Musa genus: drought & heat tolerance.

[Thurksh]

My Musa basjoo is too big for its pot, so next season it's going to the ground, but living in southern Spain, **zone 9a**, with very **hot and dry summers**, I will love to know if there are other species better adapted to my climate: sikkimensis? itinerans?

Thanks!!!

[Fusca]

Thanks for posting this - I was recently wondering the same thing.  Sounds like we have similar summer climates so I'm interested in responses.  A neighbor of mine has some pretty tall bananas (no idea of species) but they look pretty stressed in our recent stretch of 38°-41°C bone-dry temps.  Hopefully someone will chime in with some ideas.

Jon

[dalmatiansoap]

I would definitely go for edible cultivares , Namwah, Brazilians, Orinocos,...,many would do

[Thurksh]

19 minutes ago, dalmatiansoap said:

I would definitely go for edible cultivares , Namwah, Brazilians, Orinocos,...,many would do

Interesting, but these are not so easy to get, not available in nurseries in my area and they don't produce seeds. 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Thurksh
spelling error

[amh]

My personal experience is that bananas can handle the dry heat, but will have stunted growth. An area with some protection from the afternoon sun should be sufficient.

[Merlyn]

I'm sure Basjoo would be fine with a 9a winter, there are a couple of others that would be ok too.  What kind of average and maximum temperatures do you see there?  Here in FL anything over 100F (38C) is extremely rare, though it hit 105F (40.5C) in the backyard on 2 days in May. 

I have Musa Basjoo, "Mekong Giant" aka Musa Xishuangbannaensis, and Bordelon growing here.   Bordelon has been a prolific grower and medium-sized at about 10' tall.  It's supposed to be 9a hardy also, but isn't an edible type.  I just bought Sikkimensis so I don't have any experience with that.

[Thurksh]

1 hour ago, Merlyn2220 said:

I'm sure Basjoo would be fine with a 9a winter, there are a couple of others that would be ok too.  What kind of average and maximum temperatures do you see there?  Here in FL anything over 100F (38C) is extremely rare, though it hit 105F (40.5C) in the backyard on 2 days in May. 

I have Musa Basjoo, "Mekong Giant" aka Musa Xishuangbannaensis, and Bordelon growing here.   Bordelon has been a prolific grower and medium-sized at about 10' tall.  It's supposed to be 9a hardy also, but isn't an edible type.  I just bought Sikkimensis so I don't have any experience with that.

Winter is not the problem. Our summers in Granada are hot and dry, and 110º F are not rare along de summer, sometimes more. 

[climate change virginia]

you could get away with watering them more often

[amh]

I failed to mention that you will want to plant the bananas in deep amended soil, a raised bed is a great option.

[Paradise Found]

On 1/23/2021 at 12:15 PM, amh said:

I failed to mention that you will want to plant the bananas in deep amended soil, a raised bed is a great option.

Yes so true, I wasn't able to grow banana's in my native soil because of lack of organic matter, almost pure sand.  So I put two bags of compost in the hole and they took off, are now 14' tall with two flower buds on them. 

[amh]

1 minute ago, Paradise Found said:

Yes so true, I wasn't able to grow banana's in my native soil because of lack of organic matter, almost pure sand.  So I put two bags of compost in the hole and they took off, are now 14' tall with two flower buds on them. 

Yes, this is more important than people think. Bananas can handle heat are fairly drought hardy, but they need good loose soil rich in organic matter to thrive.