seattlefiggirl

both my dwarf orinoco banana and cavenish died last snow storm outside not protected. Some webiste said cold hardy 8A some say only to 9a. Well it is 9A and not 8A. PNW banana growers, what are your results. have you successfully fruited any? I'm growing only banana varieties that are smaller than my greenhouse ceiling. since I will have to bring them in to protect from frost. I would stick with dwarf varieties. Or keept them planted outside with very good protection. I don't want to take risk of wrapping them every winter. So ill take my chances of bringing them in my green house. Last winter my greenhouse was unheat. Some small bananas didn't look too happy. So i plan to keep at 60 degree heated this winter. Thank you!

beam2050

I know Orinoco to fruit in 9b but snow is rare here. in ground with lots of snow the only banana to survive this is basjoo.

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Tytaylor77

My dwarf Orinoco fruit 4 out of 5 years. But I live in the south. It’s a lot different than the PNW. I also live on the largest lake in the south which may help my zone 8b some.

I would stick with:
Raja puri
D Orinoco
D Brazilian - me and my bro Hector LOVE them!
Fruiting SDC like Novak, Logees clone, etc.
D namwa.

I would suggest planting them directly in ground inside the greenhouse. Leave them there year round! They will do much much better vs in pots! Musa roots are 90% in the top 12” and can spread upto 30’ in any direction! It’s hard to find a pot like that! Haha.

Good luck! I know of a couple people up in Washington who have amazing success growing them in ground inside a greenhouse! You can even dig down a couple feet and then plant for slightly taller dwarfs like D namwa! Just stay away from Saba!

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Mudturkle

My Dw. Orinoco fruited last year in Central Texas 8B in the ground on S. side of my house. No winter protection.

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Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.

seattlefiggirl

we had snow last winter. i think the temp drop to 20 degrees which is colder than usual in seattle zone 8b. and mines were in pots. in grow it would have better protection.

zfallon84

An off topic question- Since most of the roots are in the top 12 inches, should I go for wider pots? I've been using these 17gal plastic tubs from Lowe's (only $7.99ea, 22"W x ~18"H). I do know that my local Agr. supplier has very wide, low, galvanized feed buckets. Would those work better despite the price?

Mark Dragt

In the ground, plant will mostly use the top 12 inches. Probably because it can stretch out easily. In a pot it will use every ounce of soil available. Now I do feel that wider is better because it provides a bigger base for a tall plant as to not tip in the wind.

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Mark's Banana Forest Paradise

Mark Dragt

Got down to 15f here at my place. Only had to rake the snow off the greenhouse once.

I would love to get some details on your greenhouse. My greenhouse was a huge game changer for me. If you are wondering if fruit is possible? I am harvesting bananas as the ripen from a 12 hand 191 finger Tall Namwah bunch daily. I love these bananas.

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Mark's Banana Forest Paradise

seattlefiggirl

i have a small greenhouse i think 6-8 ft tall. limited space. we were having issues setting up heat. so it wasn't consistently at 60+ degrees but rather 50+. we kept these in pots outdoors since we assumed as listed on online nursery website as zone 8-10 so we thought we were safe. lesson learn we will be keeping them in the greenhouse this winter and hopefully our heater will work more smoothly.