Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

In the next few days we are expecting the worst cold snap since 2010 here in Florida. I am posting this in advance so we can take pics to document the effects on our bananas and compare. I hope many will join in for some real life comparisons of different varieties. Please put your before and after pics in the same post (It makes it easier to compare instead of scrolling through dozens of posts) and try to take them from the same place for proper comparison. This should prove useful and sad...

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

I wish I had gotten some before pics. We are already suffering up here. All leaves are dead and I fear stems will not last the night. Ground temp is 52 going into tonight, we lost 3 degrees last night, so hopefully not much worse than that tonight. Tomorrow I'm digging up corms.

Plants are California gold, dwarf Orinoco, Ice cream, Florida and either a dwarf Cavendish or double Mahoi. My super dwarf was already in a pot and moved to the garage where it doesnt drop below 50.

Looking forward to seeing others results. People are freaking out here not knowing what to do with this cold!

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Going to be some sad photos that's for sure.

I added a string of 25 C9 incandescent Christmas lights to each banana grouping and adjusted/tightened up the frost cloth December 30th but it seems like a futile effort at this point when facing five days in a row of 12 hours per day below freezing. I also dug up four little raji puri's and put them in the garage.

I'm expecting my banana patch to look like a giant pot of boiled collard greens by Sunday.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

It is on its way........for sure..

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

21 last night! Still only 31!

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

They have us down to 31 here, now... It sucks. Last time I had bananas on the hurricane ruined them, now my 3640 bunch will freeze. They are nowhere near saving. It's doubtful any will recover enough to flower before next fall, just in time for the next hurricane or to be frozen again.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Overnight low of 23F here and presently 32F at 10 am.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Ouch, any bananas would be toast at those lows.
Crazy winter.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

23° last night and only 36° at 1:30p today.

I think everyone know what 'dead' brown looks like, so I don't need any before pics. Except for a few pups all the plant leaves died since12th of December due to night temps in the low 30s. ... So my question is which plants will come out again when the temp warm back up to the 50s?

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Got down to 43 here last night in SW Florida. Brought all 8 pots inside, they survived the 43 degree weather they were out in for 5 hours before I got them inside.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

right now its 40 degrees, this morning when I got up it was 32. but none of my new green leaves since the last brief freeze have not been bothered by the cold. yet.

my weekly forecast for this area keeps going up and down for highs and lows. here its supposed to start warm up this weekend. good luck

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Well I went ugly early. I cut down all but two of the six. I'm not talking those two in the move anyway so o figured we will see what happens. My dwarf Orinoco corm is huge! I had to muscle it into a 27 gal tote and the tote buckled a bit as I was giving myself a hernia getting it into the garage. My Florida stem was splitting with ice. DO actually looked fair but was turning around the edges and the pups were done. I don't expect or would do well with a few more nights of this.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Hard to say, but probably the most protected corms---and even that depends greatly on the variety's resistance to cold, and the length and degree of the cold snap and the actual damages caused.
Use extra mulches with thick fluffy organic material to insulate and to speed up recovery.
Best of everything, edwmax!

Gone Bananas,
Mark Anthony

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

I hear ya, brah! I've been in New Smyrna for a year and a half, and I'm starting to get really aggravated with all the problems/challenges. It would be so nice to get through 2018 with no more hurricanes.
Good luck with your plants! My 4 month old Namwah looks really brown, and my Orinoco's leaves are so shredded from wind it's hard to tell if they'll make it - the leaves look pretty sad.
Maybe next year we could have an earthquake instead...

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Looking at your weather for yesterday, I'd imagine your leaves are no longer green? I got 25f for your area online.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

yep, no longer green. been 25 degrees for the last 2 nights. one more night to hit.

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

Ouch!
Thats pretty brutal. I have a dwarf Orinoco that barely survived 27f last year. They are wearing frost blankets this year!

Re: Before & after freeze pics Jan 2018. What fared the best?
 

chances we take, I put some frost blankets on a few smaller ones. everything is mulched up fairly well.