There is also a tropical fruit forum that might get you some good results.

serge94501

Thanks, I'll try there also.

I'm confused, your handle says you're in zone 10 yet you say you're in Ohio??

I'm in zone 7b Raleigh NC, and tonight is our first frost so I have harvested the two clusters of fruit from my 'Orinoco' banana. It took years of growing and digging in the fall to protect the plant in my greenhouse for the winter. The tree eventually got too big for the greenhouse so I drug it outside and planted it right in front of the greenhouse. I believe it took waiting for the plant to become a cluster of stalks to get it big enough to fruit. The fruits are almost full size. I will hang them in the basement until they turn yellow. If that doesn't happen I will fry them while still green.

I have not considered bananas, We are way to far north to grow any variety and expect production. It can be done with a lot of work and probably lots money. My best guess would to choose out the fastest fruiting variety and get it growing around January to February. Start indoors and set outside about April 1 with a cold frame protection. You WILL need a heat source for the soil. Heat the soil to about 70+ F. This in turn will keep the air and leaves warm. When danger of frost is over you can un-protect your plant but you will still need to heat the soil to over 70 F in to June. Warm soil is the most important need of any tropical/subtropical plant. At this point your plant will either produce or not. It is much harder to extend the growing season because we get low quality light with very short days and our plant is to big to cover.

I am growing figs this way. I start my fig tree from cuttings this July. I will grow my fig tree indoors under a 13 watt CFL till February 30. I will transplant the 4-6 ft tree into a 30 gallon container and continue growing till April. I will set the tree out side and allow the root to pass through to the ground. I can expect to produce 100 - 200 figs/tree.

The fig tree below has 72 fig on it I will be producing another 30 figs before it lost its leaves in last night hard freeze.

Steve

Try to find a source that will give you the days-to-ripe numbers. It's easy for me to get 'nanners to bloom but hard to get them to bloom early which would give them enough time to ripen before frost. As far as I know the little Philippine variety 'Viente Cohol' has a short ripening window (there are others).

They are quite easy. Only problem is they take about 12-18 months to flower then another 4-6 to ripen. Most times they end up flowering mid to late summer then there is not enough time to ripen them unless you have a large heated greenhouse. Over wintering them to have the plant is simple. dig pre frost and store in a cool place.

TriangleJohn,
Sorry for the confusion. My zone keeps changing back to 10, and I keep forgetting to change it.
That's exciting to hear about the luck you've had! Sounds like you put in a lot of work.

Poncirusguy,
Thanks for the response! It's always neat to hear of your endeavors. I think what i'm going to do, is what I'm currently doing with my citrus. Buy a dwarf variety, pot it, and move it in and out of the house every spring and fall.

I ended up going with a "Musa truly Tiny banana" from:
http://www.floridahillnursery.com/

From what it seemed like, it can handle being indoors the best, and still produce edible fruit.

mksmth,
Thank you for your insight.