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View Full Version : Zone 8 Homegrown Bananas


austinl01
07-20-2008, 08:03 PM
If you could grow just one edible banana in Zone 8a, what would it be? Please consider the mature size since the plant will need to be dug each fall, how well the plant stores bare root, the fruiting cycle of the banana, the number of days it takes the fruit to ripen, etc. Zone 7/8 gardeners, what banana have you had the most success with? Have you gotten edible fruit? I'd like to hear your stories!

Just trying to find the perfect banana for my zone. Maybe it could turn out to be V. cohol? Time will tell.

:goteam:

Taylor
07-20-2008, 09:45 PM
California Gold.... 5 feet, cold hardy...we'll see how the fruit turns out.

Dean W.
07-20-2008, 11:09 PM
I'm in 8b so I would be intrested in the answers.

Richard
07-20-2008, 11:43 PM
Why dig it up when you can grow it in a 40 gallon tub or 28" box?

mskitty38583
07-21-2008, 10:10 AM
Why dig it up when you can grow it in a 40 gallon tub or 28" box?
....and then move it into the house or the gh....

PAJ53
07-21-2008, 06:16 PM
I live in zone 7b of north Texas. Last year dug up a big Orinoco; put it in the green house bare root. It was too tall to fit vertically and I had to lay it on its side. I have deemed the experiment to be a failure because the normal high winds we get here every year it snapped off when it started to bloom in June. It was not worth the effort in to dig up a heavy big one even though I was able to get an early bloom. See the pictures in my galleries I now have one a July bloomer from one that did not freeze all the way through the but it lost about 8 feet off the top and the four foot tall stump that did not die from the freezing is kind of ugly. I am going to try the digging up a Grand Nain, putting it in a 100-gallon pot, and keeping it under grow lights in a heated greenhouse this year and see if I can get an early bloom out of one of those here.

Bananaman88
07-22-2008, 06:46 AM
Philip,

You might try one of the dwarf varieties to make it easier for you to dig and store. I wouldn't want to try to dig and store a normal Orinoco either!