Art_R

We live in Ormond Beach on the east coast of Florida in the path of hurricane Ian. Before I say anything else my thoughts and prayers go out to those on the west cost who lost everything during the hurricane. We were extremely lucky on the east coast. It was just a tropical storm when it went through, but the results may serve as interesting data points about the relative wind resistance of different varieties. All of my bananas are in a row, subject to similar growing conditions and wind exposure. Here is how my varieties fared from best to worst:

Raja Puri - Lost a few leaves, remaining leaves are shredded. Pseudostems fully intact and vertical. A recent bud just kept flowering without missing a beat. Pups look OK.

Namwah - Lost a few leaves, remaining leaves are shredded. Pseudostems ranged from slightly bent to badly bent, but nothing broke. A a bunch of fruit remained attached to a badly bent pseudostem and hopefully will ripen. Pups look OK.

Grand Nain, Patupi, Zebrina - All large Pseudostems snapped at the base. Pups look OK.

I hope someone finds this useful.

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Here's what I'm growing: Grand Naine, Namwa, Blue Java, Raja Puri, Patupi, & a mystery nanner

Akula

Dwarf banana trees with thick pstems do better than tall. My best plant for wind resistance hands down is my Florida Platinum (Raja Puri).

A little bit of wind protection goes a long ways too. Plants up against the house, against and/or below the fence line, behind a big tree that acts like a wind screen, etc. do way better than exposed.

beam2050

raja puri has p-stems near the size of basketballs. very cold hardy also. never lost one, i think, from frosts or freezes. or wind.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

twotallgirls

Yup, Raja Puri did the best with Ian with wind. Jury is out on salt water damage.
Agree 100% with Akula... those with thick pjstems and wind protection did much better. My Saba and Brazilian took big hits... all tall and exposed to wind, whereas those that came thru (well shredded and broken leaves) of had some protection. Exception was super dwarf cavendish which snapped at ground level with direct wind.

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Blue Java, Raja Puri, Goldfinger FHIA-01, Mona Lisa FHIA-02, Sweetheart FHIA-03, Pitogo, Saba, Dwarf Cavendish, Super Dwarf Cav., Namwa, Brazilian, Mysore, Dwarf Red, and a mystery or two

cincinnana

1000 miles to the north in the Ohio river valley we got some wind too but in gusts that last a minute or two.
I will get bent petioles and some shredding but nothing like you southern members experience on the forum.


Shredded leaves
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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