banananana

I have what I think is a dwarf Cavendish, bought at a garden centre with the label 'Bananarama'. It has some reddish marks on the leaves, and makes lots of pups. But it doesn't grow much! I keep it in a spare bedroom in winter under an east facing window at around 16-20C (61-68F). In summer it goes in the greenhouse.

All I get is stunted leaves and a gradually taller base with a thickish stem. It just doesn't seem to like our climate! My Musa Williams Hybrid does very well, I grew it from a tiny tissue cultured plug and it's grown quite big in 2 years. It continues to grow inside over winter and now has a very thick stem. I have read that bananas stop growing below a certain temperature, that being 56F I think. I wonder if M cavendish requires higher temperatures.

In the UK we don't have a long season, and summers are generally cool, the maximum average for the hottest month being 21C only although this year was an exception. It can be very cold up until June, even then it can still be cold! I understand that many places in America have very high temperatures with a longer season even if they do experience lower winter temperatures, with being a large land mass. The UK is surrounded by water and this keeps the temperatures more moderate (translated to cold, cold, and cold).