From Joe Real: I have basjoo and California Gold growing in pots and left them outside for the winter about three years ago. Potted plants are more susceptible to cold than when planted inground. Musa Basjoo died to the ground level and never came back while California Gold's stem remained intact and was among the first ones to sprout leaves during the late winter. Non-scientific tests. I bought about 85 known cultivars of bananas, spent around $2000 to collect them all, and when my wife booted me out of the third car garage, I left them all out in the cold winter, still potted. Only 24 plants survived that single non-replicated episode of non-scientific experiment. So without much ado, here's the result of my $2,000.00 worth of information: Here's the listing of cold hardy bananas at their pseudostem during the winter. Arranged from the most reliable producer or cold hardiest to the milder ones, but all should be cold hardy at their pseudostems in most winters in zone 9. WARNING: Your mileage could vary depending on your microclimate arrangement in your yard. ÂCalifornia Gold ÂThousand Fingers ÂMonkey Fingers ÂOrinoco ÂBrazilian ÂGolden Rhinohorn ÂDwarf Orinoco ÂDwarf Brazilian ÂMisi Luki ÂMysore ÂNamwah ÂRajah Puri (best tasting but often chokes) ÂManzano ÂIce Cream ÂGold Finger ÂDwarf Namwah ÂSweetheart (FHIA 3, best tasting cavendish, cold hadiest among the cavendish types) ÂNamwah Pearl ÂPraying Hands ÂSaba ÂCardaba ÂWilliams ÂBelle ÂValery

Okay warning: this may take a while...:) When we moved into our house in February of 2007, we had no banana trees. I was able to get several good size Orinoco corms (for free!) from my uncle who had recently dug them in an area about 50 miles north of here, near Highland Home AL in zone 7b. I planted them in my back yard in what appeared to be pure clay in March and April. I put a soaker hose on them and give them about 15 or 30 minutes of water per day by using an electronic water timer that I got from Wal-mart. I also gave them a little triple 13 fertilizer. And they grew very fast last summer. Some got up to about 13-14ft, and I had thirteen clumps of banana trees going into the winter. Around Thanksgiving, just before our first frost, I thinned each clump back to leave only one pseudostem. And for each psuedostem, I cut it off smooth at about 4 to 5 feet high above the ground. Then I let them go for a few weeks. Even after we started getting frosts, they continued to grow, although more slowly. Then during the coldest three or four weeks of the winter, I put some old blankets and/or sheets around them and covered them with 6mil plastic. According to my weather station we got into the low 20s a few times, and we saw 20.5 degrees at the coldest. I took all the coverings off around the first part of February, but we continued to have frosts unusually late this year...I believe on into the last part of March. We saw several periods when new leaves began to emerge, only to be burned away by cold temps. Anyways, once Spring finally came they really took off. I saw some new pseudostems go from literally nothing to about 13-14ft tall and 4" wide in only about four months. And so after going through all these experiences and doing a lot of research, I now think I have figured out the best way to make them produce bananas (at least for Orinocos)... (1) Overwinter just one psuedostem per established corm. (2) When spring comes cut back a lot of the pups, especially the big ones right up close to the main psuedostem. When there are a lot of pups it seriously decreases the chances that you will get bananas, or at least that you will get a lot of them. As an aside...As far as pups go I have found these big psuedostems to grow faster, but they do not seem to transplant as well as the little pups that grow out a foot or two away from the mother corm. Typically the little pups will have developed their own little corm, and they will have more thin, swordlike leaves. Anyways, I digress...basically just allow for only the overwintered one and one other that will act as a replacement once the main psuedostem fruits. Although the mother corm will not die, the psuedostem always will after it fruits. Also I think it helps to cut the flower bud off once it gets to the point where bananas are no longer being produced. They say this helps the fruit to fill out better. Right now in mid August I have already seen five blooms... The first was in June and produced no bananas. That clump had about ten or fifteen psuedostems on it. I am convinced that is why it made no fruit. The mother corm was devoting all her resources to maintaining them. The second bloom was in the first part of July. I got forty bananas from that one. The third was about three or four weeks ago. I got 30 bananas from that one...And I just clipped off the bloom today because I was worried about damage from the winds (25-30mph) we are experiencing from Tropical Storm Fay. The fourth and fifth bloom are making bananas right now...I already have ten bananas hanging on one of them. I also have 3 or 4 more psuedostems that I expect to bloom within the next four or five weeks. I hope to have edible bananas in about six weeks. Wow that was a LOT. Sorry if it was too much information or if I seemed to talk a lot about stuff you already know. In any case I hope this post answers your questions! And one more thing guys...I am looking for some decent sized corms of the following... - Ice Cream / Blue Java banana - Ladyfingers banana - Grand Nain banana (Okay let's be real: maybe any kind of banana that I do not already have). - Also any kind of clumping bamboo, especially Alphonse Karr If anyone would like to arrange a trade, I am game. I can promise you a big Orinoco corm that I will dig up myself. JP

There is nothing wrong with letting the leaves touch the sides or roof of your greenhouse. I would cut as few leaves as possible. It will help jump start your banana in the spring. I regularly use portable greenhouses to protect in ground plantings of heliconia and this idea works well. I don't know who told you that that you need 7 or more plants in a mat to induce flowering but that is not so. Most serious growers of bananas use mat management practices that remove various sized pups in an attempt to get fruit every summer. Three plants of various heights in a grouping is sufficient. Too many pups limits fruit production on the plant that is mature enough to flower. Dwarf Cavendish are definitely cold sensitive. You might want to check out Raja Puri.This is a short growing banana with great tasting fruit that doesn't usually need protection in Zone 9. Also, check out California Gold, another short growing banana that is even more cold tolerant than Raja Puri. It is believed that CG is a sport of Dwarf Orinoco, probably one of the most cold hardy edible bananas. Steve

Bea, I know people up here who have good luck with Raja Puri, but they grow them in the ground. I read that it is suitable for growing in containers, and bananas.org has a picture on their wiki of it growing in a container with fruit. It gets a little taller than Orinoco, but I believe it has better flavor. http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_%27Rajapuri%27