(Zone: northern 10a) I purchased a large plant from our local nursery in early summer. I used a lot of composted manure when planting an...Read Mored the plant had huge, beautiful green leaves throughout the summer through early winter. In late September I was amazed to find banana blossoms with little bananas forming!
There are some negatives, though. If they are not shielded from the wind, the huge leaves will shred. Also, during the winter, the temps got down to 36 degrees at night on two occasions, causing the banana leaves to get brown on the tips and edges (though new leaves are fine.) Browned leaves can be removed but not until new good leaves have opened. Once the banana tree fruits, it dies and looks quite ugly until it is cut down.
This is NOT a low maintenance plant, unless you don't care about the fruit and are just growing it for its tropical look and gorgeous leaves. It requires a lot of food and water. Also, the mother plant puts out numerous "pups" which need to be removed, as they take nourishment from the mother. One or 2 pups should be left(at different intervals) for next year's plants. The pups are attached to the base of the plant several inches beneath the soil surface so they are rather difficult to cut loose and still have a few roots attached. I killed many in the process but I didn't want a lot of new banana plants anyway.
By the way, bananas take months to ripen, especially when they form during cooler weather.
(Zone: northern 10a) I purchased a large plant from our local nursery in early summer. I used a lot of composted manure when planting an...Read More