markinnaples

I don't know about protecting any fruit already on your plant this year. But when I lived in Dallas, zone 8a, I would cut off the pseudostem about six feet tall before the first freeze (approx Nov. 15). Then I boxed it in with plywood and filled it with grass clippings and covered the whole thing to keep it dry. In the spring as soon as there were no more temperatures below 40 (approx. March 15) I would unbox it and the pseudostem would start growing and ripen the fruit before the first frost that fall. It protected the bananas from short term overnight temperatures as low as 13' F. In a mild winter (lows above 20) I had a friend who used heavy canvas and Christmas lights and produced bananas. This was a shorter banana 'Raja Puri'. If you could protect 8 feet of pseudostem it would be even better. In 9b I would think that you should be able to reliably have bananas every year.