Did I kill my banana plant?
 

Planted it in Nov 2022.
Zone 8b
Was doing great.
The Artic blast hurt it badly.
I cut it back. It is growing but looking bad.
Any help much appreciated.
Thank you

Re: Did I kill my banana plant?
 

no, you haven't killed it but you are very close to killing it and so is winter.

first you shouldn't have cut it till spring. 2nd, you are dangerously close to cutting the top of the corm which will kill the mother itself. but she will still try to put out pups.

what will want to do now is to keep her very warm during the frosts and freezes until this winter is over.

this is one way i have been doing it this year, it withstood a heavy frost and a freeze. but i may have been lucky, covering with a pot and a bucket. but i am in 9b. a garbage can and a light bulb is probably the way to go for you. or something similar. you will want something removable or you can open for the warm days because you can fry it.

Re: Did I kill my banana plant?
 

Adding a small light bulb under the cover helps keep warm. 40-50 watts incandescent (not LED) provides quite a bit of heat. There is also always the possibility that the corm will send up suckers in the spring, even if it doesn't resume growing.