Question about fruiting bananas.
 

Hey there guys I just planted two Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants yesterday. Do they produce fruit the first year they are planted? My location is in zone 6 in central Illinois. I was wondering given my location if they will even produce fruit at all.

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

Just grow them out as big as you can this year. Even if they don't fruit you can dig out the biggest pups from each mat and pot them up. Growing them out in the house for planting next year. Sunny window and heat - not the garage or crawl space. Then you have a good chance to get fruit, Good luck.

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

It would probably depend on how mature the plant was when you planted it. My understanding is that it takes about a year for the DC to flower and about another 6 months for the fruits to ripen, so, my guess is that in Illinois, you'll need to find some way to protect for the winter.

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

Depending on where you are it can take much longer than 1 yr. The more tropical the weather the faster they grow the colder the weather the slower they grow

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

If you started with a relatively small plant, it won't fruit this year...probably not next year. Could take 2-3 seasons. Also, remember after flowering, it takes 2-6 months (depending on type of plant/conditions/care) of fruit development on the plant to produce edible bananas. Therefore, as with all colder-weather zone people, I'd focus more on foliage and the beauty of the plant than fruit production as your overall goal. If you manage to get fruit, awesome. Just don't want you to be super disappointed cause it may be difficult if you don't have a heated greenhouse for winter.

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

Thanks for the information. I just figured I may be able to get them to fruit sometime whether it be this spring or summer because from June till the end of august its almost always above 80 degrees during the day. It can get much warmer here too. The nights mostly get down to 60-75 degrees. Here and there due to thunderstorms moving through it can get down to 55-60 degrees at night and 70-75 in the day. We also have fairly humid summers too. For exmaple I looked up the current weather and at 11:00 pm the outside temperature is 72 degrees and the relative humidity is 82%.

Re: Question about fruiting bananas.
 

Your weather during the summer will be great for bananas in zone 6. I've grown bananas in zone 6 in St. Louis and zone 5 in Iowa and they do wonderfully all summer. Overwintering is the only issue...you could try either dormant overwintering or keep them alive as houseplants. Either way, winter growth is slow and not as sturdy. The 'optimal' situation would be to hopefully get a bloom to pop out in the spring. You could probably get the bunch to fill out and mature by fall. If the plant throws a bloom in fall, though....it probably won't be able to sustain fruit development over winter unless you are lucky.