Banana success in zone 8a

Sorry to hear some are still looking bleak. Hopefully next winter won't be so freakish. Did the almanac call for such a crazy winter this last year?

Gran Nain is a Chiquita Banana and I think those are full on tropicals. I could be wrong but I know they take about 18 to fruit.

My dwarf cavs just put up some tiny pups. I peeled and peeled the main trunks with no sign of life so I was surprised to see the new babies. Now if Viente Cohol would only do the same.

I hope my DC's come back, I'll be upset if they don't. This was the first year I left them out - I feel bad I didn't at least dig one of the pups up.

Core, I've given up on getting any fruit here. I had one DC bloom last May and by November when the first frosts finally came, still nothing doing on it being ripe. So I'm just focusing on ornamental's from now on.

Here's an updated picture of the mystery banana.

And another of the whole plant. It's about 16" tall now.

Hope your Viente Cohol comes back to life. I'm interested in that one but if it takes forever to come back or doesn't come back then it's not a whole lot of use to me.

Another update, as of May 5th. Trying to keep this updated through Spring. I was so thrilled to see both the Ice Cream and Saba put up new pups.

2010 Bananas
Zebrina Rojo (Blood Bananas)
Gran Nain
Itinerans

Growing quickly with lots of leaves
Basjoo
Abyssinian
Veluntina

Showing good, but slow, growth
'Ice Cream' (Blue Java)
Saba

Showing some signs of life
Orinoco
Dwarf Orinoco

So far, no signs of growth
Bordelon
'Praying Hands'

No signs of growth and not looking good
Dwarf Namwah
Pisang Ceylon

Expected to be dead
Dwarf Cavendish
Hawaiian 'Apple' / Mainland 'Brazilian'

Confirmed dead
Siam Ruby

Factoid from 9a, Dwarf Cavendish is growing down here. This thread is very useful to anyone trying to grow bananas in the Carolinas, we should keep it going for a while.

Looks like the winners so far are
Basjoo
Abyssinian
Veluntina

On the coast you can get a way with a few more but those are the solids ones after a cold winter.

At this point, I'm fairly certain my "mystery banana" is not the siam, but a basjoo (a couple of my others have that purplish/red stripe down the center, and the mystery banana's stripe hasn't extended out to the rest of the leaf). So I'm with Keoni in that I beleive my siams are goners as well.

My other (returning) basjoos are slowly but surely putting out new growth. I also picked up some "testers" (basjoos) for the full sun in my yard along my fence. I've been afraid to put them out there in the past b/c it's so hot in the summer sun that I was afraid they would fry. So far, the ones I put out there are doing well and growing great. I have a few zebrinas that I'd like to put out there as well to try them in full sun. Does anyone else w/Zebrina have them in really full sun spots w/success? This area in my yard gets full day sun from about 8:00 am until sunset.

I am colorblind so I might have been seeing things, but my basjoo had either a very dark red or dark green stripe this year when they first came out... never had seen that before; not that vividly anyway. Very interesting how fast they came back too, I suspect it was all the water in the ground at the time.

A few of mine were the same way, which is what led me to think it *might* have been a siam ruby (that perhaps that dark red/purple line down the center would filter throughout the rest of the leaves as they grew. Alas, it did not, but several of them are still sporting the red/purple line down the center. Interesting!

cant seem to find any bananas this year except siam. bought one but only because lost basjoo to freak snow had it for 3 years then snow killed it

snow in south carolina. weird weather we having.

anyone seen any at home depot?

Do you have a farmers market near you by chance? I saw lots of bananas at the one we have in Raleigh, and ironically, they were mostly coming from growers in SC. I've also seen a lot of them at Lowes (of course, I bought them all up). :-)

our farmers market is very small and not big like the one 2 hours away. lowes here had the siam ones which wont last here. I didnt even see anything besides them at our lowes.

guess will have to look around and see if cant find a different source.

Another update, as of May 20th. Will updated twice a monthly through June. I was also wrong about the Orinoco's in the above threads. No signs of growth in any of them. This winter appears to have knocked out nearly all my smaller bananas.

2010 Bananas
Zebrina Rojo (Blood Bananas)
Gran Nain
Itinerans

Growing quickly with lots of leaves
Basjoo
Abyssinian
Veluntina
'Ice Cream' (Blue Java)

Showing good, but slow, growth
Saba

Showing some signs of life
N/A

So far, no signs of growth
Orinoco
Dwarf Orinoco

No signs of growth and not looking good
Bordelon
'Praying Hands'

Expected to be dead
Dwarf Namwah
Pisang Ceylon

Confirmed dead (unless a miracle occurs)
Siam Ruby
Dwarf Cavendish
Hawaiian 'Apple' / Mainland 'Brazilian'

My Viente Cohol is a goner. I think I overprotected it by piling bales of pine straw around it. Still want to try this one again, hope I can find it someplace.

Ohhh. I was hoping that one would work out.

Here is my banana trees here in zone 6 - 7

I know it's late in the season for planting bananas, but my local Ace hardware has 5 varieties advertised as cold hardy for our area. Among the "cold hardy" were dwarf orinoco and dwarf cavendish, which I didn't buy based upon info in this thread. I did buy several Chinese yellow bananas ( Musella lasiocarpa) and Japanese fiber bananas (Musa basjoo). I used to visit Longwood gdns outside Philla, where they grew a musa basjoo in a conservatory that produced an exotic looking flower(?) that I photographed every visit. The chinese yellow banana also produces a beautiful flower. Just wondering if these will bloom planted outside here in zone 8a.

This message was edited Jun 28, 2010 9:43 AM

I am pretty sure my friend in Florence, SC has those and says they bloom there. I'll check on that and get back to you.

I imagine I lost a lot of my bananas this past winter due to the extreme temps we had - it was a pretty cold winter compared to the last few years before it. In any other year, a lot more of them might have survived. But for the most part I'm sticking to the hardy types from now on, it's not worth risking it every winter IMHO.

will my super dwarf cavendish be ok in the ground over winter?

I agree that it's best to stick with proven cold hardy bananas in our zone. I do wish I had protected my red abyssinian last year. I thought it was returning last April, but I think I may have killed it with a bleach and insecticide wash I applied several times. I'm still winging it. I only had 2 of 7 bananas survive last winter (and my voodoo "remedies"), and I have no idea what cultivar they are. I had forgotten how stunning my abyssinian was last summer. It's the only out of zone banana I will try again, especially since yours survived.

Oh wow, that's a gorgeous plant! I wish mine would get that big - maybe in the future and when it's no so dang hot out.

X, I'd be careful with the DC's... though you're a bit warmer than we are. You might get lucky, but I lost ALL of mine.

ok whats the best bananas for here ? do they have to be in the ground? and dont they die after bananas form? so how you get new ones? saw this red one at lowes last week and was thinking about it.

I kept my red ab very well watered throughout summer, which is vital for optimum growth. I've heard that during this intense heat, gardens need 2" of rain each week. I live in a swath of rural Sumter County that usually misses pop up thunderstorms - incredibly frustrating! I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to autumn. Keep cool and keep yourself and your bananas well hydrated. And thanks for all the detailed info you've provided in this thread.

Thanks to donnacreation, just remembered to post a final update on how the bananas fared this past winter. Ultimately the verdict was that it was NOT a good winter to experiment with bananas. I have a lot of holes in the yard this year in my beds due to lost nanners. It's been so dry lately that many of the bananas haven't growth like I would like. Particularly my Ice Cream (which all died except one next to the house) and Saba continue to be slow growers. The Basjoo and Abyssinian are the real troopers - even without any winter protection they've all grown strong this year and many of the Basjoo are blooming again. The Veluntina also continue to impress me despite their small size - they too are blooming. Luckily I was able to get another Hawaiian 'Apple' / Mainland 'Brazilian' banana from Kauai last year and I definitely will bring it in and protect it this year; I was really sad I lost the original one.

2010 Bananas
Zebrina Rojo (Blood Bananas) [expect to loose these]
Gran Nain [expecting to loose these]
Itinerans [hoping this one survives]
'Praying Hands' [trying one last time with these]

Growing with lots of leaves
Basjoo
Abyssinian
Veluntina
'Ice Cream' (Blue Java)
Saba [no where near as large as last year though]

Confirmed dead
Dwarf Namwah
Pisang Ceylon
Siam Ruby
Dwarf Cavendish
Hawaiian 'Apple' / Mainland 'Brazilian'
Bordelon
'Praying Hands'
Orinoco
Dwarf Orinoco