coast crab

Early last spring I bought a pretty mystery banana at Home Depot and planted it in my garden. With the help of the kind folks here it was identified as 'Tall red' - which turns out to be a REALLY good name for it. That 3 gallon plant exploded into the biggest and most beautiful banana in my entire collection. By the end of the summer that original pstem was 14 inches across at the base and was surrounded by pups taller then me. It was so vigorous that the roots were crawling around in the mulch on top of the ground...



Somewhere I read, or someone here told me, that this variety was "cold sensitive". Well folks, let me tell you that's an understatement. Nights in the 40's burned the leaves and turned them yellow and it wasn't long before the whole thing collapsed. All I have to show for it now are 2 new pups, the biggest is barely knee high. My 'Thai black' pups are already as tall as me.

I'm going to see how it goes this summer, but this one may sadly be off the list.

Russell

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momoese

They don't hold up to strong winds either, especially with fruit hanging.

blownz281

Wonder if it would survive here in zone 8 NC? Is your states zone 8 that much warmer then ours?

natej740

Glad to hear your Thai Black is doing good. Mine is finally starting to take off. I got it as a tiny TC plant this March and it has had a rough time with leaves breaking from the wind(not even strong wind) and then on top of that i had it in a small pot and the wind blew it over and it fell off a step and messed up another leaf. But the last two leaves that came out are good size and its putting out at least a leaf a week now that it has warmed up.

pitangadiego

Yes, the reds just don't take well to cold. Anything below 50, maybe 55, and they start to stress out. The pups will come back, and look great by summer's end, and then you start the process over again.

Same for dwarf red, Red Iholena, Dwarf Jamaican Red, Dwarf Green Red, and anything else with the "red" genes.

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sunfish

This Dwarf Red Green,step ladder, that's planted in a well draining location actually grew through last winter. The D.Red ,Red Iholena growing in clay lost roots and did poorly in winter. The White Iholena in okay draining soil rotted over winter.

Dean W.

Sorry to hear about your Tall Reds, Russell.

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