Can bananas be grown successfully in Florida? (Miami, West Palm Beach: house, organic)

[9162]

Just curious, I know Florida has a considerable orange crop, but I was wondering about other tropical fruits like pineapples or bananas. Looking at the price of bananas in grocery stores, they usually average from .39 cents a pound to approximately .69 cents a pound for the organic variety, so assuming bananas could be grown in the U.S. it may not be cost effective, when considering the cost of growing them in Central or South America. But, does the South Florida climate allow for bananas to be grown...

[BNBR]

Yes, absolutely. A banana like you see at Publix, not sure - maybe? But we have Banana palms that give us the little bananas - and we get tons and tons of them. I hate them but my wife and kids love bananas and eat them all the time, make banana bread, etc. etc.

We have the "ice cream banana" type palm trees. Which may explain why my kids love them.

[Fletchman]

Bad freezes in 1983 and 1985 killed much of the central Florida orange crop. Most of it has retreated further south. Not sure about bananas but I suspect most of Florida gets enough 32F lows for it to be a risk in terms of commercial production.

[foundapeanut]

My dad lived in central Fl. He had a banana tree. But he had to baby that sucker and it had to have special kind of lights on it to keep it warm.
He sold the house a couple months before he died and the banana tree became someone else's problem.

So no not without a lot of drama and expense can one have a central america type of banana tree.

[AnnRyan]

I know several people in Miami with Banana trees. Saw one at a walkthrough today.

However, commercial production is minimal, but I think that reflects the relatively high cost of labor as well as the climate.

[ruski]

Those little bananas are delicious too.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by 9162

Just curious, I know Florida has a considerable orange crop, but I was wondering about other tropical fruits like pineapples or bananas. Looking at the price of bananas in grocery stores, they usually average from .39 cents a pound to approximately .69 cents a pound for the organic variety, so assuming bananas could be grown in the U.S. it may not be cost effective, when considering the cost of growing them in Central or South America. But, does the South Florida climate allow for bananas to be grown...

Where are you finding bananas for 39 cents a pound and organic ones for 69 cents? I usually see the regular ones for 59 or 69 cents a pound.

[LifeIsGood01]

Someone near where I live bought a few plots of land and put in a bunch of banana trees, no pun intended. I'm not even that south I'm in Lee County which is parallel to West Palm Beach. He just put them in about 6 months ago, they have grown, but I don't know when they will produce bananas.

[tallrick]

I have grown bananas at every home I lived in. Still enjoy my bananas now. There have been many varieties of bananas and plantains but my favorites have been the mini-plantains (burro) and the Gros Michel banana (Big Mike) which was once a commercial banana but was wiped out by disease and replaced by Cavendish. I also have inedible seeded bananas breeding naturally and all around the yard. Because I am an extreme composter my bananas grow to huge sizes and often outsize those in stores. With the horrible winter weather we have had the last two years my bananas are growing well year round.

[karstic]

I knew Cubans ***MOD CUT*** that had large farms gowing plaintains and manzano -small, sweet banana- and tropical produce in the Homestead area. That was a long time ago.