Ericcc
02-24-2019, 08:46 AM
I've read a little information about Musa velutina that suggested it might not be very hard to grow in-ground and to fruit here in my North Carolina zone 7b.
And I've also read that the pulp might actually be decent to eat apart from the seeds. So I'm wondering if there are actually bananas (Musa velutina or others) that I could grow in-ground with very simple winter protection (or none at all) that would also mature fruit fairly reliably in my location. Could I run Musa velutina bananas (or other sufficiently cold hardy bananas if there are any others) through a food mill to remove the seeds and have banana pulp I could use? Are my hopes for Musa velutina reasonable? Are there any other species I could similarly grow for fruit? If you were willing to make huge sacrifices in fruit quality (even to the point where a lot of people wouldn't even call the bananas edible any more) for the sake of ease of growing in zone 7b, what could you grow specifically for fruit?
And I've also read that the pulp might actually be decent to eat apart from the seeds. So I'm wondering if there are actually bananas (Musa velutina or others) that I could grow in-ground with very simple winter protection (or none at all) that would also mature fruit fairly reliably in my location. Could I run Musa velutina bananas (or other sufficiently cold hardy bananas if there are any others) through a food mill to remove the seeds and have banana pulp I could use? Are my hopes for Musa velutina reasonable? Are there any other species I could similarly grow for fruit? If you were willing to make huge sacrifices in fruit quality (even to the point where a lot of people wouldn't even call the bananas edible any more) for the sake of ease of growing in zone 7b, what could you grow specifically for fruit?