Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

I want to grow a few bananas that will taste good and easy to grow . I live in zone 9 part of central florida. Have plenty of room.

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Orinoco, Cal Gold, Ice Cream. There is a long list of Musa you could grow. You might want to check out http://webebananas.com/ for some ideas and general info.

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Hi,

one friend of me lives in Port Orange near Daytona Beach in USDA zone 9. He also grows Cardaba, Dwarf Brazilian, Ice Cream, Monkey Fingers, Orinoco and Dwarf Orinoco. Also FHIA-01 (Goldfinger) and FHIA-03 (Sweetheart) might be good, somewhat cold tolerant. And also Chini Champa, Dhusre and Rajapuri might thrive in your yard because of their cold tolerance.

With the best
Joachim

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

I live about 30 miles north of Orlando. Most of the 'naners you see around here are Orinoco, and I got several bunches of fruit from mine last winter. On the other hand, frost kills the leaves and fruit on any banana and I lost all of the leaves to the 2 freezes we had in February. All have come back, but I don't have blooms yet, possibly due to the draught, so I'll probably be worrying about frost by the time I have bananas ripening again?
That said, I've planted about 20 new cultivars over the last few months. The smaller ones will be protected by plastic sheets if a frost is expected. In this climate I think almost any edible banana will do fine, but unless it is in a very protected spot it will need a few days protection against the weather.
I'd pick what I wanted based upon size of trees, flavor, size of fruit and general attractiveness of the plants. For instance, Rajapuri has a reputation for hardiness, but also has rather small, extremely tasty bananas, and is about 8 feet tall. Red Iholeni is supposed to be more cold sensitive, but has a lot of red in the plant, grows about 14', and only gets an average rating on flavor. Ice Cream has small fruit, great flavor, grows about 12', is a basic green, and has a reputation for cold hardiness. I've also planted Manzano, the local 'Ladyfinger', Kru, Pitogo, Dwarf Brazilian, 1000 Finger, Misi Luki (I think), various Cavendishes, and a bunch of others. In a frost free winter like we had 2 years ago I would expect all to do fine, but w/ even a few icy days any of them would need protection.

Paul

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Thanks for the info. I bought 4 cavendish (FHIA-17) plants about 1 1/2 monts ago, so far 3 have dies 2 within 2 weeks. Third is now wilting away. Bad way to start. Grew some in KeyWest had no problems. Grew like wild.

Thanks again for info, will try again.
Dabug

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

What are the conditions of the nanners you have that are dying? Did you get them potted, or as bare-root pups? Is the soil soaked or just moist? Shade or full sun? If it's not too far gone, you remaining nanner may be salvageable if we can figure out what conditions are causing it to wilt...

Cheers,
Mike

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

The 4 plants came in soil bundels. They were on my front porch for 2 weeks before planting, like the 2 are still. They are planted in an area I cleared for them. Two get direct sunlight from little past dawn until about 1PM then they are shaded. They are planted in a mixture of peet, potting soil and cow munnor and covered with small wood chip mulch, the soil around here is sandy. I water them every day for the first 3 days then once every 4days. One of the 2 planted died within a week, the other is doing fine. The 2 on the porch, were planted in potting soil and yard soil. 1 died in about 3 weeks the other is slowly dieing. The soil was soaked when planted in pots and gets water when the soil feels dry. Any help is needed.
Dabug

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Whew, thought it would be something hard. First off - stop watering! When you plant the nanner you want to water *once* - then unless it's dry *more* than 2" deep, do not water! The roots are unable to make use of that moisture and/or reach dryer areas to get air and the plant is basically drowning. Nanners are paradoxical plants - they love moisture, but hate soaking. The peat and manure will keep a lot of moisture by the nanner - so even if it seems dry in the surface, it will be moist by their root systems. I have the same problem with my taro - they're containerized and I have to fight to wait at least 3 days to water them. Why? Because even tho the surface may seem dry - a few inches down it's moist enough to wring water out when you squeeze! I've rotted my share of taro (of all things to rot out!) by watering too much. Nanners are tough - remember the feller who dug his up and stored them bone dry over the winter under his house? So - best thing to do now is curtail the water and hope that the rot hasn't become too bad for the banana to recover. Whenever I get a new nanner in, I usually containerize it first - makes it easier to manage - then water it once and then wait for new growth before I water again. When it's got good bunch of new growth, then I'll take it out of the pot - soil and all - and plop it in a hole in the ground and then only water moderately until it's well established. Even established trees can be overwatered. I hope this helps! I've killed my share of water-loving plants with too much love and it's easy to do and a hard thing not to do...

Be well,
Mike

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Ok hope I can save the one in the pot. The one in field is doing good. Its brother died within a week or so. Haven't watered the field plant since it started to rain again. Been a slight drought here until middle of June, now it rains about every 2-3 days. Not much doesn't get to more than 1/4" per rain and some days just light sprinkels.
Thank for help.
Dabug

Re: Grow Bananas in Zone 9 Types?
 

Excellent! I hope it works for you. Fortunately, nanners are fairly obvious about their status. If they're not doing good, they just don't grow. Wilting or drooping a bit in the heat of the day is normal, but not growing is not normal. When they're happy, you'd better step back lest they knock you in the head on their way up! You turn around to smack a fly and look back and there's another durned leaf! :) Fingers crossed for your babies!

Be well,
Mike