floridagrower

Here is this year's first frost report. Here are some more side by side comparisons of bananas fully exposed and with no protection. Since we sort of ease into the winter like an old man into a warm bath, I feel we can assess leaf damage fairly well. Of coarse this is simply observational. Ordered most green to least...

Basjoo
Darjeeling Giant (young but still obviously hardy)
Brazilian (sold as "lady finger")
Ice Cream (noticeably better than orinoco)
Orinoco (comparable leaf hardiness to several other varieties)
Misi Luki
Praying Hands (fared better than saba)
Cardaba
Saba (a little disappointed it didn't have more green)
Manzano

I have other new ones that were not old enough to rank. Also, see my 2010 report for previous results.

Dean W.

Thanks for posting this...

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FRITO

heres my short list of bananas im growing outdoors in Tallahassee.

comparing leaf hardiness from the hardiest to least

Basjoo - took several degrees of freesing temps
Raja Puri - as reported it take to about 28/29 before it shows any signs
Ice Cream - slightly better than Orinoco
Ornata- a tough little nanner, smaller and more understory but holds it down.
Orinoco - not as tough as I thought

floridagrower

Here is the post winter report. This is following two bad winters, and some of the worst in the area in many years. I'll be testing more next year.

Basjoo - Nearly refoliated by March. No trunk loss. Petioles still intact.
Darjeeling Giant - Wasn't fully tested but I suspect it will hold at least as good as Basjoo, based on the observations.
Brazilian - Some trunk loss. Great leaf hardiness.
Ice Cream - Very little trunk loss. More likely to rot.
Orinoco - Trunk loss. Nearly half. It consistently performs worse than most others. Hardiness is greatly exaggerated in my opinion.
Misi Luki- Moderate trunk loss. More likely to rot.
Praying Hands - Zero trunk loss. STILL fared better than saba.
Cardaba - Nearly refoliated by March. Zero trunk loss. BEST aside from Basjoo and Sikkimensis.
Saba - Cut about 6" off, but nearly no loss. Slower to refoliate than Cardaba or PH.
Manzano - Trunk loss to the ground. Vigorous return with insane number of pups already.

dannyduprey

Thanks for the information, Jeff.
I thought I'd pass along my more limited experience, in Venus (southwest Florida) We had several very cold nights; they killed my (young) citrus trees to the ground.
The African Giant had modest trunk damage, and has put out two new leaves about 5 feet above the ground.
The Thai Black died back almost to the ground. It is struggling to put out a new leaf. It has one new pup that is doing nicely.
The SH 3640 wasn't large to start with. It died to the ground, and now has 3-4 nice little leaves.

Woods

My experience is similar to Jeff's. Orinoco is fine but I had to cut about half the stem. Ice Cream (rot), Namwah (fastest recovery), Raja Puri, Saba all fine. The only one I lost was a Viente Cohol which is billed as cold tolerant was wasn't in Indian Head.
Woods