Bananas in northern california?
 

Hi, I'm at 94930 US (9b hardiness) and was thinking of trying a banana plant outside. I was wondering what edible varieties might be recommended? As another weather data point: I also have a 'little cado' avocado plant that I have had for a couple of winters with no cold damage and in theory that is only supposed to have average tolerance to 28F. (Which is about as low as it gets, though it can have unusual years and get a little colder)

I guess in theory I could do something in containers, I have a large sunny deck - and move inside on frost nights. But it would need to fit in the house and I would like to try and get fruit. Not sure if that works in containers?

Goldfinger and Rajapuri seemed like they might work? I've only done limited research though so wanted to ask you all if it would even be worth trying.

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

oh sure you can, if I can do it, you can! try shorter varieties like CA Gold, dwarf cavendish is always a good one for pots dwarf orinoco is good too!

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

I would definitely give a Namwah type a shot. I've also seen Orinoco in fruit here in Santa Clara.

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

Try Dwarf Namwah. Really tough plant that handles cool temperatures well, nice fruit, and not super tall.

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

In in Sunset zone 14, USDA hardiness zone 9b, and grow lots of bananas outdoors. They all look pretty bad right now but will be growing again in a couple of months. I still need to pick some bunches that are hanging, just haven't got around to it. Many of mine are unknown varieties, maybe tall Namwah and Dwarf Orinoco, mostly. One was supposed to be Rajapuri but was mislabeled. I'm at zip 95641 (closer to 94571, actually), about 22 miles east of Fairfield. I don't give my plants any protection, that got to be too much work many years ago.

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

Sunfish posted a while back

Joe Real's Cold Hardy List, from most hardy to least:

California Gold
Thousand Fingers
Monkey Fingers
Orinoco
Brazilian
Golden Rhinohorn
Dwarf Orinoco
Dwarf Brazilian
Misi Luki
Mysore
Namwah
Raja Puri
Manzano
Ice Cream
Gold Finger
Dwarf Namwah
Sweetheart (FHIA 3)
Namwah Pearl
Praying Hands
Saba
Cardaba
Williams
Belle
Valery
__________________
Tony,Thanks

Re: Bananas in northern california?
 

Don't take this list as the gospel. Some of it doesn't stand to reason. And certainly it wasn't from a controlled experiment -- just plants in a yard -- some of which might have been misidentified.