I live in Texas, North Texas to be exact, and I have a pretty large banana tree out next to my pool. The tree was there when I bought the house back in March of '07 but it was dead, or at least it looked like it was. I cut it down even with the ground and after a few months I did not think it was going to come back. I was glad to see that it did but it was around June before it did. What I want to know is do I need to go a head and cut it down before the first freeze or do I need to wait till it dies back? I just want to make sure that I do things right so that it will come back up again next year and hopefully not so late.
Pruning Banana Trees
You can cut it down to soil level if you want, but it won't make as big a plant the following year than if you left the stem on it.
Over here in the UK, we tend to wait for the first frost to zap the leaves, bend them down over the stem, and wrap the stem in fleece or straw. If it looks like a mild winter, many of us just leave them alone to fend for themselves. Note this is for hardy bananas like Basjoo and Sikkis. Others, like Ensete and most musas, we have to protect by bringing them inside and hibernating them.
I would dig it up and put in a cool dry place, like under the house, if your not on a slab. This way you may even get bananas. I live just east of you and I am hopping mine will ripen in time.
I'm not sure what kind of banana tree this is, it was there when I moved in. When I moved in back the first part of March it had already been zapped by a freeze and was all brown. At that time it was about 6 or 7 feet tall (dead) and right now it is around 16 to 20 feet in height. It did not produce any bananas at all this year so I thought maybe it was because I cut it all the way down. Do you think I should leave it alone till spring and then cut it to about a foot from the soil? I think it is too large to dig up and bring inside.
Guy, your last procedure is pretty much what I do. I probably live only about 20-25 miles from you. I let mine freeze, crumple to the ground, cover with newspaper with mulch on top. About March, I uncover and clean the area to keep out the pill bugs. They tend to be slow in recovering as the soil must be warm. Mine are about 12' tall right now and still producing pups. Same thing for the EE's and canna. I really wouldn't expect it to produce bananas. We are bit too far north. The foliage is enough for me.
LouC
Here's a great page on putting bananas to bed for the winter http://bananas.org/showthread.php?t=310. It's also a good forum on bananas.
It's helpful and interesting.
Barbara
Matter of fact, I think I'll post it as a new thread.
This message was edited Nov 11, 2007 11:19 PM
Very interesting article and dispels all doubts about to store them for winter.
Thank you for the link.
LouC
Cool. Thank all of you for the advice.
Loved the article but what do you do if you have a slab?
Put them in the attached garage.
FDGuy,
If you're just on slab with no garage, you'll have to come up with another solution. Surf that site and see what they say.
Barb that was a great article. Didnt realize people went to such lengths to keep them alive. Im in San Antonio and our winters arent so harsh. I see other people just leave them in the ground and with no protection and they come back year after year. I have only one banana but it's in a pot. I think it will stay out as long as we dont have one of our "blizards" (which alot of u might laugh at). I hope to plant it in the ground by next spring.