Tiny Tim

Hi. I'm Tiny Tim and I'm new to the banana growing world. I live in central South Carolina and would like to grow banana trees but I'm pretty much clueless. We have one tree right now and I want to start out right. All info is appreciated. Should I have 2 trees to allow cross pollination? I want to know the correct soil mix and proper watering. Oh, and what do I do in the winter? I know, lots of questions. As I said before, all help is appreciated.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone.

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Tiny Tim
aka Cigar Dude

www.tinytimblog.blogspot.com

caliboy1994

You don't need two plants, only one. Edible bananas are sterile and will ALWAYS produce fruit. Although you live in zone 8, so it will be unlikely you'll ever get edible fruit. Your plants will probably die back each year and come back from the roots and never reach fruiting height. Do you know what variety you're growing?

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Abnshrek

Hello, Welcome, and Happy Growing :^)

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Illia

Welcome! If you do in fact live in zone 8 it is true, you won't get any fruit unless you protect or move your bananas in the winter. Bananas may tolerate light frost but the plant, root not included, will not live through what zone 8 temps may vary to (20's) If you want fruit, best to have patience and overwinter them. Overwintering them means it will be more than a year til you get fruit but it is worth it. There's a section on the forums here that helps you with your most preferred method of overwintering and shows you how they can be done. Plus, YouTube has some good videos on overwintering. Most are on the inedible Basjoo species, but they still give you a good idea.

Tiny Tim

I'm checking on the type plant we have. We're pretty much clueless about banana plants. That's why I'm here!

When I find out which one we have maybe you guys and gals can give me some advice.

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

__________________
Tiny Tim
aka Cigar Dude

www.tinytimblog.blogspot.com

Illia

If it is an actual edible/dessert type, and you're not sure right now, it may take til the time it fruits to figure it out. There are a few signs when young though, such as if it has red blotches on the leaves, or if it has a slight blue haze to it with a red outline, and as it matures, there's other signs such as how tall does it get. Either way, for a dessert type, the best protection for it is either digging it out and moving it to a frost-free cool dry area over winter or mulching it and protecting the p-stem with things like blankets, insulation wrapping, leaves, etc. Some people just chop that down and protect the ground though, however that method will not allow fruiting to happen anytime soon.