will get wacked with frost, but the main stem will continue to grow once it warms up. If you cut the main stem out, you're cutting the flower out & it will never produce fruit. I grow Ice cream bananas here & they are excellent.

ye can protect more of stem by wrapping with news papers or simular really protect 10 foot of stem if ye are willing to put the effort in.  I used to dig up the stems and drag into a shed or gren house here in Jax and replant in may --- this was during thev brutal 1980s winters when we regularly saw the teens and many frosts--- now I have a big grove of em

 

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2016‎ ‎8‎:‎03‎:‎33‎, PalmTreeDude said:

I am assuming zone 9b for long term? Although, I have seen a video of someone growing a banana plant unprotected and never chopped down in zone 8b, he left the dead fronds on for frost protection and got about 1 - 4 frosts a winter. It was a video on YouTube, if I ever find it I will post it. But what do you think? 

Wow, that's very few frosts for an 8B Climate!  When I lived in an 8B Climate, we had about 15 to 17 freezes, with about 8 of those hard freezes each winter!  I now live in a 10A Climate and typically have about 1 to 3 frosts each winter.

Find yourself some Musa basjoo  ...  They're tough as old boots and are root hardy to zone 8a with some mulch there. Some folks have been growing them in much colder areas with heavier protection methods.

Cheers, Barrie.

17 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Find yourself some Musa basjoo  ...  They're tough as old boots and are root hardy to zone 8a with some mulch there. Some folks have been growing them in much colder areas with heavier protection methods.

Cheers, Barrie.

I'll see these bananas almost grown too much in some areas of zone 7b. 

It depends on the banana specie. Just like with palms, some bananas are more cold hardy than others.

The most cold hardy wild banana specie is Musa Basjoo. Musa Basjoo is rhizome hardy even in USDA 7.

Out of edible types, the most cold hardy are the ones with ABB genetics. Most cold hardy edible cultivar is Musa Orinoco ( rhizome hardy in USDA 7B ).

Some banana species and cultivars are very cold sensitive and can not survive even in USDA 10. Soo, it depends on the specie and cultivar. They are not all the same.

Edited September 24, 20169 yr by Cikas

On September 14, 2016 at 9:26:25 PM, RedRabbit said:

A hard freeze will knock them back to the ground, but they'll come back fast. I'm not sure what it would take to actually kill them... I know they're as far north as St. Simmons Is., GA. 

I had a cluster of bananas in Northern California in a sunset zone 14. They were completely unprotected and they were out in the open in the coldest part of my yard.  We were hit with a terrible freeze, which absolutely got down to the 20s on more than one night and caused great damage to many of my tropical plants. My bananas, of course, lost their foliage, but their stalks survived in their entirety. Technically, our home was in a zone 9B climate, but for that winter, my front yard was definitely zone 9A.

On 9/23/2016 at 9:48 PM, PalmTreeDude said:

I'll see these bananas almost grown too much in some areas of zone 7b. 

same

can a 9b or 9a banana grow in 7b or 8a with just mulch and come back in the spring like a perennial

 

5 minutes ago, climate change virginia said:

can a 9b or 9a banana grow in 7b or 8a with just mulch and come back in the spring like a perennial

 Possible, but highly dependent on whether or not the corm of  X species or variety/cultivar can survive freezing/near freezing temps..  Posts from Cikas and Josh76 outline this pretty well.

Orinoco sets fruit almost every year in Houston and New Orleans even when heavily neglected but would be more of a gamble in Conroe or Baton Rouge.  I'd say warm 9a to low 9b for reliable fruit set most years. Conroe and Baton Rouge don't have any big queen palms either, so maybe that could be a good proxy? Abundant queen palms = very good chances of fruiting bananas?

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Xenon

 

1 hour ago, climate change virginia said:

can a 9b or 9a banana grow in 7b or 8a with just mulch and come back in the spring like a perennial

I've had blue java and dwarf cavendish survive 8F with mulching, and an unknown species in which the trunks survived 13F. Wet ground is a bigger threat than air temp.

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by amh

12 hours ago, amh said:

Wet ground is a bigger threat than air temp.

would a tarp help?

7 hours ago, climate change virginia said:

would a tarp help?

Tarps are great, but they can hold the in moisture causing rot. I would primarily use mulch and use a tarp when temperatures get below 25F.

2 hours ago, amh said:

Tarps are great, but they can hold the in moisture causing rot. I would primarily use mulch and use a tarp when temperatures get below 25F.

thank you for the clarification

We thought awful strong about possibly growing dwarf cavendish bananas here, but it might not be worth our time. We thought about this to possibly cut back on expenses, but it would take 4 years to flower anyway.

I panted 2 near the house last spring.  Each was only about a foot tall.  Over the summer they grew to like 10+ feet.  Leaves died quickly after first frost but trunk is still green.  Hope they respond in spring with no issue.  Charlotte, N.C. zone 7b-8aish