The Banana Tree Tropical Forum

Aloha Ronnie,
If your banana is non-hardy, dig it up ASAP. If it is hardy (some hardy species can grow in Zone 6, so make sure what it is), leave it in the ground. Mulch it heavily. Bales of hay surrounding the plant is very good. After your first hard freeze, cut the plant half way down the trunk or level to the bales of hay. If you have pups near the bottom, just cut their leaves off. Cover the plant with another bale of hay. The plant will go into dormancy. In the spring check for growth when night temps are above freezing. Remove the bales or unravel them around the plant to decompose as a compost mulch to retain soil moisture for the rest of the year.

Looks like your plant is of the non-hardy type since you asked about diggng it up and wrapping it to store. I've found the following method for non-hardy banana plants the best. I treat all my plants this way since I live in zone 4-5. I don't wrap them up to store over winter. I've found it difficult to keep conditions just right for 3 months of winter to prevent a banana plant from either drying up or rotting. After I've dug up the plant, and I do this before frost, I plant it in a pot to bring it indoors. Since you live further south you have time to still use this method. I already have freezing temps every night. I use a potting soil high in peat moss like Miracle-Gro instead of soil from the ground. The high acidity from the moss keeps microbial growth down that can cause rot. I keep the humidity up by placing the pot in a tray of water. I let the water dry up occasionally in the tray but not for more than a week. I make sure the soil is moist but not soggy. I don't want to stress the plant since it's still recovering from transplantation. I give the plant as much natural light as possible. Low light is OK but the brighter the better. I keep the temperature above freezing. Upper 30's into the 40's is OK, but 50's is better. You don't want to get temps too much higher since it will encourage too much growth. I don't fertilize. You want to slow the plant growth so that it doesn't get leggy and weak. In the spring bring out the plant after the leaves of trees are more than half full and night temps are non-freezing. Leave it in the deepest shade of a tree or shade cover for a week, then slowly move it towards the sunlight every 2-3 days. By the time the pot is in full sun the ground temperature will be optimum for the plant to grow in.

This method is laborious and you have to acclimatize the plant slowly in the spring so as not to sunburn it before putting it back in the ground and you have to get a bigger pot every year as the plant multiplies, but it almost guarentees that the plant will survive the winter. I've found it very disheartening to find the plant I'd wrapped up to store for the winter is dead by spring.

Since your plant is frost bitten, cut off all the damaged parts after you've dug it up. It'll be OK if you have to cut the upper trunk off. The plant will regrow from the corm. After you've potted it, after a while you'll see the center of the trunk raise up and a new leaf grow up and out. The corm of the plant is probably untouched by frost since the ground hasn't frozen yet. Treat the plant as recommended above and things should be OK from there on.

I hope this info gets to you in time. In my area the plant would probably be dead by now since it's already snowing and the ground is freezing. Let me know how things progress. If you need additional info you're welcome to write. I'll help if I can or point you in the right direction if I know.

Aloha, Kahoa