JoeReal

We have 2 separate nights that we had frost on the lawn and car windshields. So far, none of my bananas were damaged out there in the open. But it is only a matter of time when consecutive frosty nights would come for an extended stay. Then they'll be fried.

But it is unusually late this year, no real hard frosts yet, although it dipped to near 31 deg F. Usually, first week of November we get them already. It is nearing December, still no damages.

The best practice that I do is to let them be during the entire winter. The leaves will eventually die, serving as the cheapest frost blanket there is, if you are in zone 9 and above. If you remove the leaves, you will be exposing the pseudostems and they might die and bear you fruitless next year. Frost starts at the top, and the dead leaves are very good frost protection materials, naturally hanging and protecting the pseudostems. That is why after September, I stop removing dead leaves and sheaths from my bananas, in order to pile up the natural thermal protections.

Remove only the dead leaves in spring when the danger of the last frost is over. Once bananas started pushing out leaves at spring, I religiously remove any dead or brown sheath and leaves all the way to end of August, to maximize photosynthesis to increase fruit size and promote healthy growth. After that, it will be hands off for me until spring again. People in our area who cut the top part during the winter, thinking that this is the best protection there is, aside from keeping their sanity that it looked neat and tidy, well, they have the skinniest bananas in our area that very rarely bear fruits. Isn't it just wonderful that the best protection is the do nothing at all approach during the winter.

But this technique won't work properly if you are in zone 8 or below, better get a greenhouse or dig them up every winter and do the dormant storage in the crawl space of your house just like what Frank (bigdog) has been doing .