ok I know this is a fig forum but I notice on the home web site bananas are there but not a forum.
I have a very small nursery just me lol and I propagate most of my plants. I do trees
, shrubs and bushes.
I also am working on draught surviving plants and plants like hot peppers for nerve pain in diabetics and plants to help lower blood sugar in diabetics.
I get some of my seeds and materials from The USDA
ok now back to the bananas I just got off the phone from USDA site in Miami and they are going to send me banana corms I am so excited. when in Louisiana I had bananas and they fruited for me and grandkids was so exited to see how bananas grow. my son  is working on a greenhouse for me for my figs, citrus, sugar cane, and now bananas.
here is what bananas they are sending

Awesome! Congratulations on the nice haul. I've got about 5 banana plants I'm growing in Michigan. The largest will hopefully fruit within a year. I picked up a fertilizer called banana fuel or something like that on Amazon and my plants love it! We get about a new leaf every week and a half using that stuff.


Good luck on your banana quest!

Hey! What banana plants are you growing in Michigan? I just ordered two Blue Java banana trees from Dany  in Quebec (http://brugmansia-quebec.com).

I've never grown a banana and would love any advice on how to care for these things.... I'm in zone 6.... lately behaving like zone 7. I have no idea what to do in winter.

I am interested in banana and tropical plants and how to over winter them as well. Thanks for the link Joe 

john

Dany at Brugmansia is a really nice guy and pretty much only speaks French. My French isn't great so we communicate by email in English.

Just a good thing to know for anyone who might be contacting him.

Thanks for the info, my daughter in law is a French emersion teacher so that should help. What type \ types of banana trees did you get? Do you know if they go dormant like fig trees?

Thanks John

I ordered the Blue Java (aka Icream Banana) its reputed to be very cold harsh but also the fruit is apparently among the tastiest. The Musa Basjoo is said to be the most cold hardy however the fruit apparently not very pleasant. Many large seeds and bad flavour.

I'm told they'll die back to the ground every winter but reach 8 - 12' each season.

We could take some lessons on overwintering from these guys in Quebec. Coconut Mike has some unbelievable palm trees.....that should not be able to grow there:

Cool, thanks for the links Joe. Lots for me to learn

John

How many years before a banana plant will fruit?

Thanks


John

John - Don't quote me on this but because this tree dies back every winter I believe the tree will produce right away. I'd ask before you buy though....

I live in south central Indiana, zone 6 and I have been growing bananas for several years. Always tough for me to get them through the winter. I used to work with a woman that grew them here and she got fruit every summer. She would over winter them, dormant, in her basement like you would over winter cannas, just in a card board box leaning up against the wall. She said her basement was full of them every year. I haven't done well with this, mine seem to dry up and die but I keep trying. I have read that to over winter them in a dormant state they need to be at least 3 ft tall. That would go for the Basjoo, too. I have not heard that Blue Java is hardy although I have heard that Orinoco can be grown in zone 7 with a good mulch cover. That is the hardiest fruit bearing banana I have read about.

Thanks for the ideas on growing banana plants. I will keep reading and probably order some closer to delivery time.

John

I wonder if banana is something then that I can plant potted like a fig where I sink it into the ground to expand, but overwinter in my garage with the figs?

I think I need to email Dany....

In Malaysia I have a lot of banana plants..
I have Musa Ae-Ae also...
Anybody knows any source to buy Gran Nain banana plants that offers int'l shipping?

For temperate banana growers... Back in Hungary I have had the best results with Helen's Hybrid banana. Quite hardy and quite tasty. If well covered it will overwinter smoothly and will produce fruit in zone 7a.

I put in a order myself, I just copied your list.

Thanks frdturner

Doug

James (of the infamously long 7$ cutting thread) had a hoophouse full of bananas fruiting in his zone:

http://www.bananas.org/f2/my-new-banana-house-22336.html

And as someone mentioned above, bringing them inside/dormant like figs:

http://www.bananas.org/f15/time-put-bananas-sleep-winter-310.html

Toronto Joe, you can grow bananas in a pot like that but you need a big pot, 10 to 15 gallons. But you can also plant them in the ground once the soil is warm and let them grow, then in the fall you can just pop the corm out of the ground. My friend was just keeping the corms in cardboard boxes in the basement over winter. The timing is important for fruiting, though. You have to get the flower stalk to start growing in early summer and if it dies back in the winter I think it will kill the flower for the early summer. It takes a while for the fruit to ripen after flowering.

Thanks Susan. I'm not sure yet weather to go with a buried pot with lots of holes or just bury....Either way... Bananas are coming!

I do have this question. My father in law live on a lakefront. He wants to plant one right at his shoreline - and he's in a lot of sand. Do you know if bananas are ok with wet feet?

Banana corms will rot if they're kept wet.  If he wants he can make a raised bed to keep the corm above the water table.

Thanks. I'll put it further up the bank in that case.