john2020

I'm a new banana plant owner, don't know much but am eager to watch my plant and learn. I live in Toronto, Ontario, so it can get really cold here during winter months (Zone 5/6).

I was at Lowes a few days ago and saw a plant that I assumed was a Banana plant. They are discounted to $4.00 so I thought it was a great buy and went with it. But has no information whatsoever on it. Can someone please help me identify? And maybe some tips. Can I keep it in a pot all year around, take it out during the warmer months and bring it in during winter? Or should I plant it in the ground and then cut off the trunk when it gets colder end of October to winterize it?

Pictures are attached, thanks in advance!

caliboy1994

It sort of looks like a plantain....

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barney

Whichever it is for its survival you will need to protect it from hard frosts so indoors would be preferable. Bananas can take mild frosts, but will lose all foliage & sometimes the stem. In that case they have to resprout from the base in spring which puts them behind the 8 ball if you know what I mean!
Good luck from Australia.

Hammocked Banana

Looks to me like it could be a grand naine (Cavendish wine spots on leaves, red stem) or some other Cavendish variety. I live about 1.5 hours east north east of you, and you def need to bring it indoors for the winter. Your 2 options are to just keep it in a pot year round, and put it outside for the summer months, or 2 plant it in the ground and dig it up in the fall. It is really amazing how fast they grow in the ground so I like to grow them in pots when they are young, and plant them out in the spring when they are a good size. In the fall I either dig them up and store them dormant at around 5-10C or pot them up and keep them growing over the winter if I planned the whole height thing out well. If u do want to pot them up and keep them growing, do it a few weeks before first frost so they can get some decent roots, which helps keep you from over-watering. There's lot of threads on the org with great info, good luck!

Edit: actually your plant seems to have closed petioles which would mean its not Cavendish...

Abnshrek

From all the young one's I've grown I'd say it looks more like a manzano or red kru..

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bananadan25

Lowe's always has awesome deals on clearance! Makes me want to swing by there this evening before it gets dark! lol!

it looks like that is the pot it came in.. check the tag where the barcode is.. it might say something about the variety

you can also look up the name on the pot... "____Blank____tropicals" (cause alls I can see is the tropical part.. lol ) and see what varieties they offer.. then you can probably tell which one it is

blownz281

Sweet. crappy lowes here on the cost only carries Basjoo,V-reds.

john2020

Thanks Everybody for the great replies!! I followed some suggestions and looked at the barcode and found out it came from Fernlea Nurseries in Florida. I looked up the website and they mention 2 types of banana plants. I'm assuming those are the two they sell.

So the answer is : Musa Grand Nain !!

If you're wondering, the other one the website lists is : Musa Zebrina Rojo . To me my plant looks more like Grand Nain. Thanks again everybody

bananadan25

Glad the advice I offered helped!

That is definitely NOT musa zebrina

Looks like you scored yourself the number one commerical variety of banana!

From my understanding... gran nain is the variety that chiquita bananas are!

SCORE!

now you know.. bananas make great houseplants.. their huge leaves allow them to get sufficient light even in low light conditions.. I'd put that baby in a large pot and keep it indoors this winter.. and then put it out next spring

LilRaverBoi

LOL...well 'blowes' (that's what I call it) here doesn't even carry bananas, so you're still 1up!

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blownz281

Haha I hear ya!

I want to score a Gran Nain for that cheap .

bananadan25

four bucks for a grain nain is super... that even beats some of my best deals there..

I got a 5 gallon goldfinger for 10... lol

john2020

Off topic but I love Lowes !! I've pretty much ended my relationship with Home Depot haha. I also got this GIGANTIC boston fern. Most of the garden stuff is discounted 50% off here.

bananadan25

I adore lowes too.. in comparison home depot's garden center sucks... the lowes here frequently gets palates full of lots of avocado varieties.. mangos, papayas, guava (pink, white and some grafted varieties, all sorts of bananas, white sapote, kiwi, jujubes, elephant ears, guamuchil, All sorts of citrus..all sorts of exotic fruit trees...all at like $20 a piece.. they make it affordable to grow your garden collection and when they're on clearance.. even cheaper.. they get all sorts of awesome stuff at lowes.. home depot doesn't get anything in comparison!! I only go to home depot for their guano and fish fertilizer, supersoil . lol oh.. and citrus tone...

john2020

NEW PICS !! Here's the progress of my gran nain plant if anybody is curious. I didn't see any suitable place to post this other than here. The number of leaves have doubled since I bought it, and the newest leaf is GIGANTIC compared to the others. It hasn't really grown much in height I think. And don't know if you can see in the pics, but the edges all around the leaves are brown. I'm not sure, but I think its because of placing it in direct sunlight. I move the pot outside during the warmer days and it comes back in when the temperatures drop. I also started misting it for humidity. The only other thing I did was move it into a bigger pot with new soil about a month ago. Anyways enjoy the pics!

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