Unknown Musa
 

Any ideas on this banana--I got it over 20 yrs ago from where I worked.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

A little basic info--this banana grows to about 10 ft (trunk height) before blooming. The corm always makes it thru our winters (lowest temp here since I had it was 7F), the first one that bloomed (first picture here made it thru this past winter (mid 20s --no protection) with no leaves, but I did not have to cut it back before it started to grow a new leaf. The other one was protected by wrapping the trunk with landscape cloth.

Leaves and trunk are all green.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

Musa 'Orinoco', a very common banana in the mainland US.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

Thanks!.:woohoonaner: I never thought I would know what it was--nobody where I worked knew what it was--maintenance just planted it next to every Air conditioner.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

Hi sbl,

First of all, I haven't imagined yet that there is a so cold place in Florida.
And I am impressed that Orinoco could overwinter even in such a cold
temperature of 7F or 20sF.
I tried a couple of times, but always failed even in 28~30F. So I thought
it was not as hardy as it has been told.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

Continuous water run-off during the summer. Brilliant.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

We are in the NW corner of FL--just about as close to Canada as we are to the other end of the state (by road). The all time low of 7F came in 1990 and was cold enough to freeze parts of small bays and killed tons of mullet. The Orinocos were killed to the ground that yr--normally, most of the pseudostem will survive and just needs a little cutting back. We have had a couple winters with no frost and that is when I have had blooms before.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

i want 1 ;)

Re: Unknown Musa
 

in winter central Ga. gets down to the mid teens at nights for about a solid week normally. some winters more than once..the cold wet winters are always a danger.. north florida is no better sometimes. all of my bananas have survived the winter with temps in the teens. i tried insulation on the stalks last year ,but i think it did more harm than good. this year i had to chop most of my stalks to the ground. with new plantings (if they stay out) its all about getting them well established and keeping them dry during cold weather. there is banana pup that i have in my photo gallery labeled central Ga. cold hardy banana. no matter what species cultivar it turns out to be, it was somewhat protected because of the huge mat it was growing in. those things are in boggy soil that freezes..its been that way for a long time..:bananas_b look at the weather almanac and see for yourself...it gets cold in the south too.i got snow last year check my pics

Re: Unknown Musa
 

orinocos are the most common banan seen in here in North florida.
brought over in the early 1600's to south florida they are a staple banana now in the southeast . my first banana was 'run of the mil' orinoco.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

Our sandy soil might help prevent rot, but I did sort of an experiment last winter. I had 4 large stalks, 2 on the west side of the yard -fully exposed to cold winds--I wrapped one with landscape cloth, the other was unprotected.
The other 2 were in back on the north side, but protected from north winds by a heavily wodded lot, I protected one of those with landscape colth, but the other was on it's own.

Results--the 2 that were protected survived (with no leaves since leaves were not wrapped). The unprotected one on the west side was killed to the ground--I tried cutting it back part way, but it never put out a leaf. The unprotected one in back was the first to put out a new leaf in the spring and then bloomed in June. The protected one in back bloomed in July, and I still have hope the protected one on the west side is about to bloom--if it does, I will have to try some ideas for getting the naners thru the winter.

Bottom line --here with mid 20s several nights, wrapping did seem to help the pseudostem survive, but they were slower to start growing in spring.

Re: Unknown Musa
 

That's similar to Mandeville, LA, those temperatures in Pensacola (got down to 7 here for 3 nights in a row back in 1989 - 11 in New Orleans). Except in my back yard it got down to 26 three times this past winter and all of my bananas - orinoco, saba, ornata, bordelon, zebrina - came back. Some orinoco did die all the way to the ground (I usually wait until May to do any total cutting - I don't like to cut them down). I do nothing to protect them except water heavily before a freeze.

In my front yard, however, which faces the SW and has a giant live oak providing a canopy of, I would think, some insulation, the lowest it got down to was 31 on two of the three 26 degree mornings in the back and 30 on the other. My bananas in the front did freeze but only enough to damage the fronds.

The one that Gustav broke that came back that froze did die. But a pup came up and it's doing OK. With the live oak shading so much the fronds, when the plants get tall enough, get really long and droopy. They don't grow very good (fast) because it's very heavily filtered sunlight. But they do grow and they are more of a conversation piece than any attempt to get fruit.

I have a musella in the front that I don't know what to do with. It's been in total sun and did nothing. In fact, I think it actually shrunk as opposed to grew. It's in total shade and has THREE tiny fronds on it. I might pull it out and shove it in a pot with Miracle Gro soil and see what happens. I've only ever seen one do well and that is at a friend's in New Orleans.

I am convinced they are NOT cold hardy and need to be zone 9A or higher.