andy17

Hey Larry,
I've been growing several banana varieties in the Deep South and I have found that container choice and placement are really important. I originally had them on a two story deck in 3/4 sun, and during our insanely hot summer, they really struggled to stay healthy and alive. I moved them down sometime in August to clean the deck and left them for a week or so on a concrete patio in filtered sun underneath the deck, about 1/2 a day of full sun max. I was expecting them to decline further, but they took off again. In fact, they looked so much better, that I've left them there since. Many of the signs of severe stress disappeared; apparently the roots and soil were literally baking in the sun and heat and it was killing the plants. The cool of the concrete and filtered sun did wonders for keeping the soil much cooler and more stable in temperature--that seems to be the biggest factor in keeping them happy in high temps. I've also been using smart pots which the bananas seem to really like, although pots dark in color seem to act as a solar oven in mid-summer. I hope this helps! Best wishes

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"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." --Francis Bacon