sjh711

Hi All,
I am looking for advise on preparing my bananas for winter. I have Kambrian, Numwah, preying hands and ice cream. I am planning on potting the pups and bringing them in on chilly nights. Last year we had a few freezes and one night to 19. If I keep the sprinklers on all night on the really cold nights does that help? Thanks to everybody for the help.

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oakshadows

Good ole winter time in the sunshine state. We are in Citrus Springs and we got to enjoy some of the temps also but Idon't think it got that cold here.
As far as the sprinkles go I understang that the water freezes on the plants and keeps it from going any lower, hopefully. If you plants can't handle 28 to 30f then they might be in trouble. How did they make out thru last winter? We also want to keep some in the ground but will protect them with pine needles and some with a blanket wrap, all according how low they predict. Hope some more posts will give us more and maybe better ideas for our zone. Good luck and I would like to come over sometime, maybe swap some plants.

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"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

sjh711

Hey Noah,
Citrus is an interesting part of the state, right on the edge of freezes. It's my first year with bananas so I'm kind of winging it. Right now I'm potting all my pups but would be happy to trade come spring.

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oakshadows

Stan,
Will stay in touch and make it happen. Growing anything else? Thanks

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"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

sunfish

Bananas.org - View Profile: harveyc I don't believe Harvey uses any protection for his banana plants.9b

oakshadows

Last year many of us got to enjoy some temps that were much lower than usual. Hopefully this winter will be the ususal and not have, what we call low temps. 30F is not unusual for short perioda, maybe 1 hour, but below that in our zone it is what we call cold weather. Protection will then be necessary. Still beats the great weather up north where the yankees live.

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"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

sjh711

Not growing much else right now. Moved here from the keys last year and most of what I have tried has frozen to death. Muscadines, figs and a pomagranite is all that has lived. I think I'm going to leave the bananas pretty much alone. A guy down the street has some and they made it through last winter. I will try the pine needles though.

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oakshadows

We moved here from Key West in '90 and the temps are much the same except for a few days. Not really true, 70f was freezing to us down there but have gotten used to some a bit cooler. Bananas were one of our pride crops. Fresh ripe fruit all year long and very delicious. Not sure why it took me so long to back into them but the place is full of them now. We have about 50 plants of many sorts and hopefully will start getting fresh fruit on a regular basis. Our plans are to stick with the smaller plants that produce sooner although they have a smaller crop, can't eat that many at one time anyway. Maybe it won't be too bad this year. Good luck.

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"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

Nicolas Naranja

I grew up on the other side of the state in DeLand and it froze every year. Generally speaking you could put blankets over your plants and that would save them. Once every few years you will get a devastating freeze that not even blankets would protect. We've had 3 winters in a row with major freezes so maybe we'll all catch a break this time.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

oakshadows

Nick, Hope so, the flock is getting to be too large to clothe.

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"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

sjh711

Do keep watering and feeding them all winter?

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