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I know growing bananas is done up the Mississippi and along the east coast (of the US). But my question is a little different: what is the northernmost anyone has seen banana fruit on these trees. I'm asking because someone in Weaverville, NC (a bit north of Asheville) who has grown bananas for 15 years has fruit on them this year. I don't know if they'll mature, but it's pretty impressive. It hasn't been particularly hot, but has been a record wet year, Jan-July.
Thanks,
Pegleg (the Dallol stats guy)
Pegleg,
No edibles in zone 7.
I have to bring my Cavedish in for the winter, which is a PITA.
I live in zone 8a.
It would die here in the winter.
Unless the person has a giant greenhouse that he overwinters them in.....
Pegleg,
No edibles in zone 7.
I have to bring my Cavedish in for the winter, which is a PITA.
I live in zone 8a.
It would die here in the winter.
Unless the person has a giant greenhouse that he overwinters them in.....
Nope. They are growing outside in north of Asheville, a zone 5B, I think. They probably die back to the ground in winter, as the others here do.
I know growing bananas is done up the Mississippi and along the east coast (of the US). But my question is a little different: what is the northernmost anyone has seen banana fruit on these trees. I'm asking because someone in Weaverville, NC (a bit north of Asheville) who has grown bananas for 15 years has fruit on them this year. I don't know if they'll mature, but it's pretty impressive. It hasn't been particularly hot, but has been a record wet year, Jan-July.
Thanks,
Pegleg (the Dallol stats guy)
I have seen Banana fruit growing fairly healthily on trees as far north as, no joke, Cairo, Illinois. It is very moist and steamy there for much of the year, though, so I guess that's not a surprise.
North Carolina, the entire state, grows Bananas much more consistently though. Tennessee had a Chinese family that owned a Banana plantation for a while back in the 70's, but I forgot exactly where.
The U.S. is pretty much identical to China in its climate, except the U.S. Has a greater variety, and is warmer on average. The Provinces that typically grow Bananas in China are Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, and Hainan. Guangdong equates roughly to Central and Northern Florida and Southern Georgia, Guangxi equates roughly to Louisiana, the Gulf Coastal region, and Southern Arkansas, Fujian is a lot similar to Central and coastal Georgia and South Carolina, Yunnan equates to Texas, the Gulf, and parts of Florida, and Hainan is very similar to Florida and Hawaii. Resultantly, the places that have Banana plantations in the U.S. Or bananas growing more consistently in the wild even are the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, California and the Southwest, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina, and Texas. They also have a fair few growing in the wild in Southern Virginia and Kentucky, too.
It's like Lychee. In China, Lychee is grown more commonly in Fujian and Guangdong province, whereas in the U.S., Lychee is grown commonly in Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California and the Southwest, Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Identical climate, really.
I bought a Musa Basjoo (cold hardiest of the bananas) this spring and now it's about 7' tall. I've looked online and it sounds like in my climate (Denver), I could chop it down and mulch it really well for it to come back next year, but it would start from the ground an not get as tall as it is now next year. I've seen instructions that tell you to slow down the watering as it gets cooler, then let it get frosted on. Then chop off all but one leaf, dig up the stalk and let it dry a git in the garage. Then get most of the dirt off the roots and just plop the root ball in a pot and overwinter it in the basement, maybe spraying the root ball with water every now and then. I guess I'm going to try this because it's really just too big to keep it growing all winter in my laundry room (only sunny space I have to keep it).
on overwintering Musa Basjoo bananas, I think I'm just going to leave mine in the ground this winter. It sounds like with this cold-hardiest of the bananas, all you have to do is cut it down to about 1 or 2 feet after frost kills the leaves and mulch it well. I'm going to get one of those rose bush covers to put over the stump with with dead leaves around it, then get some pine needle mulch to cover around that, and see what happens. It sounds like if you leave it in the ground, it'll grow even faster the next year.
Musa Basjoo(Spelling?) or the Japanese Fiber Bananas are also sporadically planted in the Indianapolis area and are hardy(at least the root system is hardy here), and I figure that since that type of Banana can grow in Denver, Colorado, it should not come as a surprise that they can grow in the Indianapolis area as wellapparently some people in the Indianapolis area just dig them up and grow them as a Summer Plant Decor rather than perform the relatively high maintenance work of mulching and trimming back the plant after the first frost/freeze of the season, although I would be willing to bet that a few gardeners probably do that around hereoh well, it seems as though since Indianapolis is in nearly the same plant hardiness zone as Denver, that the Hardy Japanese Fiber Banana should be able to grow in Indianapolis, as a side note there is a type of Fig that can also grow in the Indianapolis area, true, it may die back to the root most winters, but still I talked to somebody I know who has this fig tree and he told me that it came back strong after this past winter and was loaded with figs, although he was reluctant to say whether it would produce much ripe fruit for consumption since this fig fruits on new growth and produces fruit until the first frost of the fall season. The Fig Cultivar name is 'Chicago Hardy', that is the name of the fig that can be grown in central Indiana.
Musa Basjoo(Spelling?) or the Japanese Fiber Bananas are also sporadically planted in the Indianapolis area and are hardy(at least the root system is hardy here), and I figure that since that type of Banana can grow in Denver, Colorado, it should not come as a surprise that they can grow in the Indianapolis area as wellapparently some people in the Indianapolis area just dig them up and grow them as a Summer Plant Decor rather than perform the relatively high maintenance work of mulching and trimming back the plant after the first frost/freeze of the season, although I would be willing to bet that a few gardeners probably do that around hereoh well, it seems as though since Indianapolis is in nearly the same plant hardiness zone as Denver, that the Hardy Japanese Fiber Banana should be able to grow in Indianapolis, as a side note there is a type of Fig that can also grow in the Indianapolis area, true, it may die back to the root most winters, but still I talked to somebody I know who has this fig tree and he told me that it came back strong after this past winter and was loaded with figs, although he was reluctant to say whether it would produce much ripe fruit for consumption since this fig fruits on new growth and produces fruit until the first frost of the fall season. The Fig Cultivar name is 'Chicago Hardy', that is the name of the fig that can be grown in central Indiana.
From what I read, there are people growing these hardy bananas in colder climates than Denver. And it sounds like they do better if you leave them in the ground and mulch them. If you want some of the stem to remain for next year (meaning you'll have taller bananas), then they mostly need to be kept dry during winter.
I had a fig tree before in California. It thought it was ugly, it attracted these horrible beetles and noisy parrots, it made a mess, lost its leaves in winter, and I don't like figs! I'd never go out of my way for one of those things.
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apparently some people in the Indianapolis area just dig them up and grow them as a Summer Plant Decor rather than perform the relatively high maintenance work of mulching and trimming back the plant after the first frost/freeze of the season, although I would be willing to bet that a few gardeners probably do that around here
oh well, it seems as though since Indianapolis is in nearly the same plant hardiness zone as Denver, that the Hardy Japanese Fiber Banana should be able to grow in Indianapolis, as a side note there is a type of Fig that can also grow in the Indianapolis area, true, it may die back to the root most winters, but still I talked to somebody I know who has this fig tree and he told me that it came back strong after this past winter and was loaded with figs, although he was reluctant to say whether it would produce much ripe fruit for consumption since this fig fruits on new growth and produces fruit until the first frost of the fall season. The Fig Cultivar name is 'Chicago Hardy', that is the name of the fig that can be grown in central Indiana.
