OK, for those of you who don't live in Southern California, you might not believe that we actually have winter here. Well compared to many places, we have it pretty easy during winter. But for a tropical plant like a banana, winter this far from the equator is not ideal. At my house we had several nights in the 30's and lots of cold rain.
Despite the warnings of others (e.g., pitangadiego), I bought several bananas over winter. The ones I potted were fine, though I did move the smaller of them indoors during the worst of the weather. But those that I put in ground struggled and some required emergency treatment. None died, but I did have to pull three out of the ground and pot them up. I cut off all the dead material and, once potted, I kept them dry and put the pots on a heat mat.
The p-stem of this Rose ended up dying to the corm except for the meristem. After a while it sent up a pup and the main stem grew back.
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The p-stem of this Tomoc had been about 3' with really nice leaves when I got it from Jon (pitangadiego) in November. It died back most most of the way to the corm. It's now cranking out leaves and they are very healthy, but kind of bunched up and the plant is still much smaller than when I got it from Jon.
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This FHIA-18 was a huge sword pup, about 4' of stem when I got it from Jon in November. I thought it was doing fine, but on the side towards my fence that was hard to see, it had started rotting into the corm. I did surgery and cut away all the dead corm and stem and was left with just over half of the corm. I poured hydrogen peroxide on the cut parts to kill the rot, but even so, the original stem died and I was left with part of a corm. Just last week it finally sent up a pup.
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Not only did I make the mistake of planting these bananas in the ground at the start of a very cold, wet winter (again, by SoCal standards), I also planted them in a spot that is shaded most of the day. Duh.
Bananas that I potted at the same time I planted these (or were already potted) did fine over winter. They didn't grow much, but they didn't die back like those I put in the ground.
So, for those of you in SoCal or places with similar climates and who are impatient like me, maybe you can learn from my rookie mistakes. I'm just glad I didn't completely kill any bananas this winter -- just some near-death experiences. The heat mat really helped keep them alive when they were at their worst. Bare root bananas that are potted during winter and kept dry (maybe a bit of water if there are hot, dry Santa Ana conditions) seem to do fine (thanks Tony), but it's probably better to wait until spring, if you have the patience.