Potatonah

I’m seeking advice from experienced banana growers on what I should do with my dwarf namwah. I received it in early June 2022 when the pseudo-stem was about 16 inches tall. I put it in the ground in full sun shortly after receiving it. My hope was that it would grow substantially over the course of the next 3-4 months. Grow it has, but not to the degree I expected. The p-stem is about 18-19 inches tall and not much thicker than it was when I first planted it. I understand that the plant still has a young corm and will probably grow a lot more vigorously after its first full year in the ground.

My question is this: what should I do to protect my plant during the winter? I live in Tampa, FL zone 9b. I’m confident the corm would survive if I did nothing, considering the Namwah is decently cold-hardy. I’m also pretty sure that a Namwah with a thick p-stem would have no problems surviving a typically winter in my zone. But because the p-stem is still pretty small, I’m afraid that I’ll lose it to a freeze and have to start over from the ground again in the spring. The plant is still small enough where I could dig it up and put in a pot to keep indoors over the winter. Alternatively I could leave it in the ground and insulate it with hay/straw/frost cloth or other means of trapping heat and shielding it from cold winds.

What would you do in my situation?

xavierdlc61887

What are you winters like? If they are mild then you have nothing to worry about, zone 9b is pretty semi tropical weather but if you’re still off about it then just do what you mentioned. Put some frost cloth over it and protect it from the cold. We had a freeze here in Texas and the bananas that were in ground around my neighborhood and city all got fried but they just trimmed them down and the regrew and are big plants again.

cincinnana

Fellas in your area have kept the plant potted and brought it indoors during inclement weather until the plant was a bit more established and could be put in the ground.
Your plant is a beast and should be fine unless you get a hard freeze.

Since the plant small toss a garbage can over it during a cool snap...that works very well.

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Potatonah

Thank you for the replies! That idea with the trash bin is actually pretty ingenious and would probably offer enough protection for the plant by trapping some radiant heat from soil and blocking the cool wind. My area is indeed subtropical. I’ve only lived here for two winters, and the coldest it ever got was one or two nights a year that dipped into the mid twenties in the early morning hours. But even then it warms back up to the 50s during the daytime so none of my garden is not exposed to freezing temperatures for more than a few hours.

beam2050

the garbage can works good. blanket over it and a 100w light bulb works good.

got any neighbors that leave large garbage cans out at night? unpainted works the best.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

lpatelski

[IMG][/IMG]I live in 8b and I do not do anything to protect my Dwarf NamWah. Last year we had a very late freeze. My Dwarf NamWah are happy, healthy and gave me two Bunches of finger bananas this year. I just listed a pup. you can look and see the size.

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4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Growin’ a bunch
Orinoco
"Ice Cream" Namwah
Williams hybrid
FHIA 17
Dwarf NamWah