banana tree care

Just got a baby banana from a neighbor....only about 8'' tall right now....any help suggestions...especially winterizing for Atlanta GA

Hi. I have 3 banana trees. Have grown them for about 4 years and give the babies away. I live in Southern Indiana and have been told that right before the frost, dig them up and put them in a garage, basement, etc for the winter and and then after the danger of frost in the spring, plant. Just water. I don't fertize or anything. Easy. Hope this helps. DebK

Hmm,
You let them go totally dormant? Like a Plumeria? I tried the supposedly hardy banana, it did not make it. Now I have only the super dwarf one. It has so many suckers, should I keep them cut off? I might try more bananas if I thought I could overwinter them.

thx
joe

Joe, don't know about the dwarf but yes I let them go completely dormant. I am new at gardening and this is the first thing I learned to grow. I almost forget that I them. Water a little and that's it. DebK

Hello. I am a brand new memeber here, and a very amature gardener. I just took in a banana tree. its abt5ft tallfrom bottom of pot to top of palm. only 2 palms are very green, the stalk looks sturdy & healthy. many dead leaves are attached. There is a 10 inch plant growing beside it.
is there any point in saving the big plant,(& how old do you think 5' tree is?) Ilive in central Mass., does it need to stay indoors, what kind of light ,how much water, repot or not????? what about the little one , imagine it should get its own living space?? is ther any special procedure?
hope you can help. thank you.,
Nicole

I frequently visit southern Indiana and was greatly surprised a couple of years ago to see banana trees at a fruit/vegetable stand. There were in large pots and the lady said she puts them indoors during the winter. Don't know what else she does to them, but they were very healthy and looked good.
Tilly

There's so much information in the web in English... Think how easy it is to you to learn everything, we who don't speak English as our 'real' language have toi translate and think what that means etc.. Be happy that you speak English. I didn't find any good info on some plants in Finnish so I translated info from English and Swedish pages and made the biggest exotic plant page of Finland. :)

I bought bananas this year and was wondering also how to overwinter them here in NC. I decided to just dig them up and put them in the basement and hope for the best. Then I found a bit more info on the web, pictures too. Anyone over-wintered them this way?
http://www.hgtv.com/HGTV/project/0,1158,GALA_project_16198,FF.html

Jean

Like I said, I do it the easy way, dig up and put in basement or garage until Spring. I hav 3 with a baby on the way and GORGEOUS bananas producing. Leaves around banana are redish purple. If I can get my boyfriend to scan a picture I will let you girls know if you would like. Gave 10 trees away. Never had any problem. I really enjoy mine. I live in Indiana and our seasons are so unpredictable. DebK

oK ,my garage is not insulated,water freezes in there,and I don't have a basement.I do have a small cubby hole where I store my cannas but its not large enough for the banana pots(3)Any other suggestions??

Crestedchik, get a large, nice pot and place the banana tree inside!! It would love the hunidity in the bathroom.

You guys may throw things at me, but in New Orleans wehave a problem with bananas being invasive!! It takes a pretty bad freeze, say 25, to kill the above-ground part and even 15 degrees does not kill the underground part!! And where there was one, two or three sprouts start coming up. But the frozen stem is a real pain to cut down and after a while it ferments. Hmmm... banana stem beer?

First question is what " VARIETY " ?
Second question is DO YOU WANT BANANAS ?
I hve read that if u digem up they WILL NOT PRODUCE!
cull the net and yu'll find all kinds of answers.

Babies ( pups ) i'm taking all pups except 1 from Super Dwarf Cavendish & Dwarf orinoco to replace mother plant in case i get nenners. once produced mother dies & pup takes over for the following year.
check out my pics as i'll post as we go thru winter, " right or wrong. http://www.the-locate-corner.com/sdcM.html
i'll follow my gut thru winter.
cavendish will be in hydroponics in home made greenhouse
orinoco outside hve 2 trees

http://www.the-locate-corner.com/sdcM.html

The one banana that I had last year I kept in its pot thru the winter in the bathroom,with my brugs.The 2 others I have now are babies I started from seed,but they are now almost as large as my original plant.Have no I'dea of the varieties,I know the babies we some type of dwarf,the leaves look alot different than the older one .The have red down the middle and on the back side.The other is just plain green.I'm probably going to have to put them in the spare bedroom with the brugs this year.Running out of room!!!Guess I should start looking into lights.....

I recently bought a house in San Francisco. There is a large, mature banana tree in the front yard (over 12 feet tall). I'm writing to see if someone can give me some basics about the banana tree.

The weather where we live is probably 50/50 fog and sunshine. Temperatures never get too high (maybe 80 on a hot day), while we get temps in the low to mid 50's right now at night. It never freezes nor do we get frost.

The leaves in the center of the plant are large, green and healthy. Some of the older leaves on the outside are browning and/or are dead at the edges, and they get a little ripped up from the Pacific Ocean winds. This is a tree that stays out in the elements full time, year round.

I'm seeking advice on pruning, water and general care tips. I read on plantcare.com that one should never prune a banana tree.

Any help you can provide greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This message was edited Tuesday, Sep 4th 1:15 PM

Water - lots. I never have pruned a tree, but see no reason not to cut off a dead leaf right below the blade. They are really troublefree - no pests that I am aware of.

I have two large Japanese Bananas "Musa Basjoo" in the winter here, we cut of all the leaves, then we wrap the trunk in frost fleece, then hessian sacking and then a layer or two of bubble wrap, the whole thing should be no less than 1" thick, but thicker is better, and mulch the base with a 4" layer of what ever is avaliable at the time, the roots are hardy to very low temperatures if mulched, the trunk would burn off in the first hard frost, but wrapped up like that it will survive and grow again from the top next spring, but thats the musa basjoo, a few other like the Ensettes can be taken into a garage or shed and kept the same way, but they dont survive outside, hope this helps someone.

Hi Im new at this. I have a 12+ foot banana tree which Ive provided tender loving care for the last four years. It finally made it's first small batch of bananas this month!! Unfortunatly, it became top heavy and the tree today suddenly bent in half to the ground. I am heart broken over this. Is there any possible way to save this tree? At this time I have put a splint on the tree and propted it back up. Is this wishful thinking? Im desperate for help if any can be provided.

It maybe that the plant is hungry, putting the splint on willl help, but it will have used up a lot of the food to grow the flower and fruit, and weakened it, causeing it to bend as it did, it will need plenty of water too, so feed it well that will help to strengthen it, the plant will die after fruiting anyway, but depending on the species it may grow a new plant from the base of the old one.