DLewNC

For those of you considering growing dwarf orinocos in the southeast U.S. zone 7b for fruit- it's happening here in Raleigh. After taking 2024 off, one of my plants has decided to bloom and fruit again. I bought it from Wellsprings gardens in Fall of '21 and it spent 2 winters indoors, with warm seasons outdoors. It was planted in the ground in spring of '23 and produced 52 bananas by late fall! They were harvested and brought inside before the November freeze, and those that were not turned into tostones eventually ripened kind of well, though some ended up kind of dry.

Last year a different dwarf orinoco with the same living and growing pattern as above flowered around July 4 and ended up producing about 25 bananas. These plump bananas were harvested and brought inside before the Nov. freeze and eventually ripened beautifully and ended up super delicious!

The secret was winterizing cages filled with leaves, straw and pine needles to preserve fruiting stalks at four+ feet. These plants really are thriving and are a deep, lush green. Feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments.