Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
Why does it need to die back? Wouldn't you be satisfied with fruiting banana that sustained during the winter and actually put out a leaf or two a month?
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Richard, if there was a banana that didn't die down to the ground in a zone 7 winter, that would be great! However, no such banana exists. Even Musa basjoo will die back to the ground in a typical zone 7 winter. Austin lives in zone 8a, so he doen't get quite as cold, but I think any edible cultivar would die back to the ground each and every winter. The idea is to find (or breed) a banana that,
WHEN it dies back to the ground in the winter, would have enough time to grow and mature a bunch of bananas in a 6 month growing season. That would definitely be the holy grail of bananas for colder-zone growers, and could revolutionize banana growing in general.
Frank