I don't have frost/cold issues here in San Diego, but my approach would be to leave the bananas on the "tree" as long as possible, period. On "tree" time is good time. On nights where freezing weather was expected (or maybe even high 30's) I would bag the fruit and put a small light bulb inside the bag as a heat source to keep the fruit from freezing, and allow it to stay on the stalk longer. I would prop the stalk so that it would supported and less likely to snap or fold. And I would continue to peel off any rotting or mushy parts of the pseudostem. When all of this becomes untenable, then I would cut them off and let the ripen indoors.

I have a bunch of Mona Lisa (fhia-2) that had their stalk folded after about two month hanging, and I just left them as is, and they are now ripening normally. I had a bunch of Kru which had the pseudostem snapped off in November, only 4 weeks after bloomng had finished, and I cut the banana bunch off and left it laying on the ground (for a photo-op the day after they snapped, and then was too lazy to throw them away) and by Feb 1, they were ripe, and quite acceptable.

So, the moral of my story is, NEVER give up on your bananas. Nurse them along, coddle them, stick with them, and usually you end up with a reward.

Karen...I'm in Central Florida...East side of Orlando and have numerous bananas growing. I don't do anything special as far as piling mulch up around the stem etc. I just let them go. The excess mulch might've been the reason for the mushiness. I cut back on the water, but still fertilize lightly. When the temps drop into the 30's and 40's at night, I get a few crispy leaves, some full and some partial, but I just leave them alone until spring. Frost is the main problem you'll have.

I don't think bananas really quit growing here in Central Florida, since the temps rarely stay below 50 for long. Dwarf Cavendish are fairly cold sensitive, so you might want to try some other varieties. Goldfinger and Ice Cream do well for me and seem to tolerate the cold better than others.

I had a Hua Moa that started to fruit last January and we had a pretty good cold spell shortly after. The fruit bunch was stunted after only about 10 fingers formed, but they did continue to develope.

Basically, I'm saying to just let them go and see what happens. If we do get a hard freeze, you'll have plenty of pups starting up again in the spring...Good luck with them...Z

Considering all the praise on this site about Ice Cream, I'll have to look into that. Wait, I just looked it up, and it says it's a cooking banana with more M. balbisiana than M. acuminata in the hybrid. I thought all the praise I was hearing was because of it's flavor... just in cooking?
The FL Ext service article on bananas that someone referred to sometime earlier in this forum says that chilling injury can occur below 60 degrees to a flowering stalk or to ripening fruit.

Actually, Ice Cream banans can be had either way....but IMHO, it is primarily a "dessert" banana. ANd it is interesting to hear of you people down in Orlando fretting over your bananas! LOL The Cavendish is not very cool tolerant, but I still have an Ice Cream ( about 12 feet of trunk0 still pushing out leaves today...and we've been down to to the mid 30's here on several occasions so far...no freezes yet...but they will come too. More than likely a night in the low 20's, perhaps a couple in the mid to upper 20's range...and the Ice Cream and Orinococs keep on kicking. And I have had bananas on the tree take repeated low 40's...and then brought them inside and they ripened nicely....if they are "plump", then they are ready to be ripened....but a summer ripened, on-the-tree banana , can NEVER be beaten in a taste test.

Hi WI- Good to see you back!!!