Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

I live outside Annapolis in Severna Park, Maryland. I started growing Sikkimensis, Basjoo, and Mekong Giant about 3 years ago with success.
I also tried Red Tiger but it did not survive. I started them in April and the first year they grew to 10+ foot. I waited until after they were slowed by frost and cut off all the foliage. I used chopped oak leaves (from my lawn mower) and buried the trunks to 2 foot depth. This was in early December. By mid Jan I cut the trunk down to 3 foot or about 1 foot above the leaves. Our low temp was 14F and we had 7 days below 32F consecutively. I though for sure they would not live. But I was thankful and surprised they started back growing in late March. I was afraid a freeze would kill them back but we dodged any temp below 25F and they did not sustain any damage. The next summer I had 10+ pups and 4 grew to 12+foot. Once again I waited until frost (late Nov). Mulched the oak leaves and buried them again. The next frost did not occur until late Dec and some growing had started again. I wasn't sure what damage this would do but cut the new growth back. Last winter started mild but was long until late April. Did not have any new growth until May. Now it is Jul 2013 and they are already 10+ foot.
I am posting photos but am new to this site so am not sure how.
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Banana Gallery - thestockmann Gallery

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

Nice work. I did much of my growing up in Rockville MD. With your success, you should consider trying one of the cool hardy edible varieties, like dwarf namwah. I bet you'd get lucky and end up some bananas to eat in fall in some years.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

Thanks for the suggestion.
Dwarf Namwah will be a challenge but might be worth it.
Did you get bananas in Rockville?
This sites have it either zone 9 or 9a.
Guess I will hunt for a pup to plant in a pot since it is already mid Jul.
Wish me luck and I'll post my results.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

No, my years in Rockville were long ago, before bananas had captured me. You'll probably have to mail order a Dwarf Namwah, though they aren't too hard to come by. You might try a post in the wanted section here. Also, Encanto Farms (Jon, aka Pitangadiego) ships large, bareroot pups. Good luck.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

I've just got to tell someone, I'm going BANANA's. I cut down the plants to about 3ft and heavily mulch them for the winter. Here it is June and one of the plants has thrown out only a flower. I've got it supported and have been watching it bloom. There are 4 hands on it, not sure if any more will come forth. The bananas are 3-3.5 in and the florets are beginning to dry and drop off. What do I do next...I'm hoping they continue to mature - possible ripen into edible fruit. Any advice on nurturing them further or do I just wait an let nature take it's course. I did get 15-5-30 and will start with that tomorrow. I live in South County (AA) Maryland and have no idea of the banana variety I have. At peak height they get about 5-6ft and can be 4-6in in diameter. Posted some pics under Banana Flower Gallery too. Wish me success.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

That's exciting just to get a flower! Quite an accomplishment up there! Im not sure theres any chance of the fruit ripening without leaves, but hey.. its awesome just to get fruit! Maybe you can time your future plants to mature a bit slower than last year, so they throw off a few leaves and then a flower in the spring.. either way great job!

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

A few years ago 2014, I also had the same scenario. I posted some photos of it. No leaves only bloom on 6 foot tree.

Banana Gallery - Maryland Bananas
Banana Gallery - Maryland Bananas

Anyway, I learned there are 2 types of bananas, self pollinating and cross pollinating. Most cold hardy plants are cross pollinating so the bananas will not mature. Mine grew to about 3 inches then dried up by Aug. Since that time I have had many blooms some with full spread of leaves but none have matured. Never had 2 bloom at the same time to try and cross pollinate even though I have about 20 trees now. 2 years ago I bought a cold hardy (7b) self pollinating type tree (I cannot remember it's name) and it bloomed last year. I was able to get 30+ ripe bananas about 6 inches long. They were slightly sweater the the store bought and made great banana bread.
To get back to your question, I doubt you will get any bananas but you might get lucky. Without leaves the tree cannot generate food so needs to used stored energy. Since it used a lot of energy to grow from the winter freeze, not much energy is left. Mine was about 6 feet tall and had 4 spans with 6+ bananas on each. The bloom continued to grow but without sending out any more bananas, only blooms. The bloom was 2 feet long by summers end and the largest bananas were about 3 inches and green. Eventually the turned black and fell off. Very disappointing. Note, I am also in AA county so have similar weather. This is my 8th season growing bananas and never have failed to get growth following winter. I always dig 1 or 2 4-foot trees up and store them in my basement, as insurance but have never really needed to do it. This season is no exception. Mine are growing and already 6+ feet.
Good luck

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

Thanks for the information about the self pollinator's. Yeah, doesn't look like the nanas are going to get much past 3 in. My plants right now are 4ft. What do you suggest I need to do to get them heavily stored with nutrients/food for next year? I've started monthly feedings but lets face it, our growing season isn't very long.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

I'm in Hanover, MD. We were given Banana pups and just told to chop them to ground level at the first frost. We used their own leaves as insulation and it went fine. We were basically starting with new pups each year. So they were only getting so tall. When I didn't have my dad chop them some came completely back until these last two winters were colder and/or wetter. It has seemed to be a mistake of leaving the whole plant on and pull the dead part in the spring. it's seemed to start some sort of rot. There is still new pups but not all the large ones have grown back in the center. Most have pups coming off of them though.

My other problem is according to google it's a "tree of heaven". The botanist's were being funny when they named this tree... It apparently kills everything around it but emitting something in the ground killing everything around it. My Dad thought it was just another palm type plant. This sucker planted itself in the middle of established mothers. I'm scared to leave the root there but I can't get it to budge. I read it wasn't a good idea to leave the root there it can still grow back and destroy the established mothers.



Also you'll see in the picture. We had a week of rain so i scraped any dark tissue, in medical terminology lets just say I debrided the necrotic tissue and you can see I got good "blood flow" after I did that. I haven't taken a good gander at it since because we've had another several days of rain. Seems to be another Monsoon May this year so far.

Any advice is appreciated.

Re: Growing Bananas in Maryland
 

Not too familiar with tree of heaven, but I do know how to read scientific papers/abstracts. Looked it up and it seems tree of heaven continuously releases toxic compounds regardless of physical damage. Removing most of it is better than removing none. As long as new sprouts are consistently culled, any toxins can be flushed out by water. Might be wise to move a couple banana plants in the long term, in case the tree of heaven becomes too established.