I was given a banana plant from a friend. It is in a huge pot, but it is a baby, with only three leaves and about two feet tall. I would like to be able to plant it outside, either in the ground or leave it in a big pot. I live in the high desert, at about 3000 feet altitude. It gets over 100 degrees in the summer and it snows in the winter, though not much. My question is, can I keep my plant outside (not this winter, maybe next winter) and insulate it with newspaper and maybe a bag or sack? I remember as a child, my grandfather, who lived in New York, had a fig tree and he had to insulate it in the winter so it wouldn't freeze. It was all wrapped up and you couldn't see it - it was planted in the ground and was considered a small fig tree.

I don't want to do anything to hurt this plant, as I really love plants and have always wanted a banana plant. My friends other banana plants have produced bananas, but they were grown in Arizona. I live in California.

All depends on the species of banana you have. If it is a Musa bajoo cold hardy banana, it will survive your winter with a little mulching and a tarp to keep the water/snow off it. If it is a hardy veriety, plant it next spring or after your last frost. For winter, cut it back to about 2-3 feet and wrap with insulation and cover.
Keep researching and READ, READ, READ.
Watch for spider mites if you keep it as a house plant over this winter.
Have Fun

Here are my pictures taken yesterday. I an in Zone 7a in southeast PA. Below the Philadelphia Airport. It gets below zero around here, with lots of cold, rain and snow. But this banana can take it all with wintering protection!!

http://photos.yahoo.com/mmaguiremichael

How can I find out what species I have? A friend gave me mine. She got the banana plants from her brothers house in Tempe, Arizona.

If you can, Post some pictures. Some people on the forums are very good at knowing the species. Or, go back to your source. If not sure, and you realy want to take it outside, see if it will survive next years winter in the ground(with protection!).

Have Fun!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/limogirl51/detail?.dir=f465scd&.dnm=44e1scd.jpg&.src=ph

The above is a link to the picture of my banana plant. If anyone could help me identify it so I know how to better take care of it, I'd appreciate the help. It's grown a new leaf (it hasn't opened yet) since I've brought it home, so I think it likes the spot. I'm just worried that it's brother is already over 6 feet tall and it's father is taller, so I'm told. I'd love to give my plant a good home outside, but with our winters being between 20-60 degrees at night (usually around 40, but it has gone down to 19 before every 4-5 years) and our summers being intense at around 95 - 116 degrees - I live in the high desert - I want to make sure I don't harm my new plant.

If you can't open the link above, can you tell me a better way to post the picture on this website? I didn't see an "attach" button, and when I try to drag the picture here, it takes over the whole window and won't allow me to type anything on it.

Thank you very much for your help. I do appreciate it.

Looks like (at least on my computer) the site didn't post my long boring reply to your thread, so I'll try again, with a quick boring reply.

Your banana looks like a dwarf cavendish not a basjoo, so you may simply want to bring it indoors at night if the temperature is too cool. Here in NJ it was 41 last night and my bananas were completely fine. Your plant is small enough to grow indoors by a sunny, south facing window, providing you are very careful not to over water it. Outdoors in the heat it should be ok with lots of water. Best with full sun early in the day, and partial shade in the very hot afternoons, if you can find a good spot.

Don't repot it until it is much bigger, I have a 5' basjoo in a similar size pot which is doing well. I don't yet have any experience planting them in the ground.

My largest banana is a giant cavendish (I think) which I got from Key West as a 1" pup attached to a dying mother. That pup is now (less than a year later) 6' tall with a pseudostem so thick I can't get both hands around it. Huge 48" by 24" leaves!

Anyhow I apologise if you can see both posts of mine and I repeat myself.

Good luck,

~Joe

Thank you so much for your help. I didn't see two replies and I'll tell you, yours was definitely not boring! As I've never owned a banana plant before, just admired them from afar, I am after all the information I can get. I'm going to start researching the dwarf cavendish right now.

Thank you, once again.

Nice looking plant. I don't think it'll out grow your window this winter. I'm not an expert by any means, but I've had the dwarf cav. for many years. My leaves are longer & more slender, also a lighter green. It looks like the leaves are to short in that picture, for being as wide as they are. How tall were the ones your friend had that produced bananas?

---

Happy Gardening

Tony O.

Glad to see i'm not the only amateur here! I've got one that has a few more leaves but looks almost identical to yours. I live in Iowa, so she's getting real close to coming in for the year. Any other tips for inside other than the above mentioned? Fertilers? Also, is a grow light a bad idea?? I've got a few bird of paradise plants under lights and didnt know if that would be a bad idea for this tree? Also wondering this same informatino for the 'shaving brush' tree (Bombax ellipticum). I bough thtat b/c it looked cool and has grown an inch or two and produced almost a dozen healthy leaves in a short while?
Thanks

Adam C