Bananas that can take frost that you can eat
 

Hello my friends, here is my first post of the forum.

I think im in zone 9b, i can grow pitanga but not annona.

What do you think are the top frost hardy bananas that you know that you can actualy eat?

I will add here the list of bananas people sugest with some characteristics.

Thank you for sharing your list of top banana plants

Orinoco
Namwah
Brazilian
FHIA3
FHIA18
SH3640

This link provides some really interesting information about banana genetics
https://agroforestry.org/images/pdfs...n-overview.pdf

New School Permaculture: Banana secret cooking

Re: Bananas that can take frost that you can eat
 

Welcome! There are plenty of edible bananas that will do quite well. Just from my experience, Orinoco, Namwah, Brazilian, FHIA3, FHIA18, and SH3640 all handle cold nicely.

You will have to accept that growing in zone 9b conditions means that some years you will have setbacks. The worst case scenario is that the plant dies back to the ground after some particularly cold weather, but it will surely regrow once it warms up again. Because each stalk is so easily and quickly replaced, it is much less stressful to grow bananas in colder climates than it is other cold-sensitive tropical plants.

Re: Bananas that can take frost that you can eat
 

I am already growing dwarf orinoco, its 1 year old and waist size with 1 new pup, i am also trying blue java, raja pouri, dajiao, red dakka and silkimensis.

I can grow pitanga and jabutica but not anonas.

Re: Bananas that can take frost that you can eat
 

May I suggest California Gold.


This variety is said to be a real cold hardy fruit producer. Exceptionally frost hardy compared to other bananas, will produce good fruit, year after year, without any frost protection. The California Gold banana shakes off the cold. It may lose its' leaves after a hard freeze, but then continues to grow when the weather warms in the spring. The leaves lost during the winter don't seem to slow this plant down. California Gold have produced tasty bananas outdoors during the summer after enduring winter low temp in the low 20's! These plants should be able grow fine in USDA zone 7 and above as an outdoor plant. The mature plant is small only 5-6 ft tall. Some of plants have produced fruit in as early as 11 months from a pup. Delicious fruits rival any store bought fruit in quality and flavor.

Regards,
Dell

Re: Bananas that can take frost that you can eat
 

I like this question and the Answer is almost all the banana's can survive a frost except Veinte Cohol and there might be some other's that can't hack the cold of a frost. Frost doesn't do much to most banana's but does make the leaves all turn brown. It's what comes after a frost that turns many trunks to mush (a hard freeze).. but not the corm in the ground. Frost can be combated w/ frost cloth and some cloths pins for dwarf varieties, and the same and a ladder for talls.. lol